[Portrait of Millie and Christine McCoy] [graphic] / Ollivier, [Photo]. New York.
Title
[Portrait of Millie and Christine McCoy]
Description
Full-length portrait of the African American co-joined twins and performers. The women are attired in striped-patterned shirtwaists, a white ankle-length skirt with a black lace overlay, and black high-heeled boots with white stripes. Each wears a white neckerchief, and an adornment in her pulled back hair. Millie (on the left) holds a white fan in her hands. A backdrop and ornate, wooden pedestal with a book resting on it are visible in the background. The end of a drape partially covers the book. In the left, another wooden prop is partially visible. The twins, born enslaved, were exhibited nationally and internationally under various owners and managers. By the end of the 1880s the twins retired to a farm in their home state of North Carolina., Title supplied by cataloger., Photographer's imprint printed on mount., Date inferred from age of sitters and active dates of photographer in New York., Printed on verso: I was born in the State of North Carolina, Columbus Co., Anno Domini, 1851. And pronounced by scientists to be the 8th wonder of the world. / 'Tis not modest of one's self to speak,/ Buts, daily scanned from head to feet,/ I freely talk of everything,/ Sometimes to persons wondering./ Some people say I must be two!/The doctors say it is not true,/Some cry out humbug, till they see,/ And then exclaim, "great mystery."/ Two heads, four arms, four feet,/ All in one perfect body meet./I am most wonderfully made, /All scientific men have said./ None like me since the days of Eve,/ None such perhaps shall ever live./ If marvel to myself am I,/Why not to all pass me by?/ I am happy too, because content;/ For some wise purpose I was sent./ Our maker knows what he has done,/ Whether I'm created two or one./ Respectfully, Millie Christine. The Carolina twin, surnamed the 2-headed Nightingale., Mount trimmed., See History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl:...(Buffalo, N.Y.: Warren, Johnson, & Co., 1869). (LCP Am 1869 Hist, 70318.D)., See LCP AR (Annual Report) 2015, p.42-43., Lib. Company. Annual Report, 2018, p. 61., RVCDC, Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Horace Ollivier operated a New York studio beginning around 1881 at 779 Broadway.
Creator
Ollivier, Horace, photographer
Date
[ca. 1881]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cdv portraits - sitter - Millie [P.2018.28]