Mrs. Elizabeth Fairfax
c. 1875
William F. Ferguson
Artist, American, born Scotland, 1843 - 1926
Artwork overview
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Medium
gelatin silver print (cabinet card)
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Credit Line
Ross J. Kelbaugh Collection, Purchased with support from the Ford Foundation
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Dimensions
image/sheet: 13.9 × 9.9 cm (5 1/2 × 3 7/8 in.)
mount: 16.5 × 10.7 cm (6 1/2 × 4 3/16 in.) -
Accession Number
2023.39.76
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
(sale, mail auction catalogue); Ross Kelbaugh, Marriottsville, MD; NGA purchase, 2023.
Associated Names
Inscriptions
lower left on mount printed in gold: W.F. Ferguson; lower center: WFF; lower right: Clinton, Iowa.; on verso, by Ross Kelbaugh, top right in graphite: 10.20GHH / AF039; center printed in black ink: MRS. ELIZABETH FAIRFAX. / A soldier in the late war for the Union. A scout; and / as an army nurse took care of sick and wounded soldiers in / camps where stationed. Since the war, an old resident of / Clinton, Iowa, and well known. For 24 years she kept a / laundry, and woven rag carpets for a living. By industry / and economy she purchased and is now the owner of a little / homestead. The mother of seven children, she has raised / two. Now advanced in years and feeble in health, she is / no longer able to maintain herself by her former occupation. / To secure a living she now peddles for a grocery store, and / sells her pictures. She served her country faithfully and / is deserving of support.