“The Politics and Poetry of New England” — Charles Sumner and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Carte-de-visite photograph, Gardner, Washington, D.C., 1863
Approx. 4 x 2½ inches
 
A notable Civil War–era carte-de-visite photograph depicting Senator Charles Sumner seated beside the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, issued under the title “The Politics and Poetry of New England.” The composition presents the two men in conversation across a small table with books, symbolically pairing the political and literary leadership of New England during one of the most consequential periods in American history.
 
Charles Sumner, the Massachusetts senator and one of the most prominent abolitionists in Congress, stands as a central political figure of the era, remembered for his unwavering opposition to slavery and his influential role in shaping Reconstruction policy. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, among the most celebrated American poets of the nineteenth century, embodied the cultural and intellectual life of New England, his writings helping to define American literary identity.
 
The photograph was produced by Alexander Gardner, the distinguished Civil War photographer whose Washington studio created some of the most iconic images of the period. The imprint at the base records copyright entry in 1863, the height of the Civil War, when images of leading political and cultural figures circulated widely among the public.
 
The reverse bears a contemporary pencil identification of the two sitters and Gardner’s Washington studio stamp.
 
Condition: Very fine, with light toning consistent with age.