McCrary & Branson

McCrary & Branson was a commercial art gallery and portrait studio that operated for approximately 30 years in the late 19th and early 20th century in Knoxville, Tennessee in the United States. The firm was likely in operation beginning approximately 1875–1880 and ending approximately 1905.[1][2] For much of its history, McCrary & Branson was located at 130 Gay Street, along Knoxville's major commercial thoroughfare.[3] In addition to stereoscopic views,[4] and posed portraits of wealthy whites,[5] they trafficked in a number of racist lithographs depicting blacks in crude and stereotyped scenarios.[6]

Stereoscopic view (verso), McCrary & Branson, photographer (J. Paul Getty Museum)

The panoramic lithographs included titles like "The Last One In's a Nigger," "Ain't Gwine Be No Rine,"[7][8] and "All Coons Look Alike to Me,"[9] the last of which was also a popular song of the day.[10][11] These images were commercially lucrative[12][13][14] for the firm and McCrary & Branson made a point to copyright these images to protect their intellectual property,[15] in one case entering into litigation to defend their claim.[7] The images of the babies in the Alligator Bait photograph were nonetheless plagiarized for "Alligator Bait" postcards published by Curt Teich, et al.[16]

An image called "She Was Bred in Old Kentucky" was "sold for $5,000 to a Louisville firm."[7] The image was heavily used in advertisements and marketing materials for Green River Whiskey, which was distilled in Owensboro, Kentucky.[17][18]

McCrary

Franklin Bell McCrary (November 14, 1849 – April 10, 1921) was an American photographer. He operated McCrary and Branson in partnership with painter Lloyd Branson in Knoxville, Tennessee and later entered the syrup[19] manufacturing business.[20][2] McCrary was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[20] Frank McCrary may have composed the firm's bestselling Alligator Bait lithograph; according to a 1900 feature article about Branson, "His partner showed it to him declaring it would prove popular and had it copyrighted. Branson took no special interest in it but regarding it as clever, perhaps, but rather low art."[14][13] McCrary died in Knoxville of chronic myocarditis and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.[20]

Branson
Main article: Lloyd Branson

Enoch Lloyd Branson (August 8, 1853 – June 12, 1925) was a celebrated painter recognized for his portraits and his "heroic genre scenes."[21] According to the Knoxville Museum of Art, "Branson devised a method of producing vivid portraits based on photographs, which provided his primary income as an artist."[21]

  • Nine dark-skinned African-American children, all naked, several with exposed male genitalia, all appearing to be toddlers between ages one and three, sit or stand in a variety of body positions; original caption reads Alligator bait with a copyright notice by McCrary & Branson of Knoxville, Tennessee dated 1897
    Bridge over Tennessee. Looking South, 1870s, albumen silver print (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of Weston J. and Mary M. Naef)
  • The alligator bait trope was the basis of the commercial appeal of this photograph published by McCrary & Branson, 1897 (British Library)
    The alligator bait trope was the basis of the commercial appeal of this photograph published by McCrary & Branson, 1897 (British Library)
  • McCrary & Branson photo of Joseph A. Mabry II, c. 1880 (Middle Tennessee State University collection)
    McCrary & Branson photo of Joseph A. Mabry II, c. 1880 (Middle Tennessee State University collection)
  • McCrary and Branson photograph of African-American banjo player "Happy John" Woods, date unknown; this image is reproduced on the cover of The Rough Guide to Blues Songsters (Library of Congress collection)
    McCrary and Branson photograph of African-American banjo player "Happy John" Woods, date unknown; this image is reproduced on the cover of The Rough Guide to Blues Songsters[22] (Library of Congress collection)
  • "Posing Study", McCrary & Branson, in The international annual of Anthony's photographic bulletin (Rijksmuseum collection)
    "Posing Study", McCrary & Branson, in The international annual of Anthony's photographic bulletin (Rijksmuseum collection)

References
  1. "Photographs of Joseph Mabry II, and Joseph Mabry III". Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  2. "Knoxville Sentinel 11 Apr 1921, page 13". Newspapers.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  3. "McCrary and Branson (130 Gay Street, Knoxville, Tennessee): Couples". SCOUT - Libraries of University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  4. "Collection: McCrary and Branson Stereographs". Calvin M. McClung Special Collections Catalog, Knoxville Public Library. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  5. "Online Collections | McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture". mcclungmuseum.pastperfectonline.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  6. "Turn-of-the-Century Racist Prints, Including Gimme de Rine". www.cowanauctions.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  7. "The Knoxville Journal 13 Jun 1925, page 11". Newspapers.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  8. "Collection: McCrary & Branson Photographs of African-Americans | SCOUT". scout.lib.utk.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  9. "Collection: McCrary & Branson. New print of panorama photograph (" All Coons Look Alike to me") (copyright 1897) +1 1897 print in old frame | Calvin M. McClung Special Collections Catalog". mcclungcollection.knoxlib.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  10. Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1897). Catalog of Title Entries of Books Etc. July-Dec 1897 No. 314. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
  11. "(BLACK MEMORABILIA) All Coons Look Alike". catalogue.swanngalleries.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  12. Newbury, Darren (October 2016). "REVIEWS: "Through a lens darkly: Black photographers and the emergence of a people" directed by Thomas Allen Harris, and "Civil rights childhood: Picturing liberation in African American photobooks" by Katharine Capshaw". Visual Studies. 31 (4): 356–360. doi:10.1080/1472586X.2015.1123957. ISSN 1472-586X. S2CID 148120961. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  13. Moser, James Henry (1900-04-02). "Branson, of Knoxville, an American Artist Who Really Enjoys His Obscurity". The Journal and Tribune. Knoxville, Tenn. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2023-02-26. Retrieved 2023-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Alligator Bait". The Journal and Tribune. Knoxville, Tenn. 1900-11-25. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-01-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. Catalogue of Title Entries of Books and Other Articles. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1898.
  16. Slate, Claudia (2009). "Wish You Weren't Here: African American Portrayal in Vintage Florida Postcards". In Slate, Claudia; Van Camp, April (eds.). Florida Studies: Proceedings of the 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Florida College English Association. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-4438-1171-2. OCLC 667048214. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09. icon of an open green padlock
  17. "McCrary & Branson Photograph, She Was Bred in Old Kentucky, Featuring African American & his Horse, Used in Green River Whiskey Advertisements". www.cowanauctions.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  18. Veach, Michael R. (2020-09-28). "Brand History – Green River Whiskey". bourbonveachdotcom. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  19. Frank B Mccreary Mccreary Year: 1920; Census Place: Knoxville Ward 2, Knox, Tennessee; Roll: T625_1749; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 81
  20. "Frank B. Mccrary, "Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966"". FamilySearch.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  21. "Higher Ground: A Century of the Visual Arts in East Tennessee" (PDF). Knoxville Museum of Art. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-03-09. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  22. RUSSELLpublished, TONY (December 1, 2015). "Various Artists – The Rough Guide To The Blues Songsters". louder. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
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