Work

South Carolina Institute Hall, Charleston, S.C.

A street view of Institute Hall, Charleston, on a stereograph.

Institute Hall — Secession Hall — flanked by the Circular Church on the left and the Teetotal restaurant on the right, photographed about 1860 and published by Quinby & Co. at 261 King Street.

This one object carries three separate facts that are easy to collapse into one: who made the negative, who printed and sold the card, and where the shop was. Keep them apart and the Charleston trade becomes legible.

On the attribution

The photographer attribution is from Harvey S. Teal, Partners with the Sun, as recorded by the Library of Congress. The imprint on the mount is Quinby’s: the firm that sold the card is not the firm that made the negative.

The repository’s notes

Photographer attribution from Teal, Harvey S. Partners with the sun. Purchase; Robin Stanford; 2015.

The record

Title, as catalogedSouth Carolina Institute Hall, Charleston, S.C.
Photographerno photographer identified
FirmOsborn & Durbec’s Southern Stereoscopic & Photographic Depot
Published byQuinby & Co.
AttributionAttributed
Date, as catalogedCharleston, S.C. : Quinby & Co., 261 King Street [ca. 1860]
PlaceInstitute Hall, Meeting Street
Controlling forceConfederate-held
Processalbumen print on card mount
Formatstereograph
Dimensionsmount 17 x 8 cm
Negative or printprint
CollectionThe Robin G. Stanford Collection
Call numberLOT 14110-11, no. 59 [P&P]
Reproduction numberLC-DIG-stereo-1s04564 (front); LC-DIG-stereo-2s04564 (back)
Inscription on the mountQuinby & Co., 261 King Street
RepositoryLibrary of Congress
Credit lineLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
RightsNo known restrictions on publication
Rights advisory, verbatimNo known restrictions on publication.
Catalog recordhttps://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2015651360/
ConfidenceVerified
Last verified2026-08-30

Sources

  • Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/
  • Harvey S. Teal, Partners with the Sun: South Carolina Photographers, 1840–1940 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2001).