[Photograph of Conjoined Twins]: 2 Headed Girl, Millie Crissie

(McKOY, Millie and Christine)

Verlag: J. H. Fitzgibbon, Photographer, St. Louis, Mo, 1870

Beschreibung

Albumen carte-de-visite photograph. Measures approximately 2½" x 4". Printed title, "2 Headed Girl, Millie Crissie," under the image; photographer's name and address on verso. Slightly faded, a nice, very good or better image. Signed on the back in pencil: "Millie Chrissie." The identically dressed conjoined twins are pictured seated on a rustic bench, each holding a small basket of flowers, with their other arms around two large, difficult to identify objects, perhaps a wooden carving or a branch, which was in turn possibly a component of the Adirondack-style rustic bench. The conjoined twins Millie and Christine McKoy, born enslaved in 1851 in North Carolina to Monimia and Jacob McKay (original spelling). As infants they were sold along with their mother to a series of showmen and put on display. The twins appeared at Barnum's American Museum and toured Europe before returning to America where they lived with a former owner who taught them to read and write. Millie and Christine claimed their freedom with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and retired to a farm in North Carolina, touring occasionally as finances dictated before they succumbed to tuberculosis in 1912. They were often photographed, the photographs were frequently signed (as this one was), likely sold as souvenirs when they were appearing. An unusual image, with the twins caressing a mysterious object. Millie Christine were photographed seemingly innumerable times, but we've never seen this particular pose before. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 556811

Bibliografische Details

Titel: [Photograph of Conjoined Twins]: 2 Headed ...

Verlag: J. H. Fitzgibbon, Photographer, St. Louis, Mo

Erscheinungsdatum: 1870

Einband: Unbound

Zustand: Very Good

Signiert: Signatur des Verfassers