Carl Giers
| Carl Giers | |
|---|---|
Self-portrait
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| Born |
April 28, 1828 Bonn, Germany |
| Died | May 24, 1877 (aged 49) Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Resting place |
Mount Olivet Cemetery Nashville, Tennessee |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Political party | Liberal Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Pauline Giers |
| Children | Otto and Katie |
Carl Caspar Giers (April 28, 1828 – May 24, 1877) was a German-born American photographer active primarily in Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-19th century. In documenting Nashville's rapid postwar growth and expansion, he photographed numerous prominent individuals, including political leaders, Civil War generals, and important business and cultural figures. A popular resident of the city, he served one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1874–1875), having been the nominee of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Giers was the adopted father of Otto Giers (1858–1940), who continued the family trade into the 20th century.
Giers was born in Bonn, and immigrated to the United States in 1845. He moved to Nashville in 1852, where he initially he worked as a conductor for the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad (he reportedly piloted the first passenger train in Murfreesboro). In January 1855, he opened a daguerreotype studio at the corner of Deaderick and College streets that featured "powerful side and sky lights" and rooms "fitted up in elegant style," and catered to "the ladies particularly." Later that year, he exhibited his work at Nashville's Mechanics' Fair. In 1859, Giers overhauled his studio and renamed it the "Southern Photographic Temple of Fine Arts." Along with daguerreotypes, the new studio offered ambrotypes and miniatures, and provided photographic enlargement services.
During the Civil War, Giers photographed both Confederate and Union soldiers. After the Union Army occupied Nashville in early 1862, Giers was given a pass to move about freely in the city, and to travel outside the city. By October 1863, he had moved to a new gallery on Union Street, selling his old gallery to Thomas Saltsman. In late 1865, Giers became a founding member of the German Union Committee, which cooperated with the American Central Union Committee to "secure the election of competent and uncompromising Union men to the offices of the State."
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