Beschreibung:

CDV seated portrait of Harper's Weekly editor, George M. Curtis, sporting unruly sideburns and patterned pants. Credited on verso to Gurney & Son, New York, along with penciled identification. George William Curtis (1824-1892) was a progressive thinker, writer, and speaker inspired by the Transcendentalist Movement and spurred to action by the many civil rights issues prevalent in nineteenth-century American society and politics. As a young man, Curtis spent time living among fellow transcendentalist thinkers in the utopian community of Brook Farm, and among foreign people from a number of backgrounds during his travels across Europe, Egypt, and Syria. Having these disparate life experiences under his belt, Curtis returned to the United States, settling down in Staten Island and turning his attention to affecting the changes he hoped to see in his own community. Curtis not only produced written content for the Tribune, Putnam's Magazine, and Harper's Weekly, but he also wrote six popular books and performed gripping speeches as a founder of the Republican Party, most notably including his famous "Doctrine of Liberty" speech at Harvard University on behalf of President Lincoln. Curtis became the political editor of Harper's Weekly in 1863, and continued turning down offers to serve in political offices until 1871 when he was appointed to lead the first federal Civil Service Commission by Ulysses S. Grant. Thus upon his death in 1892, Curtis left a legacy of written works, powerful orations, and federal reforms all reflecting his strong views in favor of abolition, civil rights, women's suffrage, public education, and environmental conservation. Condition: CDV with light surface soil and light wear to edges, with one quite noticeable spot to left edge. Appears to be clipped along bottom edge.