Collections

The Charles R. Underhill, Jr. collection consists of approximately 103 photographs, 3 letters, and 10 items of miscellaneous documentation and ephemera related to Charles R. Underhill, Jr.’s employment with RCA Photophone, which saw him travel around the country installing motion picture theater projector equipment.

The Charles R. Underhill, Jr. collection consists of approximately 103 photographs, 3 letters, and 10 items of miscellaneous documentation and ephemera related to Charles R. Underhill, Jr.’s employment with RCA Photophone, which saw him travel around the country installing motion picture theater projector equipment.

Many of the photographs present in this collection appear to have once been part of an album or scrapbook which may have been compiled and captioned by Underhill, Jr.’s sister, Marguerite Allare Underhill Goetz (1895-1970). Images of interest include views of numerous movie theaters, street scenes, and landscapes in various locations in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C; photos of P-2 projector equipment manufactured for RCA by General Electric; snapshots of Underhill, Jr. and family members including his parents, wife, and daughter taken in various locations during work-related travels; photos of movie theater managers John M. Bernardi (Roxy Theatre, Williamsport, Pennsylvania) and Paul O. Klingler (Rialto Theatre, Lewiston, Pennsylvania); a portrait of Harold Graffius, projectionist for the Rowland Theatre in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania; and pictures of several theatre organists.

Additional items include Underhill, Jr.’s projected service schedule beginning June 1, 1935; his service schedule for the month of July 1931; a list of films reviewed by Box Office for the year 1933; an undated letter from Rialto Theatre manager Paul O. Klingler regarding an unknown article that had originally been attached; a letter from Ike Benny of Pastime Theatre in Lewiston requesting Underhill, Jr.’s help regarding equipment issues dated October 9 1930; a letter from W. K. Glodfelter regarding an upcoming local meeting of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees dated November 9 1931; and a broadside advertising the Rivoli Theatre of Johnstown, Pennsylvania ; posters advertising the McVeytown Theatre in McVeytown, Pennsylvania; an issue of the Charleroi Mail advertising the opening of the 1935 fall film season at the Menlo Theatre in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

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 Northern Michigan photograph collection contains an assortment of 43 photographic postcards, 28 mounted photographs, and 6 unmounted photographs showing people and scenes related to logging camp operations in northern Michigan, street views most likely from the town of Trenary, and road construction between Rapid River and Masonville.

The Northern Michigan photograph collection contains an assortment of 43 photographic postcards, 28 mounted photographs, and 6 unmounted photographs showing people and scenes related to logging camp operations in northern Michigan, street views most likely from the town of Trenary, and road construction between Rapid River and Masonville.

Per Albert Peterson (1886-1968), grandfather of collection donor Anne Peterson, is identified in two photographs. It is unclear whether members of the Peterson family took any of these photographs themselves. According to occasional annotations (many of which are not contemporary to when the photographs were taken), members of the “Johnson” family, including Oscar Johnson, John Johnson, and Manny Johnson, are the most frequently represented individuals. One group portrait of loggers is captioned “Wessling Johnson Camp” while another is captioned “Harry Schmit Camp 14.” Several postcards are addressed to an Eva Bannister located in Winters, Michigan, and a Henry Roos of Rapid River and Blaney, Michigan.

Depictions of logging camp operations include several group portraits that illustrate the size of a typical early 20th-century logging camp. A few images also highlight the cookhouse and social side of camp life, while there is also one photograph that shows the first motorized tractor used in log transport in the region. Other images show aspects of town and domestic life in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from approximately 1908 to 1920. There are group portraits of railroad workers, ice cutters, maple sap gatherers, a baseball team; family members at home or being pulled in dog sleighs; and scenes of town life including a parade that appears to involve individuals dressed in blackface, an early movie theater, a fire engine, and a train crossing. One group portrait appears to have been taken around the 1940s.

A sequence of 13 photographic postcards provides a detailed overview of the stages of rural road construction in the early 1920s including views of trains unloading material onto conveyors, narrow-gauge gravel trains delivering materials to the work site, work crews and horse-drawn graders contouring the surface, and steamrollers compressing the roadbed. The postcards include brief annotations typewritten on the front of the cards.

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.

The Schafer Brothers Logging Company photograph collection consists of 18 images related to the business’s logging operations in western Washington State from the mid-1890s to 1940.

The photographs are stored in plastic sleeves and kept in a black vinyl-covered ringed notebook (38.5 x 32 cm). Five of the images are 30 x 35.5 cm while the other thirteen are 20.5 x 25.5 cm. The photographs in this collection detail important aspects of the Schafer Brothers Logging Company’s development as an enterprise. At least four of the photographs were taken by Clark Kinsey. Other attributed photographers include Anderson Photo., Jones Co., H. C. Nelson, E. A. Smith, K. S. Brown, and Stan Spiegle. Certain photographs bearing the stamp of K. S. Brown appear to possibly be copies of other photographers’ work that was reproduced at a later date.

The 30 x 35.5 cm images include the following:

1) Outdoor group portrait of seven men working in the woods in Brady, Washington; photograph by Clark Kinsey, No. 44 (ink signature on verso: Carl A. Schafer)

2) Outdoor group portrait of numerous company employees including many Native American men from the Quinault Reservation; “No. 1 Schafer Lumber Co.”; (ink signature on verso: Carl A. Schafer)

3) Outdoor group portrait of numerous company employees at a company picnic observing logrolling contest; “Schafer Bros. Annual picnic Aug 14 / 27”; photograph by Clark Kinsey, No. 51 (ink signature on verso: Carl A. Schafer)

4) Outdoor view of a 41-ton Heisler geared steam locomotive, the company’s first locomotive, with crew; “Schafer Bros. Logging Co. Brady, Wn.”; photograph by Clark Kinsey, No. 48; (ink signature on verso: Albert Schafer)

5) Outdoor group portrait of 17 log foremen; “Schafer Bros. Log Foreman [sic] # 91”; photograph by Clark Kinsey, No. 91; (ink signature on verso: John D. Schafer)

The 20.5 x 25.5 cm images include the following:

6) Ca. 1899 view of the Schafer family home built in 1895 showing members of the Schafer and Mueller families (related through Anna Schafer’s first marriage) [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; (photographer’s stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7470 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

7) Outdoor group portrait of several members of the Schafer, Mueller, and Comfort families with horse-drawn carts, dogs, and homestead visible in background [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; “Old Homestead”; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7473 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

8) Outdoor group portrait of several men including the Schafer brothers with crew members, two of which are entirely illustrated through negative retouching, and a team of oxen while posing with tools near noteworthy logging harvest; “Aug 21-1901 30 x 84 = 7000 Schafer Bros. Logging Co.”; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7543 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

9) Outdoor view showing team of oxen hauling trees to the river with Peter Schafer (at right holding goad stick), Roy Gill (at center riding bull), and another individual [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; (stamp on verso: No. 14647 The Jones Photo Co. Aberdeen, Washington)

10) LOCATED BEHIND #9; Outdoor view showing team of oxen hauling trees to the river with Peter Schafer (at right holding goad stick), Roy Gill (at center riding bull), and another individual; “Preacher Slough Sep 6 - 1897 Peter Schafer”; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7466 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

11) Outdoor view showing August Maas, Peter Schafer, and Hubert Schafer operating one of the company’s first steam donkeys [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; “Schafer Bros. Log Co. on Satsop”; photograph by E. A. Smith; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7475 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

12) Outdoor view showing a steam donkey railroad operation hoisting and loading logs; (stamp on verso: No. 17371 The Jones Photo Co. Aberdeen, Washington Jun 27 1940)

13) Outdoor group portrait showing in order of appearance from left to right: Hyasman (first name possibly George; Native American), Hubert Schafer, Albert Schafer, Ed Kesterson, Herman Mueller, Ben Kesterson, and John Minkler standing on a logjam in the Satsop River in 1898 [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7474 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

14) Outdoor view showing an enormous logjam on the Satsop River ca. 1907 with a group of workers posing in foreground [includes touchups made directly onto the photograph with a marker]; “Schafer Bros. 3000000 ft. in the River”; photograph by H. C. Nelson; (stamp on verso: Copy Negative No. 7471 K. S. Brown Photo Kenwood 1921 6838 - 32nd N.E. Seattle, Wash.)

15) Outdoor view showing lumber staging area on water; “140 Fir Peeler logs selected for wide Veneer or Plywood stock. Schafer Brothers Logging Co. Montesano, Wash.”; photograph by Anderson Photo. ; (stamp on verso: Anderson Photo 119 E. Heron St. Aberdeen, Wash.) (ink signature on verso: Paul A. Schafer)

16) Outdoor view showing large group of people gathered for company picnic; “Schafer Bros. Picnic Everybody Eat”; photograph by Anderson Photo. ; (stamp on verso: Anderson Photo 119 E. Heron St. Aberdeen, Wash.) (ink signature on verso: Paul A. Schafer)

17) Outdoor view of stone monument at entrance to Schafer State Park with large metal plaque that reads: Honoring the Memory of John D. & Anna Schafer Pioneers of 1871 This Park is Dedicated by Their Sons Peter, Hubert and Albert in 1924; “#14”; (stamp on verso: No. 15774 The Jones Photo Co. Aberdeen, Washington Jul 1938)

18) Outdoor view showing a man standing on a dirt path in the woods staring up at the trees; (stamp on verso: Reproduction Rights Reserved by Stan Spiegle Aberdeen, Washington)