Album de vistas y costumbres de la provincia de Buenos Aires, 1844-1878

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Summary

Creators:
Ford, Francis Clare, 1828-1899
Abstract:
An album containing 77 photographs and 20 pencil tracings, compiled by the British diplomat Francis Clare Ford during his first posting to Buenos Aires in 1866. Included among the photographs are three joined panoramas of the city; views of the city's monuments and buildings; scenic views of the surrounding pampas and genre scenes depicting life on the pampas; and portraits of gauchos and indigenous peoples. There are also 20 sheets of pencil tracings made from León Palliere's depictions of life in the Argentine countryside taken from his Album Palliere, escenas americanas.
Extent:
1.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Collection material is in Spanish; Castilian with some French and English

Background

Scope and content:

Album de vistas y costumbres de la provincia de Buenos Aires, which contains 77 photographs and 20 pencil tracings, was compiled by Francis Clare Ford during his first posting to Buenos Aires in 1866. Included among the photographs are three joined panoramas of the city (two four-part panoramas and one three-part panorama); views of the city's monuments and buildings; scenic views of the surrounding pampas; genre scenes depicting life on the pampas; and portraits of gauchos and indigenous peoples. Gaucho life is also represented by three compositions of gaucho gear and trappings. Indigenous groups represented include Patagonians, Tehuelches, and Tobas. Some of the sitters are known, including the Tehuelche chief, Casimiro Biguá, his son, Sam Slick, and daughter, Juanita Biguá; as well as Utrac, son of the Patagonian chief Inacayal. Images of flora and fauna include a photograph of the three guanachos Ford sent to Lord Clarendon in 1866, and views of ombú trees (phytolacca dioica), enormous evergreens native to the pampa. Four small photographs were taking at the Estancia Collins in Uruguay during an 1866 hunting trip.

Many of the photographs in the album are by Esteban Gonnet. Other photographs among those currently designated "photographer unknown," may be by Benito Panunzi, although none have yet to have been positively identified as such. Attributions and dates are derived from Luis Priamo, Buenos Aires, ciudad y campaña 1860-1870 / fotografías de Esteban Gonnet, Benito Panunzi y otros (Buenos Aires: Fundación Antorchas, 2000), and are noted as such in the scope and contents note for the individual photograph.

Near the beginning of the album are two cabinet card portraits, one of Utrac by an unidentified photographer, and the other of two indigenous women and their three children by Cézar Bizioli. These appear to have been added to the album at a later date, presumably during Ford's second posting to Buenos Aires in 1878.

Nine photographs are reproductions of lithographs of León Palliere's depictions of life in the Argentine countryside from his Album Palliere, escenas americanas. There are also 20 sheets of pencil tracings, most likely made by Ford, from Palliere's images. In some cases the tracings are juxtaposed in the album with photographs of a similar nature. A few of the sheets of tracings are composites of numerous figures from Palliere's lithographs.

Included at the end of the album are six 1866 banknotes from the Case de Moneda, Buenos Aires and one banknote from 1844. These are followed by a newspaper clipping containing the text of an 1869 letter (also presumably added after the album was initially compiled), regarding Argentine inflation written by Edward F. Davison, Consul General of the Argentine Republic, to George S. Boutwell, Secretary of the US Treasury.

The album is bound in full brown morocco leather with a gilt-stamped title and border on the front cover, gilt edges and marbled end papers. An engraved bookplate on the first leaf, with a coat-of-arms surrounded by a frame bearing the motto "Que sera sera," is inscribed: Francis Clare Ford / Buenos Aires / 1866. Many mounts bear annotations penciled in English, Spanish or French; some are dated.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in a single series: Series I: Album de vistas y costumbres de la provincia de Buenos Aires, 1844-1878.

Biographical / historical:

Sir Francis Clare Ford (1828–1899) was an English career diplomat who was posted throughout Europe, as well as to Washington, DC, and South America. He was secretary of legation in Buenos Aires from 1865 to 1866 during Argentina's war with Uruguay. After several missions in Europe and North America he returned to Argentina in 1878 as envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary tasked with the responsibility for negotiating renewed British-Uruguayan diplomatic ties, the successful conclusion of which led to his appointment as British minister in both Buenos Aires and Montevideo. After an appointment to Brazil in 1879 Ford returned to Europe for the remainder of his career.

Sources consulted:

Priamo, Luis [idea y selección de fotografías], Buenos Aires, ciudad y campaña 1860-1870 / fotografías de Esteban Gonnet, Benito Panunzi y otros. Buenos Aires: Fundación Antorchas, 2000.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Thomas Seccombe, rev. H. C. G. Matthew. "Ford, Sir (Francis) Clare, (1828–1899), diplomatist," http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9858.

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 2016.
Physical location:
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Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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