John Smith Bible & Photographs, 1857-1890

Scope and content:

This series consists of a 19th century bible and eleven photographs taken by several different photographers, including well-known African American Photographer, James Presley (J.P.) Ball (1825-1904). It is unclear who the original owner of the bible was, but it was purchased at the Duck Creek Antique mall in Cincinnati, Ohio by John Smith, a long-time friend of Ms. Mundy. Mr. Smith sent the bible to her as a gift shortly before his death in 2011. The bible is extremely worn and is currently housed in a cloth-covered clamshell storage box. The photographs, originally stored within the bible, have been separated and stored within a pocket in the clamshell box. Of particular interest in this series are the portraits by James Presley (J.P.) Ball, who studied daguerreotype photography with Boston-based photographer, John B. Bailey. After leaving Boston, Ball opened a daguerreotype studio in Cincinnati in 1845. The studio, however, was not successful and Ball was forced to leave Ohio to become a traveling photographer. He traveled frequently and is known to have opened studios in St. Louis, Minneapolis; Helena, Montana; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and finally Honolulu, Hawaii where he died in 1904.

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