[Harry and Eliza Stephens and Their Children]
![[Harry and Eliza Stephens and Their Children]](/internal/media/dispatcher/360446/preview)
Artist
George Jefferson Gable(American, 1823–1900)American, 1823–1900
CultureAmerican
Titles
- [Harry and Eliza Stephens and Their Children]
Date1866
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 2 7/16 × 3 5/8 in. (6.2 × 9.2 cm)
Sheet: 2 7/16 × 3 5/8 in. (6.2 × 9.2 cm)
Mount: 4 × 5 1/16 in. (10.1 × 12.8 cm)
Sheet: 2 7/16 × 3 5/8 in. (6.2 × 9.2 cm)
Mount: 4 × 5 1/16 in. (10.1 × 12.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors
Object number2020.136.1
Non exposé
Explore Further
Department
PhotographyObject Type
Despite its small
size, this modest family portrait is monumental in its meaning—a poignant episode
in the journey of African Americans. Harry and Eliza Stephens and their
children—Quinn, Fanny, Ellen, Dora, and Tim—were enslaved at Liberty Hall, home
of Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy. Having
survived slavery and the Civil War when so many other families were broken and
dispersed, they present themselves as a proud, loving, and indivisible family
unit. At the right edge, George the gardener and stable man at the nearby Crawfordville
school holds a United States flag.
Provenance[Swann Auction Galleries, Printed & Manuscript African Americana, May 7, 2020, Sale 2534, Lot 260]; purchased by MFAH, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in black ink, verso: Group of Servants of Vice Pres[iden]t Alex[ande]r
H. Stephens taken in 1866 in
the grove at Liberty Hall, Ga.
1. Harry the Manager.
2. Quinn the boy baby.
3 Aunt Eliza the cook.
4. Fanny youngest girl.
5. Ellen, the housemaid
6. Dora, second girl.
7. Tim the house boy
8. George, with [U.S.] flag, gardener and stable man.
Crawfordville School.
Biographer of
Stephens Henry M. Cleveland.
H. Stephens taken in 1866 in
the grove at Liberty Hall, Ga.
1. Harry the Manager.
2. Quinn the boy baby.
3 Aunt Eliza the cook.
4. Fanny youngest girl.
5. Ellen, the housemaid
6. Dora, second girl.
7. Tim the house boy
8. George, with [U.S.] flag, gardener and stable man.
Crawfordville School.
Biographer of
Stephens Henry M. Cleveland.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
![[Papers of Alexander H. Stephens and the Family of Harry and Eliza Stephens]](/internal/media/dispatcher/359449/thumbnail)
Various Artists
1866–1907
Letters and manuscripts
2020.136.1-.6.A-.M
![[Mary and Julia Jackson (Later Mary Louisa Fischer and Julia Prinsep Stephens)]](/internal/media/dispatcher/411356/thumbnail)
James Mudd
1857–1858
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.1107
Unknown American
c. 1875
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2020.136.4
Keystone View Company
c. 1914
Gelatin silver stereograph
2004.1220.19
![[Julia Jackson (Later Julia Prinsep Stephen)]](/internal/media/dispatcher/421300/thumbnail)
Unknown British
mid-1860s
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2023.1108
Herbert George Ponting
1907
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2026.12