Ignatius Watsworth Brock (1866-1950) was a photographer, artist, and poet who worked out of New Bern and Asheville, NC. Images that he made roughly between 1889 and 1934 are collected at the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nace Brock made photographs (and drawings) of people and places in North Carolina. Some of the photographic materials in the archive are from glass plates, others from photographic prints.
Some of his portraiture is stunning in how he captured his subjects’ personalities in stillness. Most of the character photographs in the collection are from 1889-1938. During most of that time period, people did not smile for portraits by convention, although in some of the photographs you can see a hint of a smile on the subject’s lips or in her eyes.
Here are a few images extracted from the collection. It’s impossible to view these images without wondering who these people were, what they were thinking, and where they went for the rest of their lives. You can almost reach out and touch them.
Unidentified Girl, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cherokee Woman, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Vashti Circa 1905, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Elaine Circa 1903, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Eleanor Inman, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Innocence Unidentified Girl 1906, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A Lilly Sprite, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Man with Violin, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A Mid-Summer Dream, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Model’s Criticism, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nurses, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Southern Labor, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cornelia and Edith Vanderbilt, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unidentified Child, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unidentified man, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unidentified Men, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unidentified woman, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Unidentified African-American, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Nace Brock, in the Nace Brock Photographic Collection and Related Materials #P0044, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
I love old photo’s. These are good ones.
Thanks! These are really amazing.
Are his photographs worth much? Thank you!
I don’t collect vintage photographs, so I am afraid that I can’t answer your question. You might want to contact the archives at UNC CH (link in my text) and ask. If you have an original print, it might be historically valuable.