Scope and Content Note
The first scrapbook of the Taylor collection is the largest of the three with 108 pages and some 730 images. This scrapbook
also
has the most diverse group of images, with no specific unifying theme running throughout. However, in general, the first scrapbook
focuses on battlefield sites, carnage and destruction of war, and the notable military personnel.
Taylor dedicated many pages to battles at Antietam and Gettysburg. The pages for both battles contain many images of dead
soldiers by Alexander Gardner, James Gibson, Timothy O’Sullivan, and others, as well as portraits of the Generals and their
staffs,
and views of the land and buildings of the battlefield.
Another important series in the first scrapbook are images and text related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the
execution of the conspirators. These pages contain five of Alexander Gardner’s ten image series depicting the execution of
the
Lincoln conspirators in Washington, DC, on July 7, 1865.