Postwar continuation

George LaGrange Cook

George S. Cook’s elder son, who learned photography from his father and ran the Charleston studio after the war. He belongs in this section as the postwar continuation of a wartime business, and is listed here so that his 1880s Charleston negatives are not mistaken for wartime ones.

The South Caroliniana Library, which holds his glass plate negatives of Charleston and Summerville, dates the collection to the 1880s and early 1890s and describes him as the son of the Civil War photographer George Smith Cook, from whom he learned the art. He lived in Charleston and then Summerville before leaving about 1892 to join his father in Richmond.

The Dictionary of Virginia Biography records that his father closed the Charleston studio in 1891, the elder son having been managing it, and that the Valentine bought the family collection — the work of George S. Cook and of both sons — in 1946 and 1954.

The Charleston connection

His Charleston is the Charleston of twenty years after the shelling: steeples, storefronts and houses photographed for their own sake. It is a valuable record and it is not a wartime one, and the distinction is the reason he has a page here at all.

War service and standing

None. He was a child during the war.

Process and equipment

Dry-plate glass negatives, the process that replaced wet collodion.

Attribution

Because father and son share a surname, a studio and a city, Charleston photographs signed Cook require a date before they can be assigned. A Cook photograph of Charleston is not necessarily a wartime photograph, and one of the 1880s is almost certainly the son’s.

They share an address as well, which is a trap. He is recorded at 281 King Street and later at 265 King, and Ford’s census of 1861 puts his father at 265 King — but King Street was renumbered twice between those dates, so the two 265s are not evidence of the same building.

Career

1849Born, the elder son of George S. Cook. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina Dictionary of Virginia Biography
1880s–early 1890sPhotographs Charleston and Summerville on glass. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
1891The Charleston studio, which he had been managing, is closed. Dictionary of Virginia Biography
about 1892Leaves for Richmond to join his father. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina

Do not confuse with

George Smith Cook — His father, the wartime photographer.
Huestis Pratt Cook — His half-brother, also a photographer, in Richmond.

Working locations

George S. Cook’s gallery235 King Street · 1852–Located to a stretch of one street

Where the work is

South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina George LaGrange Cook Photograph Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.
Dictionary of Virginia Biography The Cook Collection at the Valentine, Richmond.

Statement by statement

Every material claim on this page, with its standing and its source. A statement the record does not support is shown as unavailable rather than filled in.

VerifiedSon of George S. Cook; learned photography from him.South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
VerifiedHis Charleston and Summerville glass negatives date from the 1880s and early 1890s.South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
UnverifiedBorn 1849, died 1919.no source
Information unavailableAny wartime photographic activity.no source

Sources

“George LaGrange Cook Photograph Collection,” South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina Digital Collections. https://digital.library.sc.edu/collections/george-lagrange-cook-photograph-collection/
“George Smith Cook (23 February 1819–27 November 1902),” Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Library of Virginia, Richmond. https://old.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Cook_George_Smith
Stephen Davis and Jack W. Melton Jr., 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War (Charleston: Historical Publications LLC, 2020).