Stereoview Photograph of African American Child Chimney Sweeps in Savannah.
Savannah, Georgia: Launey & Goebel, n.d., likely 1870s–1880s. Stereoview photograph on orange mount, numbered in manuscript “158 Sweeps.” Image shows four African American boys posed with chimney-sweep tools, brushes, and scrapers. Printed verso: “Launey & Goebel, Successors to O. P. Havens, Photographers, 141 and 143 Broughton Street, Savannah, Ga.,” and advertising the firm as publishers of the “largest collection of Southern Views in the United States.”. Light wear, toning, and soiling; very good. Item #List3808
A Savannah stereoview of four African American child chimney sweeps, published by Launey & Goebel as part of their “Southern Views” series. The boys are shown with the tools of the trade, including long brushes and scraping tools, and posed in a studio-like setting for commercial distribution. The verso identifies Launey & Goebel as successors to O. P. Havens, one of the important early photographers of Savannah, and advertises their large stock of Southern views. Chimney sweeping was difficult, dirty, and dangerous work, and in the nineteenth century it was often associated with poor children, apprentices, and racialized labor. In the post-Civil War South, photographs like this also turned Black labor into a marketable regional image for outside viewers.
Price: $750.00