Library of Congress acquires rare Civil War images

WASHINGTON -- A Houston housewife who quietly collected rare Civil War images for 50 years has sold more than 500 early photographs to the Library of Congress.

The library announced the acquisition Sunday and is placing the first 77 images online.

On Friday, 87-year-old Robin Stanford delivered the historic stereograph images from her collection to the library.

Some scenes offer a rare glimpse of slave life in the South from images made by Confederate photographers. Most previous photos showed slaves who recently were freed in the North.

Other parts of Stanford's collection show images of South Carolina at the start of the war.

A rare Civil War-era stereoscopic photograph depicting free African-American women and their babies at a plantation on St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina, is displayed in a stereoscope. (Andrew Harnik ~ Associated Press)

Another set depicts President Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession in 1865.

Stanford says the images are like ghosts from the past that reflect part of American history.

The images may be seen online at www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=robin+stanford+collection&st=gallery.