Carl Caspar Giers was a Kingdom of Prussia-born American photographer active primarily in Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-19th century.
22 Facts About Carl Giers
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Carl Giers was born in Bonn, and immigrated to the United States in 1845.
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Carl Giers moved to Nashville in 1852, where he initially he worked as a conductor for the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.
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Carl Giers was a member of the inaugural Board of Directors of the Tennessee Colonial and Immigration Society in 1866, and served as President of the German Immigration Society during the same period.
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Carl Giers was a frequent presence at Nashville German-American festivals and events during this period, and was "Worshipful Master" of the Masons' Germania Lodge.
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In March 1872, Carl Giers signed a petition calling on state Republicans to send delegates to the Liberal Republican convention in Cincinnati.
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In June 1872, Carl Giers presided over a Nashville German-American convention that endorsed Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley for president.
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Carl Giers opposed repudiation of the state's out-of-control debt, and argued in favor of reorganizing the state bureaucracy to eliminate unnecessary offices.
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Carl Giers continued to champion immigration, and called for the state to appoint a commissioner to advertise Tennessee in Europe.
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Carl Giers served only one term, and did not seek reelection.
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Carl Giers' adopted son, Otto Carl Giers, took up photography in 1883, and continued the trade into the early 20th century.
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Carl Giers initially worked with daguerreotypes, but was offering ambrotypes and miniatures by the end of the 1850s.
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Carl Giers offered colored photographs as early as 1864.
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Carl Giers made frequent trips to the eastern United States, where he acquainted himself with the latest photographic techniques.
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Carl Giers kept a negative of each photograph, and provided patrons with a unique number that would allow them to easily order a duplicate at any time.
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At its height, Carl Giers' studio employed over two dozen artists, assistants, and other workers.
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Colonel Lee Crandall, a former officer in the Confederate Army, managed the studio when Carl Giers was away on trips.
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Prominent individuals photographed by Giers included presidents Andrew Johnson and Ulysses S Grant, former First Lady Sarah Childress Polk, governors Isham G Harris, William G Brownlow, and John C Brown, and numerous railroad executives and other business officials.
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Carl Giers displayed his photographs at various fairs in the Nashville region.
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Carl Giers nearly swept the photography prizes at the Tennessee Agricultural and Mechanic Association Fair in October 1871.
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Carl Giers exhibited his work at the Vienna Exposition in 1873 and the United States Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
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Carl Giers's photographs are now part of the collections of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, the Calvin M McClung Collection in Knoxville, and the New York Public Library.