Collection Scope and Content Note:
The C. E. DuBois photograph album (27cm x 34cm) contains 42 photographic prints taken in and around Hoboken, New Jersey, circa 1870s. The prints range in size from about 5.5cm x 6.5cm to 21cm x 13cm. Many are framed with hand-drawn, colored borders, sometimes with decorative or floral designs; one border has small drawings of an anchor and United States flag and one has small drawings of firefighters' equipment. Four items' borders include captions: "A Votre Santé" (a group of men sitting around a table with drinks), "H.Y.C." (Hoboken Yacht Club), "Oceana Hose" (horse-drawn firefighters' hose carriage), and "Martha Institute." The album's green cloth cover has a plate with the name "C. E. Dubois" in block letters.
The majority of photographs show individuals or groups of people and building exteriors, including urban residential and commercial buildings. The first seven pictures are studio portraits of unidentified individuals, and the album contains 13 additional photographs of two or more people on a porch and in gardens. Images include two men playing a game of chess on a porch, a group of men relaxing and drinking on the same porch, and a group standing on the dock at the Hoboken Yacht Club. The remaining pictures focus primarily on other subjects. Fifteen are images of homes, commercial buildings, gardens, a gazebo, and a view of the Cranford (New Jersey?) train station, and the Martha Institute of Hoboken. The album contains four views of the Hoboken Yacht Club in which ships' masts are sometimes visible. The final two photographs are related to the "Oceana Hose" firefighting company a picture of a horse-drawn hose carriage and a view of the firehouses for "Oceana" and "Excelsor" alongside a saloon and another business. Firefighters in top hats appear in both of these photographs. Also of note is a photograph of a group of women on a porch viewing a photograph album.
