Albumen print carte de visite on card mount with blue double-ruled border, titled in script beneath the image "Lerning is Wealth." New York: Charles Paxson, 1864. Mount measures approx. 2 1/2 x 4 in. Retains on the reverse an orange 2-cent George Washington U.S. Internal Revenue proprietary stamp alongside printed copyright notice, distribution notice for H.N. Bent (No. 1 Mercer Street), and purpose statement: "The nett (sic) proceeds from the sale of these Photographs will be devoted to the education of Colored People in the Department of the Gulf, now under the command of Major General Banks."

Perhaps the most iconic Civil War abolitionist fundraising image, designed to celebrate universal literacy.

The tableau captures an adult African American freedman seated comfortably in a swivel chair, an open book resting in his hands as he reads attentively with children gathered around him. Resting beside his knees and seated on the floor are three former slave children, brought north from New Orleans as part of the National Freedman's Relief Association campaign, studying books and slates in quiet contemplation. The spelling of "Lerning" instead of "Learning" was an intentional 19th-century stylistic choice meant to mimic folk vernacular, signaling the earnest quest of newly emancipated people acquiring literacy against generations of legal prohibition.

Produced by New York photographer Charles Paxson in 1864 under copyright by S. Tackaberry, this photograph formed part of the celebrated propaganda and fundraising initiative organized during Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks’ command of the Department of the Gulf. The funds raised from sales in Northern cities were channeled directly toward building freedmen schools and educating newly emancipated African Americans in Union-occupied Louisiana. Surviving examples retaining clean mounts, sharp printed captions remain highly desirable to early photography and black history collectors.

[Carte de Visite, CDV, African Americana, Lerning is Wealth, Charles Paxson, Nathaniel P. Banks, Department of the Gulf, Freedman Schools, Emancipation, Abolitionist, Civil War Propaganda, Revenue Stamp, New Orleans, 1864, 19th Century Photography]

Very good condition. The print exhibits warm sepia tones and sharp focal resolution. The mount remains exceptionally crisp, with untrimmed borders. Verso is excellent with bold typography and an undisturbed (but cancelled) two-cent orange revenue stamp.