"Pigeon Farm Egan," three photographs taken by Rufus W. Holsinger on May 2, 1913. 

The photograph below shows an apple harvest in Albemarle county; no identifying information is known, aside from the title ("Pigeon Farm Egan") by which the photograph was labelled in the Holsinger ledgers. The other two photographs show the pigeons and outbuildings.

Presumably, the African American invididuals (and the others shown) were laborers involved in the harvest. 

The photograph is included here in that, although not a posed portrait of African Americans, it shows actual interactions between white and black citizens at a time when segregation due to Jim Crow laws was in play. It is highly valuable in providing "visual evidence" of that lived environment.

At the same time, this photo itself appears to have been a posed apple-picking image: nonetheless, it is still an important piece of visual evidence (if posed, it is still aiming to depict a "typical instance" of life). 

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

- "Pigeon Farm Egan," 1913-05-02 photograph in UVA Library Catalogue (X01314B2)  

  
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

Cite This Entry

First published: January 2, 2021

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