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Frederick West Lander

Frederick West Lander
Artist
Mathew B. Brady, 1823? - 15 Jan 1896
Sitter
Frederick West Lander, 17 Dec 1821 - 2 Mar 1862
Date
c. 1857
Type
Photograph
Medium
Half-plate ambrotype
Dimensions
Image: 11.5 × 8.8cm (4 1/2 × 3 7/16")
Case Open: 15.5 × 24.8 × 1cm (6 1/8 × 9 3/4 × 3/8")
Case Closed: 15.5 × 12.2 × 2cm (6 1/8 × 4 13/16 × 13/16")
Topic
Interior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie\Bowtie
Frederick West Lander: Male
Frederick West Lander: Natural Resource Occupations\Explorer
Frederick West Lander: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Civil War\Union Army
Frederick West Lander: Science and Technology\Engineer
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; purchase funded by the photography acquisitions endowment established by the Joseph L. and Emily K. Gidwitz Memorial Foundation
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2016.53
Exhibition Label
Civil engineer Frederick W. Lander played a pivotal role in facilitating overland migration in mid-nineteenth-century America. In 1858, after serving as the lead scout for the central route of the transcontinental railroad, he surveyed and oversaw construction in the Wyoming Territory of the Lander Trail—a lengthy segment of the first national wagon road.
Lander is believed to have posed for this portrait in 1857––the year Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson appointed him to serve as chief engineer for the survey team tasked with developing the route for the wagon road.
El ingeniero civil Frederick W. Lander tuvo un papel crucial en la viabilización de la migración por tierra en Estados Unidos a mediados del siglo XIX. En 1858, luego de fungir como explorador principal en la ruta central del ferrocarril transcontinental, Lander exploró terrenos en el Territorio de Wyoming y supervisó la construcción en ellos del Lander Trail, un extenso segmento del primer camino nacional para el tránsito de carretas.
Se cree que Lander posó para este retrato en 1857, año en que el secretario de asuntos interiores, Jacob Thompson, lo nombró ingeniero jefe del equipo de agrimensores encargado de desarrollar la ruta de la carretera.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view