Blind Tom portrait drawing

Archive record

Historical portrait of Thomas 'Blind Tom' Wiggins, renowned 19th-century African-American pianist and musical prodigy, circa 1880. Public domain photograph.

About this photograph

Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins was an African-American pianist and musical prodigy who became renowned in the nineteenth century. The archive dates this portrait drawing to 1880.

The creator of the drawing is not known. The record describes the image as a historical portrait but provides no further detail about the circumstances of its creation or where it was originally published.

The photograph comes to the archive through California Revealed, a statewide programme that digitises holdings from libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across California and makes them publicly accessible. Material tagged with this source was digitised at one of many participating local institutions in the state rather than necessarily originating there.

The archive classifies the image under subject headings including the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive and Americana, reflecting its documentation of a significant figure in American musical history.

Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.

Rights & Attribution

Explore

More from the 1880s

[Tennessee Claflin, Lady Cook, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right]

1880

[Unidentified Civil War veteran with medals and G.A.R. Post No. 35, Wauseon, Ohio, ribbon]

1880

[James Holding, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left]

1880

[James Graham, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left]

1880

[Portrait of the Grant family above a piano in the Red Room of the White House]

1880

[Aleksandr Yagodkin, half-length portrait, facing slightly left]

1880