Collection Contents

The scrapbooks are fragile and access to the originals is restricted; please use the digital surrogates in the Huntington Digital Library.

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.

The second scrapbook spans 78 pages and contains nearly 380 images. Taylor dedicated the second scrapbook primarily to Union Generals, officers, and their staffs. The most frequently reoccurring image in this volume is that of General Philip Sheridan, who Taylor followed for some time as a special artist for Leslie’s Illustrated Magazine. There exists no particular order in which the officers are presented, but Taylor tends to use about a page or two for each. Notably, this scrapbook also contains a set of views of Confederate soldiers drilling and at rest near Pensacola, Florida, by photographer J. D. Edwards. At the end of the volume is a folder containing several loose pencil and pen-and-ink sketches by Taylor (eph. 1-10). A couple of the sketches appear to be in a finished state, while others are possibly preparatory sketches.

The third scrapbook contains around 410 images spread over 60 pages. Taylor used this scrapbook to catalog images and other material relating to the Union and Confederate Navies. This volume holds many steel engraving and woodblock prints of naval officers. Print material in this scrapbook also lists many of the sailors killed at sea and includes an exhaustive descriptive list of Union vessels.

The most frequently covered event in this scrapbook is the Battle of Hampton Roads.