CDV – Sister of Charity Image By “Gorman & Jordan, Army Photographers” SOLD

Description

CDV – Sister of Charity Image By “Gorman & Jordan, Army Photographers”

This portrait of a catholic woman was photographed by Gorman & Jordan, Army Photographers on January 10, 1864. She is most likely one of the “Sisters of Charity” who provided much deeded care to both sides of the Civil War, in a multitude of ways. This woman wears a cape, and leaves exposed her cross hung around her neck.

In fine condition.

Gil Barrett Collection.

“The Sisters of Charity was a Catholic religious order that provided volunteer nurses, and became highly visible, during the American Civil War. Several hundred Catholic sister nurses served; they supported both the Union and Confederacy by caring for soldiers from both armies……. they cared for soldiers, worked at the direction of surgeons and alongside lay relief workers….. Many women responded to the unprecedented suffering and cataclysmic conditions of the Civil War in a multitude of ways, and philanthropy was forever changed as a result. Wartime benevolence provided templates for large-scale voluntary organizations, illuminated the issue of payment for charity workers, moved the practice of philanthropy from individual to institutional, and led to the development of nursing as a profession…….”      (Ref: The Sisters of Charity in Nineteenth-Century America: Civil War Nurses and Philanthropic Pioneers, by Katherine E. Coon;  Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis).