Melvin A. Pingree Photograph Album

This album, formerly owned by Melvin A. Pingree, contains photographic portraits of Northwestern University students and professors present in 1865. Much more notably, it also contains autographed photographs of two Union officers in the Civil War, Major General Elliot Warren Rice and Colonel John T Macauley. A third picture is labeled "George Lewis" and may depict Brigadier General George Lewis Gillespie, though this possibility is unverifiable. How Pingree met these men is unclear, though it seems likely that he became acquainted with them during his career in Washington. Several of the men photographed served in Company F of the 134th Illinois Regiment, known as the "University Guards" due to the many Northwestern students present. The photographs were made by multiple photographers, but most were taken by E. R. Gard's Photographic Palace in Chicago. General Rice's portrait, however, was taken by the notable Henry Ulke. Most pictures are undated, though it seems probable that they were taken between the years 1865-1866. Photographs are in the traditional carte-de-visite format.