Augustus J. J. Thibaudeau Family Photograph Album, 1900s-1930s
approximately 308 photographs, 4 manuscript items in 1 album
approximately 308 photographs, 4 manuscript items in 1 album
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.
approximately 308 photographs, 4 manuscript items in 1 album
approximately 166 photographs, 36 manuscript items, and 2 bound volumes
The Brearley-Pingree collection consists of approximately 166 autographed photographs of notable individuals that were originally compiled by Detroit-based newspaperman William H. Brearley and later added to by Detroit mayor and Governor of Michigan Hazen S. Pingree. An additional 36 manuscript items and 2 bound volumes are also included in the collection.
The collection appears to have been first started by Brearley during the mid-1860s, possibly during or immediately after his Civil War service. He seems to have solicited the autographs of a variety of famous individuals (including authors, performers, musicians, scientists, spiritual leaders, politicians, foreign rulers, and military officers) primarily by mailing them photographs of themselves and requesting their signatures. Possession of the collection appears to have been transferred to Pingree at some point, and he continued to make further contributions. Pingree’s daughter Hazel retained possession of the collection after her father’s death before eventually donating it to the Clements Library. All components of the collection are stored together in one box.
While most portraits in the collection are original studio photographs taken by a variety of photographers including Mathew Brady and Napoleon Sarony, a relatively small number of photographic reproductions of non-photographic portraits are also present (including depictions of James Monroe, Stonewall Jackson, and Henry and Clara Ford).
Volume 1: Brearley collection reproduction souvenir album
This album (16.5 x 15 cm) has green leather covers with lines of poetry from Henry W. Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life stamped in gold on the front. An index included at the beginning lists the names of 96 individuals represented across the album’s 24 pages. After the index, a passage written by William H. Brearley and dated August 1st 1874 explains that he created a limited number of facsimile copies of his original autographed portrait collection at the “urgent solicitation” of many interested friends. Brearley also explains that he acquired the original photographs and autographs in his collection “by long and patient effort, & tending over a period of ten years, and involving an expense of several Hundred dollars.” Subsequent album pages each contain four individually pasted 5.5 x 4 cm albumen print photographic reproductions of original portraits found in Brearley’s collection. This item was acquired from a separate source and was not part of the original collection of materials donated to the Clements Library by Hazel Hope Pingree Mills.
Volume 2: Brearley-Pingree collection original album
This album (30 x 26 cm) has brown leather covers and the words “Portraits. Autographs” and “Brearley” stamped in gold on the spine. The original autographed portraits of the Brearley-Pingree collection were once housed in this album before Clements Library staff removed the original photographs and substituted them with photocopies in 2010 for conservation and preservation purposes. Manuscript captions were also added by Clements Library staff. The original photographs are housed separately in smaller boxes and have been arranged according to size/format and ordered alphabetically by subject surname. See below for a complete list of photographic subjects contained in each box.
Of additional interest are three manuscript items, including the clipped signature of Hyacinthe Loyson and an October 15th 1873 letter from Henry W. Longfellow containing the same lines of poetry from A Psalm of Life that appear on the cover of the Brearley collection souvenir album. Also present is a letter from Buckingham Palace sent to Brearley in 1873 by Sir Thomas Biddulph explaining that the “enclosed Photograph” of Queen Victoria is being returned but that “The Queen’s Autograph is never given away.” Three wax seals are also included in the volume including an “Imperial Chancellor’s seal” (associated with a portrait of Otto von Bismarck); “the Napoleon Seal” (associated with a portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte); and a Great Seal of the Realm attached to the 1873 letter from Buckingham Palace.
Box 1.1: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, A-E
This box contains 47 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:
Box 1.2: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, F-N
This box contains 46 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:
Box 1.3: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, O-Z
This box contains 36 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:
Box 2: Brearley-Pingree collection cabinet cards
This box contains 27 cabinet cards. Represented individuals include the following:
Box 3: Brearley-Pingree collection large photographs and manuscript materials
This box contains 9 large format mounted photographs and 33 manuscript items. Represented individuals among the photographs include the following:
Manuscript materials of interest include a number of letters dating to the mid-1870s from various individuals (including John A. Dix, C. H. Spurgeon, H. W. Longfellow, and Lucretia R. Garfield) possibly sent to William H. Brearley in response to autograph solicitations and other requests; and numerous letters addressed to Hazen S. Pingree from various individuals (inlcuding William Thomas Stead, Ignacio Andrade, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley) dating to the 1890s. Other items of interest include a copy of "Special Order No. 166 'Extract' Head Quarters 2d Brigade 3d Div 2d A.I." dated June 15th 1865 stating that the 1st Mass Heavy Artillery had been ordered by Brig. Gen. Franklin Pierce to repost to General Hancock; calling cards for "Sixto Sanchez Director General de Coreeos - Postmaster" as well as "The Admiral of the Navy" George Dewey from "when he called on Gov. Pingree in Detroit"; a clipped signature of "Louis Botha Commandant General"; an undated note to poet Louise Chandler Moulton; a document dated August 1st 1892 detailing financial investment information related to the Michigan-Peninsular Car Company with pasted clippings of wealthy politicians and their net worths as well as annotations by Pingree; a letter dated Feb 19th 1892 from Don M. Dickinson to Pingree regarding the prospective visit of Grover Clevland to Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan; a letter dated March 9th 1949 from Hazel Hope Pingree Mills to Director of the William L. Clements Library Randolph G. Adams regarding progress being made on research regarding the life of William H. Brearley; and an undated typed copy of a short essay titled "Brearley - Man of Action, Started Many Important Detroit Activities" by historian George B. Catlin.
approximately 166 photographs, 36 manuscript items, and 2 bound volumes
59 photographs, 15 postcards, and 2 letters in 2 albums
The Delmar Lepper Civilian Conservation Corps photograph albums consist of two volumes containing 59 photographs, 15 postcards, and two letters documenting the daily life and experiences of a young man in the Civilian Conservation Corps in California and Idaho.
Volume one (14 x 21 cm) has leather covers with a stereotypical design of a Native American man wearing a war bonnet and the words "Snap Shots/Co. 544/ Delmar Lepper" stamped on the front cover. This album contains approximately 40 snapshots and 15 half tone color postcards. Images of note include a picture of a bear being fed by a man outside of a car and postcards featuring Californian scenery. One of the postcards was sent to Lepper’s brother Albert in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Volume two (19.5 x 26.5 cm) has red pressed paper covers with a hawk and the word "Photographs" stamped on the front in silver. The album contains 19 snapshots as well as two letters written by Lepper in 1935 addressed to his brother Albert. One letter discusses Lepper's recommitment to the C.C.C. and his anxiety about doing so while the other letter describes a trip to a ship in the Pacific Ocean as well as his weight gain. The photographs appear to have been previously moved around in the album as many are loose.
59 photographs, 15 postcards, and 2 letters in 2 albums
approximately 275 items in 1 album
The Tyler-Montgomery-Scott family album chronicles multiple generations of the Tyler, Montgomery, and Scott families of the Philadelphia area from the 1860s through the 1930s. It includes approximately 275 items including studio portrait photographs, informal snapshots, newspaper clippings, postcards, letters, and other ephemera.
The album (33 x 25.5 cm) is string-bound with grey cloth covers. Most photographs in the album have detailed handwritten captions identifying people, often with their middle or maiden names as well as the location and date. The presentation of the album is not strictly chronological, especially in the latter half. The early generations of Tylers are represented in photographic formats such as cartes-de-visite, tintypes and cabinet cards, while later generations are represented in snapshots and postcards. When the album reaches the mid-twentieth century, it begins to resemble the modern family album with various forms of ephemera (newspaper clippings, drawings, letters, Christmas cards, etc.) supplementing the photographs of family and friends.
The album begins with a portrait of Frederick Tyler, his daughter Sarah Sophia Cowen, granddaughter Kate “Gwen” Cowen Pratt, and great-granddaughter Kate Pratt. George F. and Louisa R. Tyler as well as their children (including Sidney F. and Helen Beach Tyler) are also featured in the initial section of the album, along with many extended family members, friends, nurses, and pets. Among the family friends pictured are painter Frederick Church, writer Bret Harte, Leonor Ruiz de Apodaca y Garcia-Tienza, Gen. William Buel Franklin, patent lawyer and historian Woodbury Lowery, and the Duke and Duchess of Arcos (Jose Ambrosio Brunetti and Virginia Woodbury Lowery Brunetti). Several interior views of rooms in George F. and Louisa R. Tyler’s home on 201 South 15th St. taken in 1896 are also present, including a photograph of the “Children’s play room” that features their granddaughter Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery holding a doll. Hope, her parents Mary W. and Sidney F. Tyler, her husband Robert “Bob” L. Montgomery, and their children Mary, Ives, and Alexander are well-represented in the album.
Of particular interest are a number of photographs in different sections of the album that depict Theodore Roosevelt and his family. Some of these images are formal studio portraits, while others are more candid snapshots of Roosevelt with other people. One snapshot shows the family at play on the grounds of Sagamore Hill in 1897. Two photos taken at the White House including Helen Beach Tyler, daughter of George F. and Louisa R. Tyler and second cousin to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, are labelled “taken by Ted Roosevelt,” possibly referring to President Roosevelt’s son Theodore Roosevelt III. Helen Beach Tyler may be the “Nellie” who was the recipient of a partial letter included in the album which describes conditions at a wartime hospital (most likely in Italy) in 1915. Only the first two pages of this letter are included, and there is no indication of the identity of the writer. Helen Beach Tyler may also have been the principal compiler of this album. Supporting this possibility is the presence of an interior view of a bedroom at 201 South 15th St. (George F. and Louisa R. Tyler’s home) captioned as “Mother’s bedroom,” a signed portrait of Englishman Lytton Sothern captioned “Given to me by Mr. Sothern June 1872. Mr. Edward Sothern & his son Lytton Sothern sat at our table on ‘Oceanic’ my first trip to Europe,” and a portrait of Sara Schott von Schottenstein, Baronin von Prittwitz-Gaffron, bearing the inscription “to her friend Helen Tyler 1880.”
Other items of interest include portraits of Col. August Cleveland Tyler; several portraits of Brig. Gen. Robert Ogden Tyler; a portrait of French pianist Antoine Marmontel captioned “Mr. Marmontel Professor au Conservatoire gave us music lessons in Paris 1873-74”; a group portrait of Helen Beach Tyler, Mary L. Tyler, Alice Seward, Kitty Seward, and Ida Vinton posing with a silhouette of Sidney F. Tyler; photographs of painted portraits of George F. Tyler and Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery; a series of photos taken at the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City, some of which include the Duke and Duchess of Arcos, Woodbury Lowery, and Archibald Lowery; portraits of the Prittwitz-Gaffron family in Germany; photos taken around the world in various locations including Egypt, India, Germany, and Italy; images taken during an exhibition of sculpture by Stella Elkins Tyler (wife of George Frederick Tyler, Jr.), as well as a program from the event; and photos showing the family of Helen Hope and Edgar Scott.
approximately 275 items in 1 album
7 volumes
The Grosvenor L. Townsend scrapbooks consist of 7 volumes containing newspaper clippings, photographs, halftone prints, correspondence, ephemera, printed materials, maps, realia, telegrams, and other miscellaneous documents and materials related to the military career of Grosvenor Lowery Townsend. Newspaper and journal clippings were mainly taken from New York-based publications. Most of the clippings are in extremely fragile condition. Many clippings are coupled with inscriptions indicating the name and date of the publication they were taken from. Numerous photographs also bear inscribed captions. Each volume measures approximately 25 x 19 cm in size and has marbled paper covers.
In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has also created the G. L. Townsend Scrapbook Inventory which serves as an itemized list of the contents of each scrapbook.
1 volume, 2 boxes (1 linear foot)
The Heinrich family photograph collection consists of 1 photograph album, 102 loose photographs, 4 letters, 1 passport, 76 postcards, 18 loose album pages, and 1 ceramic beer stein relating to the family of Eberhardt William Heinrich. The collection depicts the life of a German soldier during World War I and the immigration of a middle-class German family to the United States between the wars. Eberhardt Heinrich compiled the materials and wrote a brief family history, two copies of which are included in the collection.
The photograph album (13cm x 19cm) of Eberhardt Heinrich's father, German soldier Bruno Heinrich, contains 101 photographs and photographic postcards related to Bruno Heinrich's army service in Eastern Europe during World War I. Captions in English, added later by his son, identify people, locations and dates. The volume has a red cloth cover with a printed iron cross on the front, dated 1914. Bruno Heinrich's Iron Cross medal is placed in a clear plastic envelope inside the volume's front cover.
The Bruno Heinrich album shows individual and group portraits of German soldiers playing cards, resting in earthwork bunkers, in trenches, drinking, sitting by large artillery pieces, posing in ruined buildings, and mounted on horseback. Several photos are posed with local residents or refugees; one image features captured armored tanks. Most of the photographs were taken in Serbia, Poland, and Russia, though a few came from France and Germany. Although many of the photographs show soldiers and civilians at leisure, others depict the devastation and the humanitarian crisis created by the war. Images of note include a photograph captioned "Waking up in the ditch after a party;" a German cemetery of fresh graves and birch wood crosses; soldiers displaying a captured Serbian banner; Heinrich in a domestic interior with his rifle, hat, and "bridal picture" on the wall behind him; and a view of a Russian cloister with a large crowd of civilian refugees. Photographs at the end of the album depicting Bruno Heinrich and his brothers-in-law Paul Hobach, Heinrich Hobach, Richard Albert, and Willi Osterloh, who served on the Western front, may have been added later.
The loose photograph series includes 102 photographs arranged by subject matter, dating between 1910 and 1979. Some photographs have manuscript captions in English and German on the verso. A majority of the images show the families of Bruno Heinrich and of his wife, Helene, and of a young Eberhardt Heinrich. Family members are often identified on the verso. Also included are photographs of the family's immigration to the United States, crossing the Atlantic aboard the German steamship SS Yorck, and trans-Atlantic voyage to Germany in 1930 onboard the German ocean liners SS Bremen and SS Europa. Images depict groups and individuals onboard ship and views taken of the ocean en route. Also included are snapshots taken at the University of Michigan's geological field station in Wyoming, Camp Davis; plus other images of travel and family life in Dubuque, Iowa. Of note are three photos taken on separate dates of Bruno Heinrich, Helene Heinrich, and Eberhardt Heinrich, each posed atop a camel in front of the Great Sphinx and the pyramids at Giza in Egypt.
The collection's manuscripts consist of four letters and one passport. Three manuscript letters are written in German on business letterhead; two dated June 16, 1910, and one dated March 13, 1911. The latter includes two recipes written in English on the verso. One letter, in English, is dated July 29, 1985 and typewritten on Ann Arbor News letterhead. The United States passport was issued to Helene Heinrich on March 21, 1960, and tracks her travel to numerous countries around the world throughout the early 1960s.
The collection of postcards contains 76 lithographic and photomechanical souvenir postcards from Germany and the United States dating from the early to mid-twentieth century. Some notes inscribed on the verso are written in English and German and may have been added by Eberhardt William at a later date. A majority of the postcards depict German cities visited by the Heinrich family in 1930. Also included is a group from Chicago, Illinois museums; and a group of "Bonzo" dog cartoons by George E. Studdy. Of note is a group of sentimental postcards of German soldiers from the World War I era; a photographic postcard of Eberhardt William and Helena Heinrich aboard the SS Yorck during their immigration from Germany to the United States in 1923; and a souvenir postcard from Bremen, Germany featuring a colored lithograph of a traveler with a rucksack. A paper flap under the rucksack lifts to reveal a miniature accordion-fold viewbook of Bremen scenes.
The loose album pages series includes 18 loose pages separated into five groups dating from 1923-1964. Pages were likely previously part of compiled albums though no longer extent. Captions in English and German may have been added by Eberhardt Heinrich at a later date. Group 1 includes photographs taken aboard the SS Europa, during the October 1930 trans-Atlantic voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany to the United States. Images include photographs taken from the ship and from shore at Bremerhaven, Germany, including dramatic photographs of large seas taken from the ship's deck. Group 2 is primarily commercial photographs from the family's 1930 trip to Germany depicting Bremen; the Breitachklamm gorge, and towns of Sonthofen and Oberstdorf in the Allgäu region; Berlin; and the Spreewald. Group 3 features photographs of East and West Berlin taken in October 1963 by Helena Heinrich. The final two groups are photographs of a family visit to the gravesite of Julian Dubuque in Dubuque, Iowa, August 1964, and a trip to the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair in October 1940.
The final item in the collection is a half-liter ceramic regimental beer stein with a decorative pewter lid. The family history included in the collection notes that the stein belonged to Helena Heinrich's brother-in-law, Willi Osterloh, a member of the Kaiser's Garde-Kürassier-Regiment. The stein, manufactured by the Mettlach factory of Villeroy and Boch, with a production date of 1895, is decorated in the PUG (Print Under Glaze) style. It is inscribed with "Garde-Kürassier-Regiment" and depicts Garde-Kürassier-Regiment soldiers both standing and astride horses. The soldiers wear the normal service uniforms and the parade uniforms of the regiment. The pewter lid has a cast eagle thumb lift and is decorated with the seal and motto of the Order of the Black Eagle: "Summ Cuique."
1 volume, 2 boxes (1 linear foot)
37 photographs in 1 album
The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.
The album (28 x 23.5 cm) has moiré fabric covers with "James S. Galloway" stamped on the front. The title page lists the photographer as J. W. Winder. The majority of images are studio portraits of members of the Class of 1860, most of which include the subjects’ signatures and hometowns. Of note is a portrait of suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), the first woman to both graduate from theological school and become a full-time ordained minister. Also present is an image of the Antioch College campus, three photographs of co-educational classes, and a letter from one of Galloway's classmates describing the Class of 1860’s 50th reunion in 1910 which Galloway did not attend.
approximately 208 photographs, 14+ items of ephemera, 1 newspaper, and 3 letters in 1 album
The Samuel May photograph album contains approximately 208 photographs as well as letters and ephemera compiled by U.S. Army soldier Samuel May from his time stationed in London, France, and Germany during World War II.
The album was originally housed in a vinyl binder but has since been moved to a separate binder where images and ephemera have been housed in plastic sleeves. In addition to photographs the album also contains a set of tourist postcards, five tickets, one drawing, one newspaper clipping, four magazine clippings, one event advertisement, two miscellaneous documents, one newspaper, and three letters home. All of the photographs have information written on their backs.
Images of note include pictures of leisure activities taken while May was stationed in France including views of Rheims, Marseille, and Paris; the destroyed German War Office and the 1936 Olympic Stadium in Berlin; the city of Aachen in ruins; and young men sporting Adolf Hitler-style mustaches as a joke captioned "This is just in case we lose." Also of interest is a drawing of Samuel May on American Red Cross stationery as well as letters home that were likely written while May was waiting to return home following the war’s conclusion.
approximately 208 photographs, 14+ items of ephemera, 1 newspaper, and 3 letters in 1 album
1 case, 1 stereoviewer, 24 stereographs, 12 pieces of ephemera, 8 pamphlets, 4 documents, 7 letters, 2 newsletter
The Sumner H. Cater collection contains materials related to a University of Illinois student's employment as a stereoview salesman during the summer of 1913.
The collection includes the original salesman case used by Sumner H. Cater which contains 1 stereoviewer, 24 sample stereographs (3 by Keystone View Company and 21 by Underwood & Underwood), and 3 explanation cards that help demonstrate how stereographs work. Photographic content includes 4 foreign views showing "Picking lemons" at an orchard in Sicily, "The Japanese hillside trenches," "A hospitable home in old Ireland," and "Concrete Arches" at the Panama Canal; 4 domestic views showing "A mountain of petrified water" and "'Old Faithful' geyser in action at Yellowstone National Park, the "Famous trotting ostrich 'Oliver W.'" in Jacksonville, Florida, and "Feeding the Chickens" on a New Jersey farm; and 16 views from the Underwood & Underwood "Holy Land" series mainly showing scenes from Jerusalem.
1 case, 1 stereoviewer, 24 stereographs, 12 pieces of ephemera, 8 pamphlets, 4 documents, 7 letters, 2 newsletter