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Barnard pioneered astrophotography as well as discovering 15 comets and the first non-Galilean moon of Jupiter. His astronomical photographs were published posthumously as A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way (1927) completed by…

While at Lick Observatory, Barnard was the first astronomer to discover a comet using photographic plates. In 1889, he became the first astronomer to observe the eclipse of Saturn's satellite Iapetus. His pioneering astrophotography and discovery of…

The six-month Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition attracted over one-and-a-half-million tourists to see the “Athens of the South.” Despite extensive railway promotion by W.A. Henderson and other railroad executives, attendance was low…

Today when a cellphone holds thousands of photographs, it’s easy to forget that holding a loved one’s image in your hand was until recently, impossible for all but the wealthy. This young woman, posing for her portrait, wears her corset laced to an…

Weiser’s four studios across downtown Knoxville catered to the residents of a booming industrial and violent city in the early 1900s. Railroad expansion after the Civil War connected eastern Tennessee with the rest of the South, bringing Welsh, Swiss…

American parents around 1900 faced issues familiar to parents today, including balancing their children’s needs with their own. While we do not know much about Elizabeth's caretaker Ida, we can see the affectionate gesture of the little girl.…

William Henderson served the Confederate States of America as aid-de-camp on staff of Brigadier-General Leadbetter and later Major-General Heth. Wounded at Petersburg, he was captured and spent four months a prisoner in Washington and upstate New…

Harriet Smiley was born in Vermont in 1838; her family included Revolutionary War officer Colonel John Barrett. She graduated from the Knoxville Female Academy and married William Henderson in November 1866. Harriet’s fashionable dress dates this…

Reverend John W. Tarboux worked in Brazil as a Methodist missionary and high school principal for 37 years. His wife Susan was James Kirkland’s sister. Their son Willie, aged one, wears polka dots. His older sister wears a fancy bonnet. Juiz de Fora,…

By 1880, middle class women enjoyed active new summer sports like archery and tennis. While some players wore fine wool clothes called tuxedo suits, others dressed more casually like Mary Henderson, Robert Clark and their friends. One fan described…