Collections

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 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.

The Bonynge family photograph collection consists of ten photograph albums and approximately 600 loose photographs pertaining to the Bonynge family of New Jersey. The albums center on Henry Arthur Bonynge Jr., M.D., his wife Elizabeth and daughter Marjorie. Images include snapshots of family life in the northeastern United States, trips to Wyoming, El Salvador, Bermuda, Cuba, and Europe.

The Bonynge family photograph collection consists of ten photograph albums and approximately 600 loose photographs pertaining to the Bonynge family of New Jersey. The albums center on Henry Arthur Bonynge Jr., M.D., his wife Elizabeth and daughter Marjorie. Images include snapshots of family life in northeastern United States, trips to Wyoming, El Salvador, Bermuda, Cuba, and Europe. The albums are roughly arranged in chronological order while the loose photographs are organized by location.

Volume One: The Bonynge family Hoboken album (27.25 x 36.25 cm, lacks covers) contains approximately 90 snapshots of Henry Bonynge Jr.'s family when he was a young man. A majority of these images are dated from 1898-1901 and were taken at 931 Washington Street in Hoboken. Images of note include domestic interior views, a Christmas tree, charming casual portraits, street snapshots, photographs of Henry Bonynge Sr.’s sister Florence graduating from high school, an October 1899 trip to visit landmarks in New York City, and visits to the Jersey Shore.

Volume Two: The Christ Church Hospital, Jersey City album (26.5 x 30.5 cm, black leather cover with gilt title) contains approximately 30 professional quality photographs related to Henry Bonynge Jr.'s medical internship in 1906-1907. There are several carefully composed views of hospital exteriors, interiors, equipment, and staff in uniform. Of note is a view across Hoboken rooftops, the Hudson River, to New York City. Also a fine image of the hospital kitchen and staff. Includes one card photograph of employees with a stretcher in front of a hospital ambulance.

Volume Three: The Bonynge family early snapshots album (26.75 x 36.75 cm, black leather cover in poor condition) contains approximately 400 photographs documenting Henry and Elizabeth Bonynge's early years of marriage as well as Marjorie's infancy. Images of interest include photographs of daily life and family trips from 1910 to 1917 in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Lake Waramaug (Connecticut), Prince Edward Island, Lake George (New York), Newport, Rhode Island, Maine, Atlantic City, New Jersey and Mount Vernon, Virginia. Includes notable images of recreational activities, early automobile travel, horseback riding, construction of the Prospect Street house in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and a July 4th parade. Later notes from Susan B. Strange identify many individuals represented in the album in addition to captions written by Elizabeth and/or Henry.

Volume Four: The Bonynge family snapshots album (27.25 x 36.75 cm, black leather cover, poor condition) contains approximately 250 photographs of Henry, Elizabeth and Marjorie. While some of the images included in this album were taken in 1911, most date to ca. 1918-1925. Images of interest include photographs of Marjorie as a young child riding horses (including ‘Lightning’, a Shetland Pony), trips to Niagara Falls, Quebec, and Lake George in 1921, a trip to Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York in 1922 and a pictures from a "Charley trip," possibly to Wyoming.

Volume Five: The New Preston, Ridgewood, and Nantucket album (24.25 x 36.75 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 45 high quality photographic prints of people and places in New Preston, Connecticut, and Nantucket, Massachusetts as well as the family home in Ridgewood, New Jersey. There is a partial index for the album which was likely filled out by Marjorie. Images of note include Elizabeth and Marjorie with a pony in 1918, interior photographs of the house at 107 Prospect Street and ten photographs of Nantucket.

Volume Six: The Marjorie Bonynge childhood album (19 x 29.25 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 40 photographs, including numerous portraits of people and of Marjorie as a child from 1920-1929. Of note is an image of children dressed for a Halloween party.

Volume Seven: The Bonynge European travel album (23.5 x 35.5 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 70 photographs of a Atlantic crossing aboard the U.S.S. Minnetonka in 1925. The photographs focus on Cherbourg (France), Edinburgh (Scotland), Stratford-upon-Avon, (England), and Volendam (the Netherlands). Images of interest include several views of Henry Bonynge Jr.'s mother's home in Bath, England.

Volume Eight: The Bonynge Wyoming trips album (23.5 x 35.5 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 65 photographs of a family trip to the Fred Richard Ranch near Cody, Wyoming in 1922. Images include views of hunting, mountain vistas, and horseback riding. There are also copies of three newspaper clippings describing Henry Bonynge Jr.'s near death experience on the trip while hunting.

Volume Nine: The Bonynge Nantucket trips album (23.5 x 35.5 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 150 photographs of two trips to Nantucket in 1923 and 1924.

Volume Ten: The Bonynge Yellowstone trip album (24.25 x 36.75 cm, black leather cover) contains approximately 150 photographs of a trip to Yellowstone National Park and Shoshone Canyon ca.1920-1922. Notes have been added by both Susan B. Strange and likely Henry Bonynge Jr. Images of interest include photographs of a ranch and horseback riding in an unmarked location, probably near Cody, Wyoming.

The 600 loose photographs in this collection are stored in 11 separate envelopes and have been sorted according to the location they were taken. The majority of these images were taken during a number of family vacations during the 1930s. There are several images that are duplicates of photographs that appear in the albums.

Envelope One and Envelope Two contain approximately 60 images of family, pets, school groups and Ridgewood and Hoboken, New Jersey.

Envelope Three contains approximately 30 images of a cruise to what appears to be Bermuda.

Envelope Four contains approximately 38 images of horses and views of locations in Kentucky.

Envelope Five contains approximately 70 images of multiple trips to Salmon, Idaho. Photographs document the Bonynge family partaking in horseback riding and rodeo at a friend's ranch.

Envelope Six contains approximately 80 images of trips to various locations in the United States from 1936 until ca. 1940. The images have been separated by note cards with locations and dates.

Envelope Seven contains approximately 60 images of a trip taken by Marjorie in March of 1937 to El Salvador and Central America in order to visit a friend from high school named Eva Duke.

Envelopes Eight and Nine contain approximately 170 images from a 1937 Caribbean Cruise aboard the S.S.Quirigua. Many of the images depict Havana, Cuba.

Envelope Ten contains approximately 58 images from a number of unidentified places as well as two photographs from a 1932 trip to Venice, Italy.

Envelope Eleven contains approximately 45 images of unidentified people. Some images appear to be from ca. 1900, though most of the photographs are of friends or neighbors of the Bonynge family in the 1930s.

The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 100,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering, mining, suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is only partially open for research.

The subject contents of different photographic format series within the Tinder collection vary, depending in part upon how each format was historically used, and the date range of that format's popularity. For example, cartes de visite and cased images are most often formal studio portraits, while stereographs are likely to be outdoor views. Cabinet photographs are frequently portraits, but often composed with less formality than the cartes de visite and cased images. The postcards and the mounted prints contain very diverse subjects. The photographers' file contains many important and rare images of photographers, their galleries, promotional images, and the activities of photographers in the field. See individual series descriptions in the Contents List below for more specific details.

Included throughout are images by both professional and amateur photographers, although those by professionals are extant in far greater numbers.

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 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.

The Ost family photograph album (17.8 x 22.8 cm) contains approximately 60 portrait snapshots, including some taken at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. There are several images of people wearing and holding the flag of the United States.

The Ost family photograph album (17.8 x 22.8 cm) contains approximately 60 portrait snapshots. The album is a souvenir from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair with "Gerard Ost" stamped on the front, but the photographs included were not taken at the World's Fair. Many of the photographs appear to have been removed from an earlier album and inserted into this album. The first three pages include photographs taken at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, depicting groups of people, the conservatory, the Detroit Boat Club, beaches, and a seaplane on the Detroit River. Also included are many photographs of women and children with a large American flag. The majority of images are of groups of men, women, and children posing in front of houses.

The Same-sex affection and gender studies photograph collection contains approximately 150 examples of photographs that illustrate closeness between subjects of the same sex as well as aspects of non-traditional gender presentation.

The collection includes photographic examples in multiple formats with real photo postcards, tintypes, cabinet cards, cartes de visite, and small format mounted photos being the most numerous. 145 images are contained in Box 1 of the collection while an additional 5 photographs on larger format card mounts are stored in Box 2. Images mainly consist of portraits of men posing familiarly with other men, women posing familiarly with other women, and portraits of groups and individuals engaged in cross-dressing. Due to the subjective nature of assessing these images combined with historical differences in what was considered socially acceptable displays of affection and the general lack of verifiable context, many of these photographs remain open to a variety of interpretations.

Numerous photographs show same-sex duos and larger groups holding hands, placing their hands on each other, leaning on each other, or demonstrating affection in some other observable way. Most subjects are unidentified, though occasionally individuals have been identified through the presence of inscriptions. In some cases, individuals pictured together have been confirmed to be relatives.

Numerous photographs of male and female individuals and groups engaged in cross-dressing are also present. In many instances, the cross-dressing most likely occurred for humorous reasons.

• Postcard showing two men embracing with the printed caption "We're looking for girls at Lansing, Mich."
• Real photo postcard bearing a studio group portrait of two men, one of whom appears to have an unbuckled belt.
• Cabinet card studio group portrait by Beardsley of Charlotte, Michigan, showing two men, one of whom holds a guitar, whose arms appear to align behind them in a manner that suggests they may have been holding hands.
• Two different group portraits of the same female couple identified through inscriptions as "Agnes Davis" and "Anna Wickerham."
• 1940s group portrait of four men included in a souvenir packet for “Swing Rendezvous,” a New York City-based lesbian/gay bar.
• Real photo postcard bearing a portrait of an unidentified man wearing women's clothing, including a dress, flower-laden hat, and beaded necklace.
• Postcard showing a man wearing women's clothing sat on a bench with the printed caption "The Male is late!"
• Outdoor portrait of two women dressed in men's clothing captioned "A pair of Peaches."
• Real photo postcard captioned "Four of a kind" showing two cross-dressed male-female couples sitting together, with the women sat in the men's laps.
• Series of four images showing a woman posing in World War I-era soldier's uniform.