Library of Congress acquires rare trove of Civil War images

March 27, 2015: Texas stereoscopic photography collector Robin Stanford poses for a photograph next to some of her rare Civil War-era stereoscopic photographs at the Library of Congress in Washington. (AP)

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March 27, 2015: A box of of rare Civil War-era stereoscopic photographs is displayed at the Library of Congress in Washington. (AP)

Three boxes of of rare Civil War-era stereoscopic photographs are displayed at the Library of Congress on Friday, March 27, 2015, in Washington. Texas collector Robin Stanford has sold the Library of Congress some of her private collection, including a set of very rare photos of pre-Civil War slave life on a South Carolina plantation, and images from Fort Sumter just after it was seized by the Confederates in April 1861. Stanford says the images are like ghosts from the past that reflect part of American history. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON – A Houston housewife who has quietly collected rare Civil War images for 50 years has sold more than 500 early photographs to the Library of Congress.

The library announced the acquisition Sunday and is placing the first 77 images online. On Friday, 87-year-old Robin Stanford delivered the historic stereograph images from her collection to the library.

Some scenes offer a rare glimpse of slave life in the South from images made by Confederate photographers. Most previous photos showed slaves who were recently freed in the North.

Other parts of Stanford's collection show images of South Carolina at the start of the war. Another set depicts President Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession in 1865.

Stanford says the images are like ghosts from the past that reflect part of American history.

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