Collections

The Boston Mob Pennsylvania Tour and Cross-Country Tour photograph albums contain pictures taken during travels in the Mid-Atlantic States, the northern Midwest, Colorado, and California in the early 1890s. The photographs show city scenes and buildings, natural scenery, and travelers.

The Boston Mob Pennsylvania Tour and Cross-Country Tour photograph albums contain 213 pictures taken during travels in the Mid-Atlantic States, the northern Midwest, Colorado, and California in the early 1890s. Each album is 29cm x 35cm with titles stamped in gold on the front covers. Most photographs are captioned.

The first volume, "Pennsylvania Tour 1891," contains 77 items, comprised of 15.5cm x 20cm prints pasted one to a page and 9cm x 12cm prints pasted three or four to a page. The first 7 pictures and the final picture were taken at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, including views of battlefield monuments and a military cemetery. The photographer also traveled to Luray, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and Richmond, Virginia. A few shots are group portraits of male and female tourists, who posed once in a railroad car by a banner reading "Boston Mob," and many others are images of city streets and natural scenery, including a series taken in and around a natural bridge and Cedar Creek in Virginia. While visiting Washington, D.C., the compiler photographed landmarks such as the Washington Monument, United States Treasury, White House, and State, War, and Navy Building. Ferries, horse-drawn trolleys (running on tracks), trains, bridges, and railroad depots are visible in many photographs. Of note is an aerial photograph of the White House and surrounding buildings taken from the top of the Washington Monument and a group of 5 items showing African American children playing on a street in Luray, Virginia.

The second volume, "Across the Continent 1892," contains 136 photographs (9cm x 12cm each), usually pasted four to a page. Most items are views of buildings and natural scenery in locations such as Niagara Falls; Sioux City, Iowa; Denver, Colorado; San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; and Duluth, Minnesota, as well as other towns in Colorado and California. The pictures show donkeys, town and city buildings, a cattle ranch, and rock formations, particularly in the Garden of the Gods; the photographer visited Seattle during a snowy winter. A number of photographs show a smelter in Denver, Colorado. One group of California photographs features orange trees. Other items of note are a "Spirit Picture" of two overlapped city scenes and a shot of Grover Cleveland's inauguration on March 4, 1893.

The Camp Funston, Kansas, and Camp Lee, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 100 photographs related to World War I army training activities and facilities at Camp Funston, Kansas (later Fort Riley); Camp Lee, Virginia; and Fort Myer, Virginia.

The Camp Funston, Kansas, and Camp Lee, Virginia, photograph album contains approximately 100 photographs related to World War I army training activities and facilities at Camp Funston, Kansas (later Fort Riley); Camp Lee, Virginia; and Fort Myer, Virginia. The album (21 x 28 cm) has brown suede covers stamped with a U.S. Army design and is bound with string. Most photographs include manuscript captions on versos. Images include photographs of training activities including bayonet drills, hand-to-hand combat, digging trenches, and practicing maneuvers; Basil M. Stevens standing at the front of African American guard troops; and individual portraits of officers in uniform, autographed and inscribed to Basil M. Stevens. Additional photographs taken in Washington, D.C., show Stevens with military officers and his wife, Helen.

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 Franconia Notch and Washington, D.C. photograph album consists of 65 photographs primarily showing landscape scenes of Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, architectural views of Washington, D.C., and a camping trip to an unidentified location likely somewhere in the Northeast.

The Franconia Notch and Washington, D.C. photograph album consists of 65 photographs primarily showing landscape scenes of Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, architectural views of Washington, D.C., and a camping trip to an unidentified location likely somewhere in the Northeast. The album (18 x 27 cm) is half bound in brown leather with brown cloth boards. Washington, D.C.-related views include the White House with an interior ballroom, the Washington Monument, the Teasury Building, the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian Castle (with the Capitol in the background), and the Senate and House chambers. Camping-related images include photographs of a wooded lakeside area showing campers hiking, boating, painting, fishing, playing guitar, reading, and contemplating the scenery. In one view of a tent encampment in a grove of trees, a table is set for a meal, and a man stands beside a camera on a tripod. Several people from the camping trip are shown in various other settings: in a back garden, in front of a frame house with fencing, and in several Victorian-style interior rooms. Additional photographs show the Maplewood Hotel in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, and a boardwalk (possibly in Atlantic City, New Jersey).

The Henry M. Wheeler photoprint collection consists of approximately 719 images of colonial architecture and historical locations in Massachusetts from ca. 1889 to 1915.

The Henry M. Wheeler photoprint collection consists of approximately 719 images of colonial architecture and historical locations in Massachusetts from ca. 1889 to 1915. The collection is mainly composed of 10 x 15 cm silver platinum, platinotype, and gelatin silver prints as well as 15 x 20.5 cm cyanotypes. A couple of manuscript notes are also present. Much of the focus is on eastern Massachusetts, centering on Wheeler’s hometown of Worcester. Photographs show residential architecture from the 17th century, unidentified colonial homes, and contemporary architecture from Wheeler's day and age. Many of the historical structures documented here were in danger of vanishing during Wheeler's lifetime, and many have long since been destroyed. Other photographs show natural landscapes, noteworthy trees, country roads, parks, public and educational buildings, farms, monuments, bridges, milestones, and gravestones as well as images of famous paintings, engravings, and lithographs. Also included are a small number of images related to Washington, D.C., Maine, and New Hampshire. Wheeler likely took the vast majority of these photographs, though there are several instances where he credited the original sources of certain images. The collection materials were removed from the original album volumes they were stored in and have been rehoused in three 3-ring binder albums and three flat boxes. Most photographs also have original reference numbers that were used by Wheeler to organize the collection.

In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created the Henry M. Wheeler Photoprint Collection Inventory. This inventory lists items according to volume/box location and includes references to specific page/mat numbers, image descriptions (most of which are derived from captions originally inscribed by Wheeler on photograph versos), and photographic formats.

The John D. Bagley photograph albums consist of three photograph albums created by John DuCharme Bagley IV of the Bagley family of Detroit, Michigan.

The John D. Bagley photograph albums consist of three photograph albums belonging to John DuCharme Bagley IV of the Bagley family of Detroit, Michigan.

The photograph albums document the life of John DuCharme Bagley IV over a period of twenty years or so. Bagley IV was clearly an enthusiastic amateur photographer who enjoyed documenting his family and friends. The photos in all three albums are snapshot-sized and mostly taken outdoors. While the earliest album (Volume I) is extensively captioned, the other two are not.

Volume 1:

The first volume (14 x 30 cm) includes images taken between 1903 and 1905, including numerous photographs taken during a Bagley family trip to Europe. Bagley IV was a teenager at the time. Identified family members documented in this album include his older sister Frances, younger brother Phil, parents John N. and Esther, and an “Aunt Frankie” who was likely Esther’s sister. This trip appears to have lasted several months, perhaps the better part of an entire year. Locations visited included the German Alps, Naples, Rome, Pompeii, Lake Lucerne, Amsterdam, and London. The family’s return to New York by steamship is also represented. The remainder of this album documents experiences on Woodcote Farm in Ionia, Michigan, as well as family life in Detroit and outdoor summer activities at Long Lake in Grand Traverse County, Michigan.

Volume 2:

The second volume (20.5 x 30.5 cm) contains material compiled during World War I and afterwards. Views of the U.S. Naval Academy and of Washington D.C. are included, and Bagley IV is shown in many images wearing a naval uniform. Several warships (including what appears to be the USS Pennsylvania, commissioned in 1916) are pictured from afar throughout the album. One series of snapshots shows an Armistice celebration taking place at an unidentified location. Several pages showcase scenic views taken during a train journey through an unidentified mountainous region. The bulk of the remaining pictures in this album consist of portraits of family and friends posing informally in urban, domestic, and rural settings. Bagley IV appears regularly, usually in a business suit, and in a couple of cases he can be seen standing next to a Bagley & Co. company vehicle. Also present is a large loose photo that shows John J. Bagley’s birthplace in Medina, New York, which was photographed in 1895.

Volume 3:

The third volume (20.5 x 30.5 cm) contains numerous photographs taken during visits to New Mexico and Colorado in 1908 as well as Oregon in 1909. Images in the New Mexico section highlight operations and personnel of the Maxwell Irrigated Land Company. Bagley IV’s younger brother Phil may have been involved with this company. While it is not entirely clear which photos were taken in Colorado, numerous images of logging operations and logging camps were most likely taken in Oregon. Also present are personal photos showing Bagley IV and his wife Mary visiting forests and beaches. The final section of the album includes photos of Bagley IV in a navy uniform and views of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

The Stereograph-half album (34 x 27 cm) contains approximately 204 photographs, the majority of which are commercially produced half-steregraphs from locations in New Hampshire, New York, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Colorado and California.

The Stereograph-half album (34 x 27 cm) contains approximately 204 photographs, the majority of which are commercially produced half-steregraphs from locations in New Hampshire, New York, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Colorado and California. Photographs show Crawford Notch and Mt. Washington in New Hampshire; the American Falls of Niagara in winter; the Erie Canal in Lockport, N.Y.; landmarks and monuments in Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Va.; and 6 views of Lake George, N.Y. by Seneca Ray Stoddard, including the steamboat Horicon and the Sagamore Hotel. Florida photographs, some signed by photographer B.F. Upton, include Castillo de San Marcos; street scenes and a former slave market in St. Augustine; Harriet Beecher Stowe's house and family in Jacksonville; and African Americans standing near a log home and in a field of cotton. California scenes show the beach and town of Monterey, Cliff House in San Francisco, and 16 views of the Yosemite Valley. Two large albumen prints show Summit Station of the Central Pacific Railroad near Soda Springs, Calif., and gateway to the Garden of the Gods, Colorado, with ink stamp on verso: C.R. Savage, Art Bazaar, Salt Lake City, Utah. Additional photographs include botanical views, tourist attractions in Scotland, Paris, and other western European locations, and photographs of artworks.

The album is half bound leather with brown boards and is stored in a blue box.

The Portland, Washington, D.C. photograph album contains 74 interior and exterior photographs of The Portland apartment building in Washington, D.C. from 1900 to 1903.

The Portland, Washington, D.C. photograph album contains 74 interior and exterior photographs of The Portland apartment building in Washington, D.C. from 1900 to 1903. Most photographs have handwritten notation stating date, location, or subject matter. Exterior images show The Portland and Thomas Circle from various viewpoints. Interior images show various rooms in an apartment; the parlor, bedrooms, dining room, and den. Many of these images appear to include family members, friends and neighbors. The last photograph is of a woman near the shore in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The album is 14.5 x 12 cm with red artificial leather covers.

The Wilbur Wright Airfield photograph album contains 250 images taken by Corporal J. O. McDonnell that mainly document military activities at Wilbur Wright Airfield in Ohio during World War I.

The album (18 x 28.5 cm) is string-bound and has black leather covers with "Photographs" stamped in gold on the front and black paper pages. Images are sequentially numbered in white pencil. Contents primarily cover a range of aviation training activities and other operational aspects of Wilbur Wright Airfield. Various training aircraft are documented in detail; the majority were Curtiss JN-4s, known as “Jennys,” but the base also had some DeHaviland DH-4s. Numerous views of planes are included, showing them on the ground, in the air, and operating in all seasonal conditions. Several crash landings are also documented, with most of the wrecks appearing to be “nose-overs” (planes flipping forward upon landing) rather than high-speed crashes into the ground.

In addition to pilot training, Cpl. McDonnell also documented aspects of daily life at the base including hangars, mechanics shops, fabrication areas, and barracks. Photographs include shots of military personnel working on planes, lounging in barracks, and searching for wreckage. Also present are photographs of visitors to the base (including actress Pearl White and possibly other cast members of Pearl of the Army), the New York Times airplane, experimental plane designs (such as a dual engine biplane and innovative wing shapes), and two images showcasing the newly developed Brock Automatic Aeroplane Camera designed for aerial surveillance. Cpl. McDonnell himself may possibly appear in photograph no. 69 posing with a young woman in front of an airplane.

Other locations besides Wilbur Wright Airfield are represented in the album, including storefront views and street scenes in Mineola, New York, which may possibly have been McDonnell’s hometown. Also present are four portraits of Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech in 1917 at a racetrack in Mineola, seven images of Washington, D.C., landmarks (including four directional views taken from the top of the Washington Monument), a view of the Tijuana Fair, the Horton Plaza fountain at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, and six aerial photographs showing an unidentified coastal city (likely San Diego) and several ships.

Other photographs produced by Cpl. McDonnell for official U.S. Army purposes differ from those found in this album in terms of their size, content, quality of composition, and attention to staging. It is likely that he took photographs for official (and sometimes classified) purposes in his role as base photographer while also taking his own personal snapshots, the latter of which are what appears to be compiled in this album.

The William A. Lewis photograph collection consists of approximately 1,530 items pertaining to a wide range of visual subjects that are represented across a variety of photographic formats including daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereographs (which form the bulk of the collection), and glass plate negatives as well as modern slides, film strips, snapshots, and postcards.

The William A. Lewis photograph collection consists of approximately 1,530 items pertaining to a wide range of visual subjects that are represented across a variety of photographic formats including daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereographs (which form the bulk of the collection), and glass plate negatives as well as modern slides, film strips, snapshots, and postcards.

The subject matter of this collection is thematically and chronologically diverse and reflects the broad interests of the collector, with the U.S. Civil War and 19th-century views of American and European cities being particularly well-represented topics. The collection is organized into four main series according to subject matter and is further divided into specific subject groupings within each series. In most cases, multi-item sets have been kept together and placed within the most generally appropriate subject grouping. An extensive number of photographers and publishers are represented throughout the collection including the likes of H. H. Bennett, C. B. Brubaker, John Carbutt, Centennial Photographic Company, B. F. Childs, E. & H. T. Anthony & Company, Alexander Gardner, T. W. Ingersoll, International Stereoscopic View Company, Keystone View Company, William Notman, Timothy O'Sullivan, William Rau, Strohmeyer & Wyman, Underwood & Underwood, and F. G. Weller.

The following list provides a breakdown of every topical subsection of the collection and includes item counts for each grouping:

• Airships (11)
• Bridges (69)
• Civil War I--stereographs (91)
• Civil War II--cartes de visite, Kodachrome slides, negative film strip copies of stereographs held at the Library of Congress, postcards (48)
• Disasters (49)
• Expositions (24)
• Industry & Labor (89)
• Miscellaneous (23)
• Portraits (109)
• Railroads (62)
• Ships (80)
• War (30)

• Alaska (47)
• Arizona (3)
• California (20)
• Colorado (2)
• Dakota (4)
• District of Columbia (50)
• Florida (2)
• Hawaii (1)
• Illinois (17)
• Iowa (2)
• Maine (8)
• Maryland (27)
• Massachusetts (20)
• Michigan (31)
• Missouri (3)
• New Hampshire (10)
• New York (116)
• Ohio (2)
• Oregon (2)
• Pennsylvania (16)
• Tennessee (1)
• Texas (1)
• Vermont (3)
• Utah (3)
• Virginia (6)
• Washington (1)
• West Virginia (1)
• Wisconsin (2)
• Wyoming (2)
• Unidentified locations (35)

• Austria (5)
• Belgium (6)
• Brazil (1)
• Canada (3)
• Cuba (5)
• Czechoslovakia (1)
• Egypt (5)
• England (21)
• France (43)
• Germany (14)
• Greece (1)
• India (2)
• Ireland (4)
• Italy (22)
• Japan (3)
• Mexico (1)
• Miscellaneous (31)
• Monaco (4)
• Netherlands (1)
• Norway (3)
• Palestine (5)
• Panama (41)
• Puerto Rico (3)
• Scotland (10)
• Spain (2)
• Sweden (2)
• Switzerland (9)
• Turkey (1)

• Keystone Alaska and Panama views, set box (1)
• Stereoscope (1)

• Post-WWI Keystone views of German and American zeppelins and one real photo postcard showing pre-WWI aircraft (Series I, Box 1, Airships)
• Numerous views of the Brooklyn Bridge under construction and after completion, and the Niagara Falls suspension bridge (Series I, Box 1, Bridges)
• Views of Civil War battle sites, encampments, and leaders on contemporary mounts as well as numerous reproductions of stereographs showing important battlefield sites and troops (Series I, Boxes 1-2, Civil War)
• Stereographs, real photo postcards, and other images documenting the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, 1871 Chicago Fire, 1889 Johnstown Flood, 1900 Galveston Hurricane, and other calamities (Series I, Box 3, Disasters)
• Images showing scenes from various American and European events, with an emphasis on the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia (Series I, Box 3, Expositions)
• Images showing mills, factories and people engaged in various occupations, including a boxed set of 50 images related Sears, Roebuck operations produced around 1906 (Series I, Box 3, Industry & Labor)
• Hand-colored early groupings of French theatrical tableaux (Series I, Box 3, Miscellaneous)
• Approximately 109 portrait photographs in different formats of various individuals, including William Jennings Bryan; a boxed set of 50 cartes de visite depicting Danish actors and actresses; cartes de visite of Emperor Napoleon III and the Mikado of Japan; and numerous unidentified subjects represented in real photo postcards (1), tintypes (17), framed/cased ambrotypes, and daguerreotypes (13) (Series I, Box 4, Portraits)
• Approximately 62 images of railroads, mostly in the U.S., including photographs from an 1866 expedition to the 100th meridian on the Union Pacific Railroad while under construction (Series I, Box 5, Railroads)
• Approximately 80 images of ships including warships, freighters, riverboats, passenger ships, shipwrecks (including of the USS Maine), and shipyards mostly in the U.S. with the notable exception of a photo of the 1858 launch of the SS Great Eastern, with Isambard Kingdom Brunel possibly in the crowd. Also of interest are 8 photos and postcards showing ships in World War I-era "dazzle" camouflage (Series I, Box 5, Ships)
• A Keystone View Co. series of images related to World War I (Series I, Box 5, Wars)
• A number of images produced by Keystone View Co. and other stereograph purveyors that focus on major cities such as Boston, New York, Paris, Constantinople, and Jerusalem (throughout Series II & Series III)
• Views from geological expeditions to the American frontier in the 1860s and 1870s (Series II, Unidentified Locations)