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Collection

Bourne and Shepherd Indian Mounted Prints Collection, 1860-1869

81 items

The archive contains 81 black & white albumen silver prints depicting colonial Indian architectural monuments (mosques, tombs, and palaces). Most of the photos include the photographer’s name, print number, and image description at the print’s bottom right corner. However, approximately 37 of the photos are unattributed. All but one print are mounted on board and include hand written identifications describing the image in English.

The Bourne and Shepherd Indian Mounted Prints collection contains 81 mounted albumen photographs taken by the members of the Bourne and Shepherd partnership during the latter half of the 19th century in India. The photographs depict architectural monuments throughout India, including mosques, tombs, and palaces.

Collection

Brearley-Pingree Collection, ca. 1860s-1949

approximately 166 photographs, 36 manuscript items, and 2 bound volumes

The Brearley-Pingree collection consists of approximately 166 autographed photographs of notable individuals that were originally compiled by Detroit-based newspaperman William H. Brearley and later added to by Detroit mayor and Governor of Michigan Hazen S. Pingree. In addition to the photographic materials, 36 manuscript items and two bound volumes are also included in the collection.

The Brearley-Pingree collection consists of approximately 166 autographed photographs of notable individuals that were originally compiled by Detroit-based newspaperman William H. Brearley and later added to by Detroit mayor and Governor of Michigan Hazen S. Pingree. An additional 36 manuscript items and 2 bound volumes are also included in the collection.

The collection appears to have been first started by Brearley during the mid-1860s, possibly during or immediately after his Civil War service. He seems to have solicited the autographs of a variety of famous individuals (including authors, performers, musicians, scientists, spiritual leaders, politicians, foreign rulers, and military officers) primarily by mailing them photographs of themselves and requesting their signatures. Possession of the collection appears to have been transferred to Pingree at some point, and he continued to make further contributions. Pingree’s daughter Hazel retained possession of the collection after her father’s death before eventually donating it to the Clements Library. All components of the collection are stored together in one box.

While most portraits in the collection are original studio photographs taken by a variety of photographers including Mathew Brady and Napoleon Sarony, a relatively small number of photographic reproductions of non-photographic portraits are also present (including depictions of James Monroe, Stonewall Jackson, and Henry and Clara Ford).

Volume 1: Brearley collection reproduction souvenir album

This album (16.5 x 15 cm) has green leather covers with lines of poetry from Henry W. Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life stamped in gold on the front. An index included at the beginning lists the names of 96 individuals represented across the album’s 24 pages. After the index, a passage written by William H. Brearley and dated August 1st 1874 explains that he created a limited number of facsimile copies of his original autographed portrait collection at the “urgent solicitation” of many interested friends. Brearley also explains that he acquired the original photographs and autographs in his collection “by long and patient effort, & tending over a period of ten years, and involving an expense of several Hundred dollars.” Subsequent album pages each contain four individually pasted 5.5 x 4 cm albumen print photographic reproductions of original portraits found in Brearley’s collection. This item was acquired from a separate source and was not part of the original collection of materials donated to the Clements Library by Hazel Hope Pingree Mills.

Volume 2: Brearley-Pingree collection original album

This album (30 x 26 cm) has brown leather covers and the words “Portraits. Autographs” and “Brearley” stamped in gold on the spine. The original autographed portraits of the Brearley-Pingree collection were once housed in this album before Clements Library staff removed the original photographs and substituted them with photocopies in 2010 for conservation and preservation purposes. Manuscript captions were also added by Clements Library staff. The original photographs are housed separately in smaller boxes and have been arranged according to size/format and ordered alphabetically by subject surname. See below for a complete list of photographic subjects contained in each box.

Of additional interest are three manuscript items, including the clipped signature of Hyacinthe Loyson and an October 15th 1873 letter from Henry W. Longfellow containing the same lines of poetry from A Psalm of Life that appear on the cover of the Brearley collection souvenir album. Also present is a letter from Buckingham Palace sent to Brearley in 1873 by Sir Thomas Biddulph explaining that the “enclosed Photograph” of Queen Victoria is being returned but that “The Queen’s Autograph is never given away.” Three wax seals are also included in the volume including an “Imperial Chancellor’s seal” (associated with a portrait of Otto von Bismarck); “the Napoleon Seal” (associated with a portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte); and a Great Seal of the Realm attached to the 1873 letter from Buckingham Palace.

Box 1.1: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, A-E

This box contains 47 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

  • Adams, Charles Francis, 1807-1886.
  • Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873.
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.
  • Anderson, Richard Heron, 1821-1879.
  • Anderson, Robert, 1805-1871.
  • Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906.
  • Bancroft, George, 1800-1891.
  • Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.
  • Barrett, Lawrence, 1838-1891.
  • Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893.
  • Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887.
  • Billings, Josh, 1818-1885. [Henry Wheeler Shaw]
  • Birney, David Bell, 1825-1864.
  • Bishop, Anna, 1810-1884. [Anna Riviere Schultz]
  • Bismarck, Otto, Fürst von, 1815-1898.
  • Bonaparte, Jérôme, King of Westphalia, 1784-1860.
  • Bonner, Robert, 1824-1899.
  • Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893.
  • Breckinridge, John C. (John Cabell), 1821-1875.
  • Bright, John, 1811-1889.
  • Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878.
  • Buchanan, James, 1791-1868.
  • Bülow, Hans von, 1830-1894.
  • Bunker, Chang, 1811-1874. [in portrait with Eng Bunker]
  • Bunker, Eng, 1811-1874. [in portrait with Chang Bunker]
  • Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881. [two portraits included]
  • Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893.
  • Carleton, Will, 1845-1912.
  • Chapin, E. H. (Edwin Hubbell), 1814-1880.
  • Clem, John Lincoln, 1851-1937.
  • Clough, J. E. (John Everett), 1836-1910.
  • Coan, Titus, 1801-1882.
  • Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885.
  • Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889.
  • Cook, Eliza, 1818-1889.
  • Coombs, Jane, 1842- .
  • Curtis, George William, 1824-1892.
  • Cushman, Charlotte, 1816-1876.
  • Dana, Charles A. (Charles Anderson), 1819-1897.
  • Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
  • Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889.
  • Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932.
  • Dix, John A. (John Adams), 1798-1879.
  • Doré, Gustave, 1832-1883.
  • Doubleday, Abner, 1819-1893.
  • Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895.
  • Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
  • Emory, William H. (William Hemsley), 1811-1887.

Box 1.2: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, F-N

This box contains 46 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

  • Farragut, David Glasgow, 1801-1870.
  • Ferrero, Edward, 1831-1899.
  • Field, Cyrus W. (Cyrus West), 1819-1892.
  • Field, Kate, 1838-1896. [Mary Katherine Keemle Field]
  • Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874.
  • Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821-1877.
  • Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
  • Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879.
  • Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898.
  • Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885.
  • Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872.
  • Greenwood, Grace, 1823-1904. [Sarah Jane Clarke Lippincott]
  • Hall, John, 1829-1898.
  • Halleck, H. W. (Henry Wager), 1815-1872.
  • Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824-1886.
  • Hay, John, 1838-1905.
  • Heintzelman, Samuel Peter, 1805-1880.
  • Hoar, E. R. (Ebenezer Rockwood), 1816-1895.
  • Holland, J. G. (Josiah Gilbert), 1819-1881.
  • Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894.
  • Hooker, Joseph, 1814-1879.
  • Howard, O. O. (Oliver Otis), 1830-1909.
  • Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885.
  • Jackson, Stonewall, 1824-1863.
  • Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875.
  • Kirby-Smith, Edmund, 1824-1893.
  • Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905.
  • Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
  • Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
  • Locke, David Ross, 1833-1888. [Petroleum V. Nasby]
  • Logan, John Alexander, 1826-1886.
  • Longstreet, James, 1821-1904.
  • Loring, Charles G. (Charles Greely), 1794-1867.
  • Loyson, Hyacinthe, 1827-1912.
  • Lucca, Pauline, 1841-1908.
  • Mario, Giovanni, 1810-1883. [Mario, T.]
  • McClellan, George Brinton, 1826-1885.
  • Mitchell, Maggie, 1837-1918.
  • Moltke, Helmuth, Graf von, 1800-1891.
  • Monroe, James, 1758-1831.
  • Morse, Edward Sylvester, 1838-1925.
  • Motley, John Lothrop, 1814-1877.
  • Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh, Shah of Iran, 1831-1896.
  • Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902.
  • Nilsson, Christine, 1843-1921.
  • Nutt, Commodore, 1848-1881. [group portrait with Minnie Warren]

Box 1.3: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, O-Z

This box contains 36 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

  • Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 1818-1883.
  • Parepa-Rosa, Euphrosyne, 1836-1874.
  • Patti, Adelina, 1843-1919.
  • Phillipps, Adelaide, 1833-1882.
  • Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891.
  • Rogers, Randolph, 1825-1892.
  • Salvini, Tommaso, 1829-1915.
  • Saxe, John Godfrey, 1816-1887.
  • Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906.
  • Scott-Siddons, Mary Frances, 1844-1896.
  • Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888.
  • Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891.
  • Sothern, Edward Askew, 1826-1881.
  • Spinner, Francis Elias, 1802-1890.
  • Spurgeon, C. H. (Charles Haddon), 1834-1892.
  • Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904.
  • Stephens, Alexander H. (Alexander Hamilton), 1812-1883.
  • Strakosch, Max, 1835-1892.
  • Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874.
  • Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892.
  • Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827-1890.
  • Thiers, Adolphe, 1797-1877.
  • Thomas, George H. (George Henry), 1816-1870.
  • Thomas, Theodore, 1835-1905.
  • Thumb, Tom, 1838-1883. [Charles Sherwood Stratton; group portrait with Lavinia Warren]
  • Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. [Samuel L. Clemens; both names signed on photograph]
  • Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 1794-1877.
  • Waite, Morrison R. (Morrison Remick), 1816-1888.
  • Warren, G. K. (Gouverneur Kemble), 1830-1882.
  • Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878.
  • Willcox, Orlando B.
  • Wilson, Henry, 1812-1875.
  • Woodhull, Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin), 1838-1927.
  • Wright, Horatio Gouverneur, 1820-1899.
  • Yates, Edmund, 1831-1894.
  • Young, Brigham, 1801-1877.

Box 2: Brearley-Pingree collection cabinet cards

This box contains 27 cabinet cards. Represented individuals include the following:

  • Andrade, Ignacio, 1836-1925.
  • Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886.
  • Bernhardt, Sarah, 1844-1923.
  • Booth-Tucker, Emma, 1860-1903.
  • Booth-Tucker, Frederick St. George de Lautour, 1853-1929.
  • Bull, Ole, 1810-1880.
  • Cable, George Washington, 1844-1925.
  • Chamberlain, Joseph, 1836-1914.
  • Dickinson, Donald McDonald, 1846-1917.
  • Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881.
  • Garfield, Lucretia Rudolph, 1832-1918.
  • Hayes, Rutherford B., 1822-1893.
  • Janauschek, Francesca Romana Magdalena, 1830-1904.
  • Kellogg, Clara Louisa, 1842-1916.
  • Kennan, George, 1845-1924.
  • Kruger, Paul, 1825-1904.
  • Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882.
  • Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884.
  • Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar, 1861-1917.
  • Reed, Thomas B. (Thomas Brackett), 1839-1902.
  • Stead, W. T. (William Thomas), 1849-1912. [three portraits included]
  • Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896.
  • Urso, Camilla, 1842-1902.
  • Victoria, Queen of Britain, 1819-1901.
  • Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892.

Box 3: Brearley-Pingree collection large photographs and manuscript materials

This box contains 9 large format mounted photographs and 33 manuscript items. Represented individuals among the photographs include the following:

  • Cleveland, Frances Folsom, 1864-1947.
  • Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908.
  • Ford, Clara Bryant, 1866-1950.
  • Ford, Henry, 1863-1947.
  • Gibbons, James, 1834-1921.
  • Guzmán Blanco, Antonio, 1828-1899.
  • Mace, Aurelia Gay, 1835-1910.
  • Milles, Carl, 1875-1955.
  • Wilder, Marshall P.

Manuscript materials of interest include a number of letters dating to the mid-1870s from various individuals (including John A. Dix, C. H. Spurgeon, H. W. Longfellow, and Lucretia R. Garfield) possibly sent to William H. Brearley in response to autograph solicitations and other requests; and numerous letters addressed to Hazen S. Pingree from various individuals (inlcuding William Thomas Stead, Ignacio Andrade, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley) dating to the 1890s. Other items of interest include a copy of "Special Order No. 166 'Extract' Head Quarters 2d Brigade 3d Div 2d A.I." dated June 15th 1865 stating that the 1st Mass Heavy Artillery had been ordered by Brig. Gen. Franklin Pierce to repost to General Hancock; calling cards for "Sixto Sanchez Director General de Coreeos - Postmaster" as well as "The Admiral of the Navy" George Dewey from "when he called on Gov. Pingree in Detroit"; a clipped signature of "Louis Botha Commandant General"; an undated note to poet Louise Chandler Moulton; a document dated August 1st 1892 detailing financial investment information related to the Michigan-Peninsular Car Company with pasted clippings of wealthy politicians and their net worths as well as annotations by Pingree; a letter dated Feb 19th 1892 from Don M. Dickinson to Pingree regarding the prospective visit of Grover Clevland to Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan; a letter dated March 9th 1949 from Hazel Hope Pingree Mills to Director of the William L. Clements Library Randolph G. Adams regarding progress being made on research regarding the life of William H. Brearley; and an undated typed copy of a short essay titled "Brearley - Man of Action, Started Many Important Detroit Activities" by historian George B. Catlin.

Collection

David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography, ca. 1845-1980

Approximately 113,000 photographs and 158 volumes

Online
The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 100,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering, mining, suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is only partially open for research.

The subject contents of different photographic format series within the Tinder collection vary, depending in part upon how each format was historically used, and the date range of that format's popularity. For example, cartes de visite and cased images are most often formal studio portraits, while stereographs are likely to be outdoor views. Cabinet photographs are frequently portraits, but often composed with less formality than the cartes de visite and cased images. The postcards and the mounted prints contain very diverse subjects. The photographers' file contains many important and rare images of photographers, their galleries, promotional images, and the activities of photographers in the field. See individual series descriptions in the Contents List below for more specific details.

Included throughout are images by both professional and amateur photographers, although those by professionals are extant in far greater numbers.

Collection

English carte de visite album, ca. 1860-1880

1 volume

The English carte de visite album (14.5 x 20.5cm) is a 50 page leather album containing portrait photographs of individuals and couples as well as two Italian views. Many of the images in the album were taken by well-known photographers such as André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, Napoleon Sarony, and Félix Nadar.

The English carte de visite album (14.5 x 20.5cm) is a 50 page leather album containing portrait photographs of individuals and couples as well as two Italian views. Many of the images in the album were taken by well-known photographers such as André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, Napoleon Sarony, and Félix Nadar. The photographer's logo of each photograph is visible on the opposite side of the page, and some of the photographs contain hand-written biographical notes on the back.

Individual portraits in the album include those of Dr. Thomas Hodgkins (1798-1866) and his wife Sarah Frances Hodgkins (1804-1875), as well as of Charles Ferdinand, Prince of Capua (1811-1862) and his wife Penelope Smyth, Countess of Mascali (1815-1882). Of note is a portrait of a man taken by Sarony that has on its verso the manuscript inscription "Timothy Harrison/ Richmond/ Indiana." There is a Timothy Harrison, orginally from England, who was buried in Earlham Cemetery in Richmond, Indiana in 1881 at the age of 48. This is presumed to be the man depicted in the portrait.

Collection

Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson Printed Ephemera Collection, ca. 1750s-1999 (majority within 1850s-1900)

approximately 5,000+ items in 23 volumes

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Maxson collection provides a valuable resource for the study of 19th-century visual culture, commercial advertising, and humor in addition to the role of gender, ethnicity, and race in advertising. American businesses are the predominant focus of the collection, though many international businesses are also represented. While trade cards are by far the most prevalent type of ephemera found in this collection, an extensive array of genres are present including die cut scrapbook pieces, photographs, engravings, maps, serials, and manuscript materials.

The 23 binders that house the Maxson collection were arranged by the collectors themselves. Items are organized somewhat randomly in terms of topical arrangement. While pockets of related materials can be found here and there (for instance, the entirety of Volume 16 contains circus-related items while Volume 11 contains an extensive number of Shaker-related materials), for the most part any given subject may appear in any given volume. In some cases, items are clustered as a result of having been acquired together or due to a documented common provenance. Occasional typed annotations written by the Maxsons help provide additional context for certain items.

The Maxson Collection Subject Index serves as a volume-level subject index for materials found throughout the binders. The subjects indexed here are generally representative of both visual and commercial content. In addition to more general subjects, many names of specific people, places, buildings, events, and organizations that appear in the materials have also been listed. Researchers engaging with this collection should be aware that they will encounter numerous examples of racist caricatures, especially ones depicting African American, Native American, Irish, and Chinese people.

Collection

James Galloway Antioch College Photograph Album, 1860-1910

37 photographs in 1 album

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The album (28 x 23.5 cm) has moiré fabric covers with "James S. Galloway" stamped on the front. The title page lists the photographer as J. W. Winder. The majority of images are studio portraits of members of the Class of 1860, most of which include the subjects’ signatures and hometowns. Of note is a portrait of suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), the first woman to both graduate from theological school and become a full-time ordained minister. Also present is an image of the Antioch College campus, three photographs of co-educational classes, and a letter from one of Galloway's classmates describing the Class of 1860’s 50th reunion in 1910 which Galloway did not attend.

Collection

Lukens-Parry family carte de visite album, ca. 1860s-1950

49 photographs in 1 album

The Lukens-Parry family carte de visite album contains 49 studio portrait photographs primarily related to the Lukens and Parry families of Chester, Pennsylvania. The Lukens and Parry families were both prominent members of the Pennsylvania Quaker community.

The Lukens-Parry family carte de visite album contains 49 studio portrait photographs primarily related to the Lukens and Parry families of Chester, Pennsylvania. The Lukens and Parry families were both prominent members of the Pennsylvania Quaker community.

The album (14.5 x 12 cm) has embossed brown leather covers, metal clasps, and "Album" stamped in gold on the spine. A taped-in note close to the front of the album reads "my relatives & friends of years ago - Sarah Kinderdine Lukens later Mrs. Wm. W. Downing - Mar 20th 1950." The note as well as numerous inscriptions identifying most individuals represented in the album were all added by Sarah Kinderdine Lukens Downing in 1950.

Collection

McCreery-Fenton Family papers, 1818-1948 (majority within 1860-1940)

12 linear feet (in 13 boxes) — 1 oversize folder

The McCreery and Fenton families were prominent Genesee county, Michigan residents some of whose members distinguished themselves in local and state government, as soldiers during the Civil War, and in the United States diplomatic service. Papers include diaries, correspondence and other material relating to the Civil War, local and state politics and aspects of diplomatic service in Central and South America.

The McCreery-Fenton family collection documents the individual careers of family members who served their community and their nation in a variety of roles. Through correspondence, diaries and other materials, the researcher will find information pertaining to the Civil War, to the history of Flint and Fenton in Genesee County, Michigan, and to facets of America's diplomatic relations with some of the countries of Central and South America. Arranged by name of the three principal family members represented in the collection - William M. Fenton, William B. McCreery, and Fenton R. McCreery, the papers also include series of general family materials, business records, and photographs.

Collection

Newell family papers, 1726-1900

58 items

The Newell family papers show what life was like in a small New York town in the mid-1860s and detail Albert Newell's entrepreneurial ventures into the oil and cotton trades. The heart of the Newell family papers consists of 41 letters written by Arthur W. and Cornelia E. Newell to their son George Newell during his first two years at Yale.

The Newell family papers show what life was like in a small New York town in the mid-1860s and detail Albert Newell's entrepreneurial ventures into the oil and cotton trades. The heart of the Newell family papers consists of 41 letters written by Arthur W. and Cornelia E. Newell to their son George Newell during his first two years at Yale. Most were written from the family home in Medina, New York. Both Arthur and Cornelia included news of local people's movements and sicknesses, of events, and the effects of the weather on the crops. They frequently mentioned trips to nearby Lockport, Middleport and Ridgeway, often for cultural or religious activities. The Newells' letters also recounted longer trips to Chicago for the nomination of Lincoln on the Republican ticket in 1860, to the Armory in Springfield, Mass., and to the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington in May 1865.

There are no letters from George to his parents, but some information about his university years can be inferred from the letters they wrote to him. They both lectured him about being an upstanding young gentleman, exhorting him to "choose virtue as your Goddess..." and to "beware of all evil". As a freshman he joined a fraternity without having to undergo too many trials. During the winter of 1865-66 he hurt his ankle severely enough to necessitate the use of a crutch for several months. He first lived in a private home at 30 High Street but moved to college rooms his sophomore year. Arthur's investments meant that the Newells were often cash poor, however, they were still able to send George over $970.00 during his first two years of college. Yale tuition at the time was less than $25.00 per term. Almost all of George's tuition bills are included in this collection, along with a "promise to pay" signed by his father.

There are five letters written to George Newell in the 1880s and 1900. As an older man, he evidently developed an interest in his family history, and there are two letters from a second cousin concerning their great grandfather Thomas Steadman. Colonel Edwin Franklin Brown of the 28th New York Infantry wrote George a marvelous letter recounting the involvement of his father, Jeremiah Brown, in the "Morgan Affair". In 1826 the Masons of the Batavia Lodge were accused of murdering Capt. William A. Morgan for divulging secrets of the society. Jeremiah Brown was charged with complicity in the abduction of Morgan, went into hiding, was tried at Lockport and acquitted by Judge William S. Marcy (who went on to serve as governor 1833-1838). This event catalyzed the Anti-Masonic movement, led by Thurlow Weed, and Brown related some of the repercussions felt by his family.

The collection also includes three earlier Newell family documents. The oldest is a small copybook, inscribed, "Samuel Newell his book 1734". It evidently passed from generation to generation of Newells and contains genealogical information and some accounts; dates span from 1726 to 1823. According to the copybook, Solomon Newell married Sally Steadman in 1807. The two letters from George's second cousin G. W. Pierce suggest that her father was Thomas Steadman, a Revolutionary War soldier from Connecticut. Pierce refers to Thomas Steadman as "your [George's] Grandmother's Father", offering further evidence that Arthur was the son of Solomon and Sally (Steadman) Newell. The other two documents are early nineteenth century deeds. One, from Damaris Newell, gave his son Solomon Newell land on Center Hill in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Conn. The second, signed by Grandison Newell, gave Solomon a portion of a house and barn, also on Center Hill. The rest of the collection is comprised of a variety of miscellaneous documents relating to the life of George Newell, including Yale tuition bills, a bill from the photographer, George K. Warren, a stock certificate issued by the Medina & Alabama Plank Road Company, a mortgage, two checks drawn from a Union Bank of Medina account and a clipping from the Medina Tribune.

Collection

Oberlin, Ohio Photograph Album, ca. 1860s-1900s

11 photographs in 1 album

The Oberlin, Ohio photograph album contains 11 studio portrait photographs, including several images of family members and friends apparently related to a biracial family based in Oberlin, Ohio.

The Oberlin, Ohio photograph album contains 11 studio portrait photographs, including several images of family members and friends apparently related to a biracial family based in Oberlin, Ohio.

The album (13.5 x 10 cm) has embossed leather covers and a broken metal clasp. The album spine has completely deteriorated and all pages are completely detached from one another. For conservation and preservation purposes, all original photographs have been removed from their album page slots and replaced with facsimile copies. The original photographs are stored in a separate container along with the album.

Most of the individuals represented in this album have been tentatively identified through the presence of inscriptions made on album pages; all or most of the subjects appear to have been biracial/African American. Many page captions appear to be associated with friends and family members of the Vaughn family (alternatively spelled “Vaughan”) of Oberlin, Ohio. One group portrait of two boys present in the page captioned “John & Louis Vaughn” may depict brothers John Sewell Vaughn and Wendal Louis Vaughn, the latter of whom went on to become a professional photographer. While it remains unclear who the original compiler of the album was, it is possible that it was assembled by either a member or close friend of the Vaughn family.

The following list includes inscriptions present on album pages (in order of appearance) and/or descriptions of the portraits associated with each inscription:

  • “Oscar Viney Dolph Viney’s father”: Carte de visite portrait of a bearded man with a hat. Possibly Oscar F. Viney (approximately 1830-1904) of Gallipolis, Ohio, who had a son named Adolphus E. Viney (1873-1947)
  • “Aunt America Vaughn Clark”: Tintype portrait of a young woman. Possibly America Vaughn Clark (approximately 1845-?) of Gallipolis, Ohio. Includes revenue tax stamps on verso dated January 16 1866 as well as pasted-on clipped newspaper obituary for a woman named Maude Cooper Horton (1880-1903). The obituary mentions a surviving three-year-old daughter by the name of Louise; a Columbus, Ohio, death certificate for a Louise Horton (1900-1918) with parents listed as “Maud Cooper” and “William Horton” indicates that this family was "colored."
  • “Will Vaughn”: Carte de visite portrait of a man with a large mustache by H. M. Platt of Oberlin, Ohio. Possibly William Craddock Vaughn (approximately 1835-1912)
  • “John & Louis Vaughn”: Carte de visite group portrait of two boys by H. M. Platt. Possibly John Sewell Vaughn (1857-1931) and Wendel Louis Vaughn (approximately 1860-1918).
  • “John Vaughn": Carte de visite portrait of a young man by H. M. Platt. Possibly John Sewell Vaughn, though also appears to possibly resemble older version of Wendel Louis Vaughn when compared to preceding group portrait.
  • “Aunt Margaret”: Carte de visite portrait of a woman with curly hair.
  • “Aunt Margaret”: Tintype portrait of a woman with curly hair. Same woman photographed in preceding image.
  • “Thresa Madey”: Carte de visite portrait of a woman by C. W. Howland of Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • “? Cooper”: No photograph in page slot.
  • “Mary Hamilton”: Tintype portrait of a young African American woman.
  • [Unidentified African American infant]: Carte de visite portrait of an unidentified infant by an unidentified photographer of St. Louis, Missouri.