Tintype of federal soldiers enjoying coffee and hardtack. Credit: Heritage Auctions.
If you had a choice, which would you give up? Food? Or coffee? As we explore the photography of the Civil War, we are reminded of the difficulties of producing photographs during war, especially with the wet-plate collodion process.
The objective of this homework is 1) to review the wet-plate collodion process, 2) to practice creating a post on our Openlab website, and 3) to post a picture on the OpenLab.
To help better understand the conditions that photographers worked in, this week’s homework explores what Civil War soldiers ate and their dependence on coffee. The typical food ration for a Union soldier included small amounts of meat, coffee, and hardtack (what is hardtack? Look here to find out.) The Union side half-jokingly believed coffee helped fuel their soldiers. Meanwhile, the Confederate South suffered vast food shortages due to strong Union blockades, and resorted to unique recipes (called receipts in the 19th century) to produce coffee substitutes. Read about cooking on the battlefront and the importance of coffee (the word ‘coffee’ appears more frequently than ‘rifle’ or ‘bullet’ in Civil War diaries). To review the wet-plate collodion process, watch the first 3 minutes of a video from the George Eastman House.
- In a 100-word post, share what you think is most fascinating about a Civil War soldier’s diet AND post an image of a food item that you cannot live without. You can link to a photo on the web, or take a picture! 2. Then comment on a fellow student’s photo.
Please make sure you only check off the category #studentHW.
Read about what Union soldiers ate at PBS.org.
Read the NYT’s article “How Coffee Fueled the Civil War”
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR POSTS BY THURSDAY March 8, 2018 — two days AFTER Paper #1 is DUE.
