George William Booker

George William Booker is the subject of this photographic portrait. It was probably made between 1869 and 1871, when he served as a congressional representative from Virginia. Scratched into the emulsion at the top of the negative (and seen written in reverse) is "Hon. Geo. W. Booker." This glass-plate image is part of the Brady-Handy Collection of negatives at the Library of Congress. The collection combines the work of photographers Mathew B. Brady and his nephew Levin D. Handy, who ran a series of photographic studios in Washington, D.C. The majority of the negatives are portraits taken during and after the Civil War, but the collection also includes views of Washington, D.C.