- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

- The first monument to Mary Washington looked this way. Begun in 1833, the memorial was replaced in 1894 by a granite obelisk.

Photographer's archive yields previously unseen post-Civil War views of Fredericksburg. By Robert K. Krick

Date published: 12/17/2005

N THE FALL of 2004, the annual issue of the local journal Fredericksburg History and Biography printed a dozen images taken in 1874 by photographer F. Theodore Miller and released as stereoviews. Those extremely important historic views focused on battlefield scenes, but also illustrated other buildings and sites in and around Fredericksburg.

Most of them had never been published before, nor even seen by modern historians and residents of the region. Fredericksburg collector Jerry Brent had purchased the stereoviews at auction, and allowed their reproduction in Fredericksburg History and Biography.

Backmarks on the stereoviews listed by name several other scenes in the series, in addition to those actually among the photographs discovered in 2004. Eric J. Mink, the accomplished Fredericksburg historian who wrote last year's article explaining the freshly discovered photographs, concluded by expressing the fond hope that some of those missing views would turn up eventually.

Amazingly, that happened within a fortnight after the 2004 journal appeared. Fredericksburg antiques dealer and bookman Bill Beck acquired nearly 200 Miller photos from an estate in Mathews County, and conveyed most of them to Jerry Brent. The prints proved to be the photographer's personal archive, Miller having moved from Fredericksburg to the Northern Neck and eventually to Mathews County.

Fourteen views from the latest Miller collection richly illustrate the newly released 2005 version--volume IV in the series of annual releases of Fredericksburg History and Biography. Several of them accompany this review. Historian Mink again wrote the accompanying journal article, which he titled "Southern Exposure: Miller's Photographic Images of Fredericksburg, Part II."

Mink traces photographer Miller's family to origins in Prussia, from whence they emigrated to Michigan before settling in 1853 just west of Five-Mile Fork in Spotsylvania County. By 1868, Theo, as Miller called himself, was practicing the photographic trade in Fredericksburg. The next year, he married a Morrison girl from near Salem Church. Early in 1870, the photographic business moved into a building on Main Street.

For almost a decade, Theo Miller monopolized the photographic trade in town, but in 1880 a competing Baltimorean set up business on the same street. Ten years later, at least six photographic artists operated in Fredericksburg; by then, Miller had moved on down the Northern Neck. He had been working intermittently in that vicinity already, and after the death of his first wife and their baby, he had married a Heaths-ville teenager.

For many more decades, Theo Miller photographed people and places on the Northern Neck, and eventually in Mathews County. Early in the 20th century, he bought what apparently was the first automobile ever owned in Mathews County. His archive contains many images of primitive cars and of other machinery (some of which he invented and patented).

Tomorrow afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m., Beck's Antiques and Books at 708 Caroline St. in Fredericksburg will host a book-signing event for the release of the 2005 issue of Fredericksburg History and Biography. Most of the authors will be present to autograph copies. Back issues of the journal will be available, too, including last year's issue that printed several of the Miller photographs discovered during 2004. A large selection of the original stereoview photographs will also be on display at Beck's during the one-day event.

Date published: 12/17/2005