Holyoke Canoe Club photograph album, [ca. 1885]
1 volume
The Holyoke Canoe Club photograph album (19cm x 26cm) contains 65 pictures of scenery, communities, and activities along the Connecticut River. The red pebbled cloth cover has the title "Photographs" stamped in gold gothic letters on the front. Included are photographs showing wooded scenery and structures along the river, including pictures of the Holyoke Canoe Club boathouse, the sailing and paddling of canoes, and of men and women in sporting dress socializing indoors and outdoors. Many of the images focus on men in sailing canoes, including one view of a man sitting in a sailing canoe on shore with sails set. Two photographs show a woman standing next to a beached canoe and a woman paddling a canoe along a flooded street. Individual and group portraits appear, taken at a small cabin in a wooded area, in front of a doorway, beside an indoor fireplace, and beside indoor and outdoor tables set with food, among other scenes. A group gathered around a piano appears in two images, one of which shows two of the women holding banjos. The album contains exterior shots of churches and other unidentified buildings, some overlooking a body of water. A view of two horses pulling a large log on a sleigh is also included.
Of note are views of a steam launch at the canoe club dock; a view of canoes stored on racks inside the boathouse; and two views of the interior of what is likely a local textile mill.