The Augustus J. J. Thibaudeau family photograph album contains approximately 308 photographs and 4 manuscript items related to the family and friends of Augustus J. J. Thibaudeau, a prominent lawyer based in Niagara Falls, New York, and a representative of the Photo-Pictorialist movement in photography.
The album (26 x 31 cm) has black cloth covers with “Snap Shots” embossed in silver on the front. The 4 loose manuscript items are contained in a Mylar enclosure at the beginning of the album and include two letters from Marie Thibaudeau written to her mother and father while abroad in England in 1923; a booklet made of faux-bark paper containing a watercolor illustration and poem about fishing titled “Stower’s Fish”; and a hand-written recipe booklet containing 18 recipes for various dishes.
Around 111 loose photographs of various sizes and formats are also contained in a Mylar enclosure and mostly include individual and group portraits (both indoors and outdoors), natural landscape views, and images of homes. A small percentage of these photographs have captions on their versos, including some that identify subjects. Of the loose photographs, images of interest include a group portrait of young women at Wellesley College in 1918 during their freshman year; portraits of Marie Thibaudeau, including several showing her posing with her beloved dog Sam-Sam; snapshots taken during a trip to Rome in 1932; and numerous images showing exterior views of houses as well as swimming, fishing, boating, and other outdoor activities taking place near the Thibaudeau family cottage on the Georgian Bay in Ontario.
Approximately 197 photographs are pasted into the album proper. A number of these photographs are partially unglued and in some cases writing on their versos is accessible. The album has many photographs showing waterfront summer vacation scenes from what appears to be different trips to the family cottage over a span of several years; some of these images in the front end of the album have inscriptions on their versos which indicate those photographs were taken in August 1910 by “D.B.” Other images of note include a picture showing a group of young women in a large sleigh with the verso caption reading “Marie Thibaudeau ΖΣΕ Jan, 24, 1912”; a pair of photographs showing siblings Kenneth Fraser Allan and Dorothy Elizabeth Allan when aged 3 and 6 respectively; two group portraits of young men in military uniforms standing in formation; photographs taken at Wellesley College showing buildings, students, campus scenes, large group activities, and a commencement ceremony; two photographs of a biplane mid-flight; and a series of interior views of an unidentified home that appears to have a menorah above the fireplace.
Augustus James Jackson “Harry” Thibaudeau (also spelled Thibodo) was born in Walla Walla, Washington, on November 1 1866 to Augustus J. (1832-1910) and Mary Thibaudeau (1830-1891). He married artist May Angela Bowman (1869-1954) on January 2 1894 in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario; their daughter Marie “Tillie” Thibaudeau (1894-1985) was born nine months later. May studied art at the Slade School in Toronto as well as at Columbia University in New York City, and she had work exhibited at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Thibaudeau obtained an L.L.B. from the University of Toronto and a B.C.L. from Trinity College. After moving to Niagara Falls, New York, he served as the city attorney between 1902 and 1904. He also held an avid interest in photography and was friends with many photographers associated with the Photo-Pictorialist movement including Alfred Stieglitz, Clarence H. White, Adolph de Meyer, Gertrude Käsebier, Edward Steichen, Rose Clark, Alvin Langdon Coburn, F. Austin Lidbury, and Wilbur Porterfield. Thibaudeau died on March 2 1939.
