Collections

The Shelter Island (N.Y.) photograph albums contain portraits of young female vacationers, pictures of visitors enjoying leisure activities on and around a beach, and views from the steam yacht Meteor.

The Shelter Island (N.Y.) photograph albums contain 188 pictures taken during a visit to Shelter Island around the late 19th century. Volume 1 (26cm x 22cm) contains 98 photographs from an Original Kodak or Kodak #1 camera and Volume 2 (32cm x 28cm) contains 90 photographs from a Kodak #2 camera, mounted 4 to a page. Each album has black covers with the title "Kodak" originally printed in gold on the front; the title on the second album has faded.

Both albums contain similar photographs of people enjoying outdoor leisure activities, particularly on a beach. Many items are informal portraits of young women alone or in pairs, often identified in manuscript captions. Women, men, and children are shown sitting and walking along the beach, wading in the water, riding in carriages, and watching baseball at "Jim-town," among other activities. The seaside hotel Manhausett House appears as does "the Casino." Several images are of spectators at a tennis pavilion. Of note are a group of images in the second album from a trip on the steam-powered yacht Meteor, including shots of passengers relaxing on deck and crew members. A monkey appears in one photograph in each of the albums. A photograph vendor's wagon appears on the beach, and a man is posed with a camera on a stand.

The Allen family photograph album contains carte-de-visite and tintype portraits of various individuals, including members of the Allen family of Mayville, Michigan.

The Allen family photograph album (13cm x 10cm) contains 22 cartes-de-visite, 13 tintypes, one lithograph, and one printed card. The cartes-de-visite and tintypes are studio portraits of men, women, and children. Most items show a single person, though some, such as a woman and a young baby, were photographed in pairs. The lithograph depicts a young girl holding a dog. An educational card, one of a series of "Little People Lesson Pictures" issued by the American Sunday-School Union (volume IV, number 1, part 5), is laid into the volume. The card has a colored print of a Biblical scene entitled "Beginning of the Hebrew Nation," and the reverse side has questions and answers about Abraham's journey to Canaan. The cartes-de-visite were made by photographers in locations such as Imlay City, Michigan; Owosso, Michigan; and Peterborough, Ontario. The volume's covers are leather, with a Maltese gold-embossed cross stamped in relief on each side.

The Buffalo Soldiers carte-de-visite album contains cartes-de-visite and tintype photographs of African American soldiers, civilian men and women. Some of the photographs were taken in Webster, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota).

The Buffalo Soldiers carte-de-visite album contains 16 cartes-de-visite and 7 tintype photographs taken circa 1870s and 1880s, now housed separately. Included are formal studio portraits of unidentified African American and Caucasian civilians and soldiers. Some individuals posed in pairs or groups. Many of the photographs, including some of the cartes-de-visite of African American soldiers, were taken in the Dakota Territory. The original album (12cm x 15cm) has covers bound in blue cloth; a metal shield is attached to the front cover.

The C. E. DuBois photograph album contains photographic prints taken in and around Hoboken, New Jersey, circa 1870s. Many of the pictures are group portraits and views of building exteriors, including firefighters posed with a hose carriage, and the Hoboken Yacht Club.

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.

The R. W. Butterfield Princeton College Class of 1866 carte-de-visite album, compiled by Roger W. Butterfield, contains studio portraits of various men, women, and children.

The Princeton College Class of 1866 carte-de-visite album (23.5cm x 18cm), compiled by Roger W. Butterfield, contains 198 cartes-de-visite and 3 tintypes. The brown leather cover has gold floral designs imprinted on a raised portion of its cover; the central, sunken part of the cover has the title "Princeton College Class of '66" and the name "R. W. Butterfield" imprinted in gold. The title "Album" is printed in gold on the spine, and the volume has just one of its two original metal clasps. The book has two pages of biographical information about the members of Princeton College's Class of 1866. The photographs are credited to photographers from both the east and Midwestern states.

The vast majority of items are studio portraits of men and women of varying ages, photographed individually, in pairs, and groups. The album includes four outdoor group photographs of young men, presumably students, posed on a lawn, and in front of buildings. Of note is an outdoor photograph of a posed group with guitar, pipes, canes, and two men in shirt sleeves boxing. Many of the photographs are autographed including those of University of Michigan professors James V. Campbell and Thomas M. Cooley. Several portraits of children include one of a man and boy, the man smoking a pipe, and one of three girls, and a commercially produced image of "Rebecca," the emancipated slave from New Orleans. Other cartes-de-visite are pictures of a painted portrait, a statue, Minehaha Falls, and several grave monuments; one lithograph shows an unidentified religious building. One loose carte-de-visite is laid into the album.

The New Hampshire carte-de-visite album contains photographic portraits of unidentified individuals and lithographic portraits of prominent Union Army officers, and President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln.

The New Hampshire carte-de-visite album (15cm x 12cm) contains 20 studio portraits of unidentified individuals and 8 lithographs of famous individuals. The photographs show men, women, children, and infants -- one, Louize M. Rollins [sic], is identified. The lithographs are portraits of Union officers Elmer Ellsworth (2 items), William Rosecrans, Samuel Francis Du Pont, Ulysses S. Grant, and George Meade, and of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. The volume's brown leather cover has a geometric design in relief, with additional floral designs stamped in gold, and two metal clasps.

The New York and Michigan carte-de-visite album contains photographic portraits of unidentified men, women, and children taken mostly in New York State in the mid- to late 19th century.

The New York and Michigan carte-de-visite album (16cm x 12cm) contains portraits of unidentified men, women, and children taken in New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the mid- to late 19th century. The photographs are comprised of 16 cartes-de-visite, 10 tintypes, and 1 small albumen print. Some items have photographers' names printed on the back; one is attributed to "Mr. and Mrs. M. Brown." The pictures include headshots and full-body length portraits of subjects sitting or standing. The album's brown cover has a tooled geometric design, and it has two metal clasps, also with ornate designs. The title "Album" is stamped on the spine in gold.

This photograph album contains portraits of direct descendants of Elijah Hubbell and Hannah Fields of Danbury, Connecticut, as well as members of associated families, including the Van Allen family of Janesville, Wisconsin, and the Lynes family of Otsego County, New York.

This album (16cm x 12cm) contains 36 carte-de-visite and two tintype portraits of members of the Hubbell family, Van Allen family, Lynes family, and others. The Hubbell and Lynes families lived in northern and central New York, and the Van Allen family lived in Janesville, Wisconsin. Formal studio portraits show men, women, and children of various ages, and some individuals are pictured more than once. Most of the photographs are labeled, and labels exist for some items that are no longer present. The covers are bound in green cloth, with a decorative design in relief.

The Wabash (Ind.) family photograph albums contain tintype and carte-de-visite studio portraits of men, women, and children in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the 19th century.

The Wabash (Ind.) family photograph albums (both 14cm x 10cm) contain tintype and carte-de-visite studio portraits of men, women, and children in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in the 19th century. The first volume contains 19 tintypes and five cartes-de-visite, and the second volume contains 16 tintypes and nine cartes-de-visite; an index of subjects in included at the back of the second album. Some of the tintypes have raised decorated borders on their cardstock frames, and many include hand coloring. Most items are individual portraits, though some men and women posed in pairs. One man appears in a Masonic sash and apron. Each album has a brown leather cover with a raised geometric design and floral patterns stamped in gold.

The Laura Page Butcher photograph album contains photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera pertaining to Butcher's leisure activities and travels in the United States, Europe, and North Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Laura Page Butcher photograph album (27cm x 37cm) contains around 350 photographs with newspaper clippings and printed ephemera pertaining to Butcher's career as an artist, her leisure activities, and her travels in the United States, Europe, and North Africa from June 1897-June 1903. The photographs include single prints, cyanotypes, and individual prints assembled into panoramas. Most of the photographs are original snapshots, with professionally portraits and some commercially produced views included. The album has been reconstructed and re-bound; the original cover, with the title "Photographs" printed on the front, is housed separately. Some quotations and captions, usually providing a location and date, are written directly onto the album pages or onto photographs.

Most photographs are informal and studio portraits of men and women, pictures of women enjoying leisure activities, exterior and interior shots of mansions and hotels, and views of natural and urban scenery from Butcher's vacations and international travels. Portrait subjects include Laura Page Butcher, her traveling companions, artist friends, and a large formal wedding party. Groups of women are shown painting, riding horses, driving carriages, swimming in an indoor pool, and golfing. Butcher's travel photographs from Paris, France; Funchal, Madeira; Granada, Spain; Algiers, Algeria; and Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, focus on urban scenery, landmarks, and local populations. Included are the Eiffel Tower, Alhambra, the Great Sphinx, and Giza pyramids. Timeless examples of tourists photographed at Giza in Egypt appear. Photographs of Paris include the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Butcher's return to the United States on the steamship St. Louis is documented with several dramatic seascapes. Many images of leisure activities taken along the eastern shore of the United States. Other images of note show the parade for the dedication of the Fairmount Park, Philadelphia Washington Monument in 1897, an American soldier in uniform taken in Manila, Philippines; one colored photomechanical print shows a group of people in Algiers surrounding a ritual activity or performance. Also of note is a panorama of a bull fight given by Spanish prisoners of war held on Seavy's Island, Maine, with William Jean Howells identified as a spectator.

The album also includes newspaper clippings and ephemera items. The clippings are primarily society page items about the activities of Laura Page Butcher and her siblings, such as the family's vacations in West Virginia, Laura's winter in France, and Alice Tyson Butcher's wedding. Quotations often pertain to art, among other subjects.

Of particular note are the photographs, notes, and ephemera related to Butcher's art career. Images appear of young women in artists' smocks with palettes, in life classes, sketching outdoors at the Shinnecock School, in a Paris atelier and other unidentified studios. An interest in James McNeill Whistler is revealed by the inscriptions quoting Whistler's "Ten O'Clock" lecture, a copy of the butterfly monograph of Whistler, and comment on Whistler's work transcribed from the periodical "The Trimmed Lamp" appearing on pages five and ten, and Whistler antidotes in clippings elsewhere in the album. Material related to Butcher's participation in the exposition of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts at the Grand Palais, including her letter of admission, is on page 19.