Plantation View: A Barracoon with Groups, Cuba — E. & H. T. Anthony

A group stands and squats outside a building with square porch posts, dark open bays and a broad seamed roof. Brimmed hats, headwraps and light clothing stand out against the shaded interior; cut stalks and other plant debris cover the foreground. The paired photographs are mounted on an orange card with rounded corners.

The reverse label belongs to the series “SCENES IN CUBA.—VISTAS CUBANAS.” Its printed title is No. 74, “Plantation View. A Barracoon, with groups, &c.,” accompanied by a Spanish caption. This identifies a Cuban plantation setting but names neither the estate nor the people shown.

The label has been altered by hand: the printed 74 appears struck through in purple, with 68 written beside it. Pencil strokes cross portions of the printed captions, and the alternatives “The Nooning” and “El descanso / al Medio-dia” appear at the right. A faint pencil caption along the front also refers to a barracoon. The source and date of these changes are unknown, and no legible number within the photographs resolves the competing numbers.

The face mount bears the imprint of E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., 591 Broadway, New York; the reverse label reads “Published by E. Anthony, 501 Broadway, New-York.” A separate trade label names A. Southard of Picton, Ontario, advertising cabinet organs, melodeons, music, books, furniture and pictures. These markings document the publisher and a commercial association, but do not identify the photographer or establish a date.

A curved surface crack crosses the lower portion of the left photograph, and several small pale surface blemishes mark the dark upper-left area of the right photograph. The reverse has patchy brown staining; otherwise sound.