Collections

The Florida vacations and silent movies photograph album contains approximately 300 photographs of people vacationing in southern Florida and production sets of Fox Film Corporation silent movies, dating from 1916 to 1920.

The Florida vacations and silent movies photograph album contains approximately 300 photographs of people vacationing in southern Florida and production sets of Fox Film Corporation silent movies, dating from 1916 to 1920. Identifiable silent movies consist of The Jungle Trial (1919), A Woman There Was (1919), and A Fallen Idol (1919). The style of the album includes photographs creatively cut to various shapes and sizes. The majority include captions and names.

Named individuals include Theda Bara, Evelyn Nesbit, William Farnum, Lizzie Sexton, Dick Stanton, and Adolf Stahl. The album likely covers several trips to Florida and shows various groups of family and friends at the beach and traveling.

Specific locations shown are Miami, Jacksonville, Daytona, Palm Beach, and St. Augustine. Images show people visiting Coconut Grove, Arch Creek, Hotel Poinciana, Musa Isle, and Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos). Other images of interest include photographs of African American children who were likely movie extras, captioned “More nature;" Farnum standing next to two film cameras; porpoises on display; house boats; men drinking "in a dry state;" and Seminole Indians in traditional dress.

The album is 26 x 18.5 cm with brown cloth covers.

The Hampton, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 120 photographs, mainly panoramic images, showing waterfront views of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia as well as images of a rural farm or estate.

The Hampton, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 120 photographs, mainly panoramic images, showing waterfront views of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia as well as images of a rural farm or estate. The album (28 x 38 cm) is half bound in brown leather. Images of interest include several exterior and interior views of a beach cottage; men, women, and children in swimming apparel, bobbing in the surf, strolling the beach and the boardwalk, and posing on the cottage porch swing and lawn; two photographs of a family group dining on the cottage veranda while an African American servant holds a fan; and a well-dressed African American couple on the porch steps.

Other photographs include views of the Chamberlain and Buckroe Beach hotels; the Cape Henry lighthouse; the Hampton Institute from across the water; the Ocean View Resort in Norfolk; the electric railway bridge over the water; and the Hampton soldier's home. Marine subjects include views of numerous small boats manned by sailors; possibly engaged in a rowing exercise; a naval station and battleship in the background; a Navy monitor under steam; and sailing boats moored in a harbor. An additional series of photographs show exterior views of a large country house in a landscaped setting, with elegant horse-drawn carriages, a farmyard with livestock, an African American man plowing a field, workers harvesting fruit in an orchard, and two African American men tending a steaming vat over an open fire.

The Mugshots collection consists of approximately 100 photographic portraits produced between 1892 and 1920, the vast majority of which are mugshots.

The Mugshots collection consists of approximately 100 photographic portraits produced between 1892 and 1920, the vast majority of which are mugshots. The collection includes real photographic postcards, mounted and unmounted paper prints, and one severely tarnished tintype. Also present are two fingerprint identification cards with handwritten lists containing names of numerous individuals represented in the collection. A small number of photographs appear to be standard studio portraits. Photographs range in size from 6 x 10.5 cm to 11 x 17 cm.

Many of the mugshots have printed and/or handwritten information on their versos, including names, known aliases, nationalities, birth dates/locations, occupations, arrest dates, names of arresting police officers, criminal charges, sentences, prison locations, remarks on physical appearances, and Bertillon measurements. Most of these images were produced in various places in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, with Philadelphia being the most represented location. The mugshots are mainly of white male subjects, though there are also four mugshots of women present. Five African American individuals (four men, one women) are also pictured. A substantial number of mugshots are of individuals from immigrant backgrounds, including Italians, Irish, Austrians, Germans, Poles, Greeks, Jews, etc. Approximately 90 individuals are personally identified in total. Recorded criminal charges include shoplifting, pickpocketing, larceny, burglary, forgery, embezzlement, false pretense, flimflamming, auto theft, horse theft, conspiracy, attempted murder, and murder. Specific police departments and correctional facilities represented include the Pennsylvania Department of State Police, Harrisburg Department of Police, Philadelphia Bureau of Police, Hartford Police Department, Newark Department of Police, Auburn Prison, Sing Sing Prison, City of New York Police Department, City of Boston Police Department, Camden Bureau of Police, Baltimore Police Department, Bureau of Criminal Investigation for the New Jersey Reformatory in Rahway (now East Jersey State Prison), U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, City of Paterson Police Department, Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, Montgomery County Prison (Norristown), Columbus Department of Police, City of Wilkes-Barre Bureau of Police, Trenton Department of Public Safety, New York House of Refuge, and the Reading Department of Police.

• a 1921 mugshot of an Italian man named Peter Erico, who was executed by electric chair on September 25 1922 along with Antonio Puntario after the pair were found guilty of murdering Detective Samuel Lucchino
• a 1909 mugshot of an eighteen year old Jewish man named Albert Steinberg, accused of pickpocketing
• two different mugshots of Irishman John Shelvin (accused of pickpocketing) taken in 1897 and 1906 following arrests in Philadelphia and Baltimore
• a 1920 mugshot of German houseworker Minnie Schissel, charged with theft
• a 1909 mugshot of accused shoplifter Marie Clark
• a 1915 mugshot of an African American man named King Brown, charged with illegal dynamite explosion, assault, and other crimes
• a ca. 1903 mugshot of larceny suspect Edward Stevenson, a "fugitive from Phil. Pa."; handwritten inscriptions on verso include note to address information to Detective E. H. Parker
• a ca. 1906 mugshot of German engineer and fireman Frank Schleiman with identifying details and a $50 reward notice for information on his whereabouts following his escape from Sing Sing Prison on December 9 1906 handwritten on the verso
• a 1908 mugshot of “dishonest servant” Blanche Grisson
• a 1919 mugshot of a Mexican man named Pedro Susman, charged with shoplifting
• two copies of a portrait or mugshot of African American man James Timberlake with identifying details handwritten on verso
• a 1908 mugshot of an Austrian butcher named Herman Haubt, convicted of 2nd degree murder
• an undated mugshot of an African American woman named Pearl Williams, charged with being a dishonest servant
• a 1906 mugshot of bartender Sam Davis (accused of pick pocketing) produced by detective Harry C. White of Harrisburg
• a ca. 1918 mugshot of Oliver Denton Bender taken in Columbus, Ohio, including an attached note that lists twelve of Bender’s known aliases
• a 1900 mugshot of Irishman John Mackey, charged with till tapping; two 1918 mugshots of Italian barbers Nicholas Shieno and Frank Rinaldo, both of whom were charged with flimflamming after being arrested in Scranton, Pennsylvania
• a 1918 mugshot of Jewish printer David Schleimer taken at the New York House of Refuge on Randall’s Island
• a 1917 mugshot of Michael J. Sullivan, charged with murder

The Nova Scotia diary chronicles the daily life of a carpenter and small farmer throughout much of 1877. The volume also contains several pages written in mock-African American dialect and several drawings.

The Nova Scotia diary chronicles the daily life of a carpenter and small farmer throughout much of 1877. The author began his diary on March 18, 1877, by relating his different activities at the beginning of the planting season. His crops were corn, potatoes, and turnips, and he also raised and sheared sheep. Throughout the year, the diarist reflected on various events in the life of his small, intimate community, which included many visits from neighbors, occasional picnics, and short vacations. He hosted a meeting of several "county lodge" delegates, and assisted other farmers with planting and harvesting their crops. In addition to attending Easter church services and celebrating the Queen's birthday, he noted the beginning of the 1st Provincial Expedition in Kentville, which opened in October. Though the author concluded his entries on October 21, 1877, he appended a number of births and marriages for the years 1877-1879. The final four pages of the book contain an imitation of an African American dialect, and include a caricature of two well-dressed African Americans sitting before a fireplace. Other drawings in the book include a pencil map of Shaw's Point, drawn before the construction of a railroad; a map of "Grandfather's place" previous to its 1862 sale; and floor plans for the upper and lower floors of "W Spurr's house," 1862.

These albums contain photographs taken during Robert Peary's expeditions into the arctic regions. Volume 1 represents the 1897 trip to present-day Nunavut and Greenland on the ship Hope. The photographs feature arctic scenery, members of Peary's crew, the Hope, Inuit dwellings and American camps. The Inuit adults and children pictured include some of those who returned with Peary to the United States. Volume 2 represents one of the later Peary expeditions from 1905-1906, or 1908-1909. The images in this volume were removed from the original housing and are without identification. A vessel resembling Peary's ship from the later expeditions, S.S. Roosevelt, appears in several photos, as does a man resembling the Roosevelt's Captain, Robert Abram Bartlett.

Volume one contains 100 9cm x 9cm photographs taken during Robert Peary's expedition to present-day Nunavut and Greenland on the ship Hope in the summer of 1897. Each page (17cm x 29cm) contains two items; most include brief captions identifying places and people pictured. The volume's original covers are missing.

Many of the photographs feature scenery along Baffin Island in present-day Nunavut, including icebergs and glaciers; views of the Hope; small boats; Inuit boats and kayaks; Inuit huts and American tents; and natural features such as waterfalls, glaciers, and icebergs. The photographer also took pictures of Inuit adults, children, and crew members onboard the Hope; captions identify Robert Peary, his daughter Marie and her African American nurse, members of the expedition, and Inuit persons named "Kishu" and "Minnie". Kisuh may be Qisuk, and Minnie is very likely Minik, who were both taken to New York by Peary. A group photograph taken onboard ship may include Matthew Henson, Peary's African American assistant, although not identified as such. A few pictures were taken inside what appears to be a small wooden structure, and crew members occasionally posed outdoors with deer and caribou they had killed. One photograph of a "Fossil Bed" appears to have been printed from a broken glass plate negative.

Volume 2 is comprised of 92 12cm x 18cm and 10cm x 13cm photographic prints, likely taken on the Peary expedition of 1905 or later. The prints have been removed from the no longer extant original album pages, and are currently housed in a dark green ring-binder in a tan cloth sleeve measuring 34cm x 31cm. The images include scenes of northern settlements and camps; ice flows; crew-members on board ship; the hunting of a walrus, displaying a polar bear's head; men with bear cubs; and Inuit people, their dwellings, kayaks and boats. Several vessels appear including one that is likely the SS Roosevelt; also a fishing schooner; and an unidentified steamship. There are many portraits of crew members, all unidentified. Several are of a man resembling the Roosevelt's Captain, Robert Abram Bartlett.

Three magazine clippings from the mid-20th century are included that refer to Captain Bartlett.

The Perry family photograph albums consist of a five-volume set of albums containing 208 albumen print photographs showing scenic and town views in the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland.

The Perry family photograph albums consist of a five-volume set of albums containing 208 albumen print photographs showing scenic and town views in the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland. The albums (each 18 x 27 cm) are half leather bound.

• Images of particular interest in this volume include street views (mostly of Washington Street) in Cumberland, Maryland; a bird's-eye view of Cumberland from Rose Hill Cemetery; views of the Chesapeake & views of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and Potomac River; interior views of St. Peter & Paul Church during Christmas of 1889; a view of the Old National Road (Cumberland Road); and a portrait of a Capuchin monk identified as "Brother Metard." Also of interest are three photographs depicting African Americans of Cumberland, including an image captioned "A moment of antebellum days" showing a black woman identified as "Mammy Daphne" conversing with a white woman identified as "Aunt Eliza Murdock"; an image captioned "Celebrities of Frog Eye, with pickaninnies in the gateway" showing two black men operating a horse-drawn wagon bearing a placard that reads "The Cumberland Baggage Delivery Transfer No 4" while a group of black girls looks on the background; and an image captioned "Our neighbors in Shanty Town" showing a black man with an amputated leg standing in front of a house while playing the banjo. Many but not all of the images bear contemporary inscribed captions. Some photographs are present in other volumes. Contemporary inscription on first page reads "Thornton Tayloe Perry."

• Images of particular interest in this volume include views of the Perry family mansion (formerly owned by the family of George Calmes) on the Cohongaronta islet; views of the Perry family cottage, home of Thomas J. Perry, and home of Henry Shriver on Washington Street; bird's-eye views of Cumberland; views of Cumberland Narrows, Wills Mountain, and Knobly Mountain; views of Rose Hill Cemetery and the Cemetery of St. Peter & Paul; a view of Baltimore Street after a flood; views of Cumberland's working class; an interior view of Emmanuel Church on Easter; a view of people watching a flood with the mansion on Cohongaronta in the background; and views of the "German Cemetery" including one photograph of two women praying at the crucifix shrine. Many but not all of the images bear contemporary inscribed captions. Some photographs are present in other volumes.

• Images of particular interest in this volume include views of the mansion on Cohongaronta and other residences; street scenes from Cumberland (mainly of Washington Street); and various landscape photographs. None of the images have captions. Some photographs are present in other volumes.

• Images of particular interest in this volume include views of the Perry family mansion on Cohongaronta; views of residences including the Perry family cottage, home of Thomas J. Perry, and a house built in 1790 by "Geo Dentone" near the site of Old Fort Cumberland; street scenes from Cumberland (mainly of Washington Street); views of Cumberland's working class; views of canal boats; and various landscape photographs. A number of images bear contemporary inscribed captions. Some photographs are present in other volumes. Contemporary inscription on first page reads "Thornton Tayloe Perry."

• Images of particular interest in this volume include views of Cumberland; views of churches; views of the National Road leading through the Cumberland Narrows; views of Rose Hill Cemetery; views of the Vale Farm homestead; a portrait of a woman mourning at Col. William Lynch Lamar's tombstone; street scenes from around Cumberland; views of the Perry family mansion on Cohongaronta; views of the West Virginia Central Rail Road bridge; views of residences; and various landscape photographs. All of the images bear contemporary inscribed captions. Some photographs are present in other volumes. Contemporary inscription on first page reads "Carroll Sprigg Christmas 1886."

The Princeton University photograph album consists of approximately 95 cabinet card photographs including portraits of professors and class members of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) class of 1883.

The Princeton University photograph album consists of approximately 95 cabinet card photographs including portraits of professors and class members of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) class of 1883. The album (21 x 30 cm) is fully bound in brown leather. Images include cabinet card portraits of professors and students, views of campus buildings and the Princeton cannon, a class of 1883 group portrait, group portraits of men and women on the lawn and indoors, and class member James Harlan wearing a football uniform. Of particular note is a photograph of James Johnson (d. 1902), and escaped slave and food vendor on campus and in the Princeton community, with a wheeled cart and basket over his arm.

Additional items include genre works, a reproduction of a print of Franz Josef I of Austria with his family, and a photograph of the SS Furnessia, all in cabinet card format. Inside the front cover there is also a montage of engravings of campus buildings as well as a photographic postcard of the Princeton Inn.

This nineteenth-century album contains 46 once-bound pen-and-ink caricatures on heavy card stock, each card with or formerly with metal eyelets on one short edge. A pencil inscription at the back of the volume reads, "Mr. Albert L. Briggs, Providence, RI," and internal references to Providence, Rhode Island, further suggests that either Briggs or another local resident may have produced the artwork. The figures represented in the volume vary widely and some are more sympathetic or more disparaging than others. The illustrator relied heavily on exaggerated features, stereotypes, and jokes directed at people's physical appearance to provide social commentary especially on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.

This nineteenth-century album contains 46 once-bound pen-and-ink caricatures on heavy card stock, each card with or formerly with metal eyelets on one short edge. A pencil inscription at the back of the volume reads, "Mr. Albert L. Briggs, Providence, RI," and internal references to Providence, Rhode Island, further suggests that either Briggs or another local resident may have produced the artwork. The figures represented in the volume vary widely and some are more sympathetic or more disparaging than others. The illustrator relied heavily on exaggerated features, stereotypes, and jokes directed at people's physical appearance to provide especially social commentary on race, ethnicity, gender, and class.

At least seven of the illustrations relate to women, including drawings referring to women's rights and various women's roles as mothers, performers, physicians, and cooks. One, labelled "What is home without a mother," may be a reference to a song by the same name published in 1854, and it features a woman with a monstrous face. Another titled "HANNAH LONG" depicts a woman peddling "Quaker Bitters" (probably the Providence, Rhode Island, patent medicine by that name) and may be referring to Hannah Longshore (1819-1901), who graduated from the first class of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1851.

Many of the caricatures focus on impoverished or working class people, showing individuals in tattered clothing or in lower-paying professions such as a farmer, a shoeshine, and a seeming gravedigger. A number of illustrations depict men in various stages of intoxication or alcoholism. Forms of social disorder are highlighted in caricatures of a convict and of a knife-wielding murderer labelled "THE MAN THAT KILLED JOHN GILPIN." Commentary on physical and mental disability are also represented, in drawings of a mentally ill man labelled "Luny" and a man with unaligned eyes and feet labelled "On exhibition."

Other caricatures reflect racial, ethnic, and religious stereotypes. Two racist caricatures depict African Americans, including one of a Black Congressman and one of an Uncle Remus character. Another caricature depicts a recent immigrant, while two are anti-Semitic (those labeled "The Torturer" and "NAME IT"). Two figures depict high religious figures, from Catholic or Orthodox Christian churches; one wears a robe, a fur-brimmed mitre, and snowshoes. The word "KAMSCHASA" is written near the bottom of the robe, likely referring to the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia.

Other caricatures highlight people based on their height, weight, profession (such as a king, a knight, an editor, a lecturer), or social posturing. For example, attitudes like dignity, contentment, nosiness, and bashfulness are spotlighted. Others appear more innocuous, such as illustrations of someone reading the morning newspaper and another of someone taking "Rush's Pills," but underlying subtexts for many of the images likely have additional meaning.

The Smith College, Hampton, Va., area and Connecticut photographs consist of approximately 300 photographs in 1 album and 1 folder. Images include photographs of Smith College as well as scenes from Connecticut and southeastern Virginia.

The Smith College, Hampton, Va., area and Connecticut photographs consist of approximately 300 photographs in 1 album and 1 folder. Images include photographs of Smith College as well as scenes from Connecticut and southeastern Virginia. Smith College photographs include dorm room interiors, women on campus, and a college basketball game. Connecticut scenes show a Connecticut River ferry, women boating and swimming in Bantam Lake, and St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, Connecticut. Also depicted are buildings at Hampton Institute in Virginia, a variety of boats and warships, likely on the Chesapeake Bay, winter fishing, "oyster canoes" (skipjacks) and men unloading crabs at the factory. Other Virginia photographs show buildings in pre-restoration Williamsburg and rural life, possibly in the Williamsburg area, with rundown shacks, African Americans, ox-drawn carts, and a group of African American school children. Views from unidentified locales include rural scenes, streams and country roads, beaches, dwellings, family life photos with children in a variety of settings, posed Grecian tableaux, and a studio portrait of a man dressed in Native American clothing holding a la crosse ball and stick. Additional photographs include Jamestown church ruins, Deerfield Memorial Hall with several interior views, 7 photographs of interior rooms in an unidentified house, and canal views, possibly of the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Identified individuals include: Grace Collins Lathrop, Sue Boss, Sue Gardner, Alice Bishop, Fanny Coit, Emma Kelsey, Arthur Eggleston, Percy Eggleston, Henrietta Spear, Nellie Spear, Theodate Pope, Ethel Fiefield, and Mary Lewis.

The album is half bound in burgundy leather and is stored in a three part wrap with green cloth spine

The Southern tour collection contains photographs from a traveling party's visit to several locations in the southern United States, including Civil War battlefields, in March 1885, as well as a printed booklet containing sketches of people and various locales.

The collection contains 19 card photographs (13 x 21 cm). Many of these photographs show groups of men at "Magnolia," at the site of the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), by a New Orleans train depot, and at Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine, Florida; in one photograph, several men are picking strawberries. Other images show a wooded area in Mississippi, relics on a battlefield, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie near Charleston, S.C. The booklet, entitled "Taylor, His Sketch Book, 1885," contains reprinted drawings of men and women (often with captions which are occasionally humorous), and of buildings in Saint Augustine, Florida. Some of the drawings depict African Americans. The card mounted photographs are bound in a red leather wrapper with the title "136 March 13-28 1885" in gold on the cover.