ID: P49022

Untitled, a photograph by Rufus W. Holsinger taken on June 19, 1912. It features an African American family sitting in front of their house in Albemarle county.

It may have been the Barbour family house, once located on Barbour Drive in Charlottesville, Virginia.

*Note: the image is labelled "Untitled" in the library catalogue, and so can't be found if searching by "Barbour Drive" (instead use ID U00332B).

The house is located in the historically African-American neighborhood of Starr Hill. The exact address of the house has been stated to be 100 Barbour Drive; a 2012 assessment of the neighborhood states the house had the address 503 Barbour Drive, and was owned by the Barbour family for over one hundred years (see photo below). 

A later portrait by Holsinger is of a "Maggie Barbour" (taken September 4, 1918); she may be related to (and/or pictured in) the group portrait below. More information is needed to determine her identity/relation to the other Charlottesville Barbours.

Additional information about the house and the sitters will be added as it is researched. 

NOTE that the name with which the portrait is labelled (or, labelled "untitled") is not necessarily the name of the sitter(s) in the portrait, but rather the name of the person who paid for the portrait when it was taken (the date and name associated with each photograph is from the business ledgers of R. W. Holsinger).

 
Sources

- "Untitled," 1912-06-19 photograph in UVA Library Catalogue (U00332B)  

- Pat Edwards, Starr Hill Neighborhood Walking Tour (05-29-2012), Cvillepedia

SEE ALSO:

Holsinger Image Gallery of African Americans

J. F. Bell Funeral Home Records

Charlottesville City Directory, 1914-15 [Hathi Trust] 

1870 & 1910 U. S. Census - Charlottesville & Esmont Communities

100 Barbour Drive, Charlottesville Map Coordinates 

Cite This Entry

First published: January 2, 2020

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