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Collection

Abraham Lincoln Assassination Book Illustrations, ca. 1960-1970

approximately 300 photographs in 3 volumes

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The collection provides a thorough pictorial history of Lincoln's assassination and its aftermath using photographic reproductions of select period sources. The reproductions are contained in three volumes that have been grouped into five thematic sections: "Assassination" and "Flight and Capture" (Volume 1); "Trial and Execution" and "The Funeral" (Volume 2); and "Funeral at Springfield" (Volume 3). Each thematic section is introduced with a typed index that identifies images and their original sources, which are often listed in abbreviated forms. Image sources that are cited include the Library of Congress (LC), National Park Service (NPS), Chicago Historical Society (CHS), National Archives (NA), New-York Historical Society (NYHS), Lincoln National Life Foundation (LNLF), Illinois State Historical Library (ISHS), Leslie's Illustrated, Harper's Weekly, Claude Simmons (C.S.), and more. While the subject and source of each image are noted, but there is no accompanying text or narrative concerning the events. This collection appears to have been assembled in relation to the prospective publication of an illustrated book on the topic, possibly during the 1960s as a centennial piece. Many of the photographs have chapter and page notations on the back, though there are no specific references to the author or the intended title of the prospective book.

The indexes for each thematic section are as follows:

Part I: Assassination (Volume 1)
  • Second Inauguration - LC
  • Mary Lincoln - LC
  • Abraham Lincoln - LC
  • Major Henry Rathbone - NPS
  • Clara Harris - LC
  • Lincoln Closed Coach - CHS
  • Points in Downtown Washington - LC
  • Ford's Theater from the South - ISHL
  • Ford's from the North - ISHL
  • Star Saloon Next to Ford's - NPS
  • Simulated Night View
  • Playbill April 14, 1865 - NPS
  • Laura Keene - LC
  • Dress Circle - NPS
  • Orchestra and Parquette - NPS
  • Interior Plan - NPS
  • Box 7 and 8 - US Signal Corps
  • Box, Orchestra, Dress and Family Circles - ISHL
  • Stage and Box - Ford Museum
  • Full Stage - NPS
  • Diagram of Stage - From Pitman
  • Stage with Explanatory Key
  • Setee Used in Box - NPS
  • Chair in Which Lincoln Sat - NPS
  • Plan of Box - From Harper's Weekly, 4-29-65
  • Doors Leading to Box - F. Leslie's Ill. News. 5-13-65
  • Stick Used to Bar Door - NPS
  • Seating Arrangement in Box - NPS
  • Booth's Knife and Dagger - NPS
  • John Wilkes Booth - NA
  • The Deringer - NPS
  • Berghaus Sketch from F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
  • Treasury Guards Flag - NPS
  • Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
  • Booth's Spur - NPS
  • Booth's Boot - NPS
  • Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
  • Dr. Charles Leale - LC
  • "Borne by Loving Hands" Bersch Painting - NPS
  • Simulated Night View of Petersen House
  • Room Where the President Died - NPS
  • Front Parlor - NPS
  • Back Parlor - NPS
  • Plan of the Petersen House
  • Plan with Key
  • Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
  • The Alexander Ritchie Painting - LC
  • Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
  • Enlargement from the Bachelder Painting - Brown U.
  • Diagram of the Wound - from Eisenschiml
  • Seringer with Probe, Bone and Ball - NPS
  • The William Seward House - NPS
  • Attack on Seward by Paine - from Hawley
  • Secretary of State William Seward - LC
  • Lewis Paine (Powell) - LC
  • Frederick H. Seward - NA
  • Paine's Revolver and Dagger - NPS
  • Paine (LC) and Sketch from Harper's Weekly
  • House Where Lincoln Died Present Day - NPS
  • Ford's Theater Years Later - NPS
  • William Clark, Occupant of the Rear Bedroom - NPS
  • Corp. James Tanner - NYHS
  • Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles - NPS
  • Secretary of [W]ar Edwin M. Stanton - LC
  • The Rev. P. D. Gurley - LC
  • Surgeon General J. K. Barnes - NA
  • Journalist friend Noah Brooks - ISHL
  • Close Friend Dr. Alonzo Henry - ISHL
  • Robert Lincoln - ISHL
  • Edwin Booth - NA
  • John T. Ford - NPS
  • Dr. Charles A. Leale - Nat. Lib. Medicine
  • Kirkwood House - C.S.
  • John Nicolay, Lincoln, John Hay - NPS
  • The Fatal Deringer - NPS

Part II: Flight and Capture (Volume 1)
  • Rear of Ford's - NPS
  • Escape from Theatre - NPS
  • Area Behind Ford's - NPS
  • Assumed Flight Through City - NPS
  • Anacostia Bridge - NPS
  • Distant View - LC
  • Flight to Garrett's Farm - NPS
  • Surratt House, Surrattsville - NPS
  • Road from Surrattsville - NPS
  • Dr. Mudd's House - NPS
  • Bedroom at Dr. Mudd's, Dr. Mudd
  • Path to Zekiah Swamp - C.S.
  • St. Mary's Bryantown - C.S.
  • Samuel Cox Residence - NPS
  • Bryantown Hotel - NPS
  • Thomas Jones - NPS
  • Thomas Jones House - NPS
  • Old Brawner House, Pt. Tobacco - NPS
  • Pages from Booth's Diary - NPS
  • Believed Departure Place Potomac - C.S.
  • Dents Meadow - NPS
  • Crossing the Potomac - Baker's Book
  • Mrs. Quesenberry's House - NPS
  • Dr. Stewart's Home - C.S.
  • Remains of Dock, Port Conway - C.S.
  • The William Lucas Cabin - NPS
  • Historical Marker - C.S.
  • A Controversial Poster - NPS
  • Col. Baker, Lt. Baker, L. C. Conger - NYHS
  • Lt. E. P. Doherty - NPS
  • Col. Lafayette Baker - NA
  • Boston Corbett, Lt. Doherty - NA
  • Boston Corbett - LC
  • Garrett's House - NPS
  • Goldman Inn, Bowling Green - C.S.
  • Highly Imaginative Sketch
  • Contemporary Sketch - NPS
  • Plan of Garrett's Yard - NPS
  • Removal of Booth from Barn - CHS
  • As above - from Frank Leslie's Ill. Mag.
  • Booth's Death - from Baker's Book
  • Booth's Guns Found in Barn - NPS
  • Booth's Revolver - NPS
  • Booth's Compass - NPS
  • Keys Found on His Body - NPS
  • Pictures on His Body - NPS
  • " " " "
  • " " " "
  • Returning With Booth's Body - NPS
  • Post-mortem on the Montauk - NPS
  • Surious Burial - from F. Leslies Ill. Mag
  • Burial of Booth - from Baker's Book
  • Paine's Pickaxe - NPS
  • Arrest of Paine at Mrs. Surratt's - NPS
  • Boston Corbett - Boston U.

Part III: Trail and Execution (Volume 2)
  • Old Capitol Prison - NPS
  • Monitor "Saugus" - NA
  • Transferring the Prisoners - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-26-65
  • Arrival at the Old Penitentiary - NPS
  • Cell Block - Harper's Weekly 7-8-65
  • Paine Hooded - F. Leslie's 5-27-65
  • Lewis Paine - LC
  • George Atzerodt - LC
  • David Herold - LC
  • Sam Arnold - LC
  • Michael O'Luaghlin - LC
  • Edmond Spangler - LC
  • Dr. Samuel Mudd - NPS
  • Mary Surratt - LC
  • Sketch Surratt House - NPS
  • Mrs. Surratt's House - LC
  • Floor Plan Courtroom - from Pitman
  • The Conspirators - LC
  • Scene at the Trial - Harpers W. 6-10-65
  • The Courtroom - LC
  • The Military Commission - LC
  • The Commission sketch - NPS
  • Some Members of the Commission - NA
  • " " " - NA
  • " " " - NA
  • Judge Joseph Holt - NA
  • Reverdy Johnson - NA
  • Maj. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr. - LC
  • Attorneys John Clampitt, William E. Doster
  • Benn Pitman - LC
  • Louis Wiechmann - NPS
  • Booth's Note for Andrew Johnson - NPS
  • Spangler's Rope - NPS
  • Howard's Livery Stable - LC
  • Incriminating Picture from Surratt House - NPS
  • Senator James Lane - NA
  • Senator Preston King - NA
  • President Andrew Johnson - NA
  • Anna Surratt - NA
  • Remodeled Old Penetentiary - C.S.
  • Father Jacob A. Walter - NA
  • Prison Scenes from Old Print
  • Before the Execution - LC
  • The Graves - LC
  • Awaiting the Prisoners - LC
  • Reading the Orders - LC
  • Adjusting the Nooses - LC
  • Final Scene - LC
  • Mary Surratt Plaque - from Confederate Museum
  • Mary Surratt's Grave - C.S.
  • Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas - NA
  • Tunnel at Fort Jefferson - NPS
  • Dr. Mudd Plaque at Fort Jefferson - NPS
  • Old and New Gravestones for Dr. Mudd - C.S.
  • Spangler's Grave at St. Peter's - C.S.
  • Booth's Grave, Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore
  • John Wilkes Booth - Mus. City of New York
  • John Surratt as a Papal Guard - LC
  • Joh[n] Surratt - LC
  • Returning John Surratt for Trial - Harper's W. 2-19-67
  • David Herold. an early photo - NA

Part IV: The Funeral (Volume 2)
  • Abraham Lincoln - LC
  • The White House - LC
  • The Capitol - LC
  • The East Room - NPS
  • Services in the East Room - Harper's W. 5-6-65
  • Pass Funeral Service Contemporary sketch
  • Draped Treasury Building - NYHS
  • The Casket - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-13-65
  • Washington Hearse - LC
  • The Procession - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
  • " "
  • The Procession Forming - NPS
  • " " - LC
  • Turning Into Pennsylvania Ave. - Harper's W. 5-6-65
  • The Procession - London Illustrated News
  • Route of the Funeral Train - LNLF
  • Willie Lincoln - ISHL
  • The Funeral Coach - NPS
  • Interior of Car - NPS
  • At Harrisburg - ISHL
  • The State House Harrisburg - CHS
  • Train at Harrisburg - LNLF
  • The Train at Philadelphia - ISHL
  • The Philadelphia Hearse - LNLF
  • Independence Hall - from Peterson
  • Philadelphia - ISHL
  • Philadelphia Scene - ISHL
  • The Philadelphia Hearse - CHS
  • Scenes at Philadelphia - NA
  • " "
  • Portion of Train in Railroad Yards - LNLF
  • Crossing the Ferry to New York - from Valentine
  • Arrival in New York - from Valentine
  • The Procession Forming New York - NYHS
  • " " " "
  • New York City Hall - LNLF
  • At the City Hall - LNLF
  • The Body at City Hall - ISHL
  • New York Procession - ISHL
  • " " " "
  • The New York Hearse - LC
  • Death Certificate - NPS
  • Scene at New York - NYHS
  • Scenes in New York - from Valentine
  • " " " " "
  • Notice of Ceremony Lincoln, Illinois - ISHL
  • The Arch at Sing Sing - NPS
  • After the Procession at Albany - Albany Institute
  • Buffalo Hearse - Buffalo & Erie Co. Hist. Soc.
  • Procession at Buffalo " " " " "
  • " " " " " " " "
  • Monument Park Cleveland - CHS
  • At Cleveland - CHS
  • Scene at Cleveland Contemporary sketch
  • Cleveland - LNLF
  • Cleveland - LNLF
  • Monument Park - LNLF
  • At the State House Columbus ISHL
  • Procession at Columbus - LNLF
  • Funeral Arch Indianapolis - LNLF
  • Hearse and Horses Indianapolis - LNLF
  • Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
  • Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
  • Stop at Michigan City - LNLF
  • Typical Smalltown Depot - ISHL
  • Train at Chicago Illinois Cent. RR
  • Removal of Coffin Chicago Cont. Sketch
  • The Chicago Arch - LC
  • Chicago Procession - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
  • Entering the City Hall - CHS
  • The People at City Hall - CHS
  • The Catafalque in City Hall - Harper's W. 5-20-65
  • Chicago & Alton Locomotive No. 57. - ISHL
  • Railroad Timetable, Chicago to Springfield - ISHL
  • Notice of Observance Ilion
  • Memorial Paradeat San Francisco - Soc. of Calif. Pioneers
  • Memorial Service at Bloomington - CHS
  • Services in London, England - London Ill. News May 1865

Part V: Funeral at Springfield (Volume 3)
  • The Chicago Delegation - ISHL
  • Lincoln Herndon Law Office - Georg Studio
  • Illinois State House - ISHL
  • The Unused Tomb - ISHL
  • Draped Lincoln Home - ISHL
  • Draped Lincoln Parlor - ISHL
  • Official Pass - ISHL
  • Just Completed Catafalque - ISHL
  • Second View Catafalque - ISHL
  • Filing Into State House - ISHL
  • Waiting to Enter - ISHL
  • Across from the State House - ISHL
  • Filing Past the Catafalque - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
  • Front of Lincoln Home - NPS
  • "Old Bob" - ISHL
  • Draped House and Horse
  • Order of Procession to Oak Ridge - ISHL
  • The Borrowed St. Louis Hearse - ISHL
  • The Forming Procession - LNLF
  • Route of the Procession
  • Plan of Oak Ridge - ISHL
  • The Gate at Oak Ridge - ISHL
  • General View of Oak Ridge - ISHL
  • Awaiting the Procession - NYHS
  • The Temporary Tomb - ISHL
  • The Services - ISHL
  • Contemporary Sketch
  • Directors of the Monument Association - ISHL
  • Closeup of the Vault - ISHL
  • Interior of the Temporary Tomb - ISHL
  • The Present Tomb - Ill. Inf. Ser.
  • Exterior of Present Tomb - Georg Studio
  • Mary Todd Lincoln - NPS
  • Thomas (Tad) Lincoln - ISHL
  • Bishop Simpson - ISHL
  • Interior of Catacomb as left by Thieves (From John Carroll Power)
  • Funeral Procession Entering Oak Ridge Cemetery - NYHS

Collection

Actors and Actresses photograph albums, 1880-[1890s]

3 volumes

This collection is made up of three albums with cabinet card photographs of prominent actors and actresses from the late 19th century, often in costume.

This collection is made up of three albums with cabinet card photographs of prominent actors and actresses from the late 19th century, often in costume. Volume 1 (28cm x 19cm), bound in black cloth with the title "Photographs" on the front, has 48 photographs in windows and one loose item laid in. Volume 2 (23cm x 30cm), bound in thick padded boards covered in dark leather, has 72 photographs in windows and four loose items laid in. This album has a brass clasp with a wheel that increases or decreases the tension of the clasp. Volume 3 (40cm x 30cm), bound in thick padded boards covered in brown leather with two brass clasps, has 99 photographs in windows. At least one card is a lithograph and two cards are hand-colored.

Each of the albums contains portraits of well-known actors and actresses, including both studio portraits and pictures taken in costume in front of painted scenery, sometimes with props. Pictures of men, women, and children are present, with portraits taken both facing the camera and in profile, and some subjects are represented by more than one image. Many types of costume are depicted, such as contemporary and historic formal dress, military dress, Middle Eastern dress, and Elizabethan dress. Some of the photographs show gender cross dressing. Props are most often swords or canes, though some subjects posed with musical instruments such as violins, a piano, and a lute. The majority of the actors and actresses across all three volumes are identified either on the backs of cards, on the albums' pages, or in inventories (housed with the first two volumes).

Collection

Adirondack Region photograph albums, [ca. 1895]

2 volumes

These photograph albums contain pictures of scenery, people, and buildings in the Adirondack Region of northern New York and in Washington, D.C.

These photograph albums (19cm x 30cm) contain 49 pictures of scenery, people, and buildings in the Adirondack Region of northern New York. Labeled photographs show buildings, animals, and scenery in and around Ilion, New York; Clifton, New York; Oxbow, New York; Chippewa Bay, New York; the Grass River; the Oswegatchie River; and Washington, D.C. Houses and other buildings shown include a home on "Preston Isle" in Chippewa Bay, the "Old Morris House" (a colonial stone house), an abandoned iron furnace, the White House, and the United States Capitol. Photographs of construction equipment are also present. Of the individuals and groups pictured, only Jack Moffett, a young boy, is identified. Photographs of note include pictures of an encampment, the exterior of a log cabin decorated with pine boughs, game and fish, and replicas of the ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Two photographs indicate the photographer's interest in capturing motion: one shows the Empire State Express at full speed and another shows a woman throwing water, captured at a shutter speed of 1/50 second. The albums have black or blue binding with "Photographs" embossed in gold on the covers.

Collection

Admiral William Mead Photograph Album, 1893-1907

approximately 250 photographs in 1 album

The Admiral William Mead photograph album contains approximately 250 photographs related to the family and career of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral William Whitman Mead.

The Admiral William Mead photograph album contains approximately 250 photographs related to the family and career of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral William Whitman Mead.

The album (35.5 x 29 cm) has pebbled covers with partial leather bindings and "Photographs" stamped on the front cover and contains around 250 photographs of various sizes and formats, including collodion, gelatin silver, platinum, silver platinum and albumen prints, cyanotypes, and snapshots. The spine and edges show considerable wear. The photographs chronicle three periods in Admiral Mead's naval career: his time as lighthouse inspector in the Great Lakes, and his assignments as commandant of the Newport, Rhode Island naval base and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Additionally, there is at least one photograph towards the front of the album from the Lomaland School in San Diego as well as a series of others mostly located towards the back of the album that were taken in an unidentified tropical location (possibly Florida).

Some of the album’s captions, primarily in beginning and the lighthouse section, appear to have been first added when it was originally assembled and many are partially erased. The majority of captions, however, were contributed at a later date by Admiral Mead’s niece, Annie Adelia Mead Ferguson. Annie appears to have come into possession of the album at some point and added her own annotations identifying people and places she recognized in the photographs. She also added a handwritten note to the inside of the album’s front cover in 1970 indicating that the album had once “belonged to William Whitman Mead” before explaining that she captioned certain images herself and speculating on which of her children might want to inherit the album. It is unclear who originally took many of the photographs, though there are indications that Annie's mother Unadilla Gazlay Mead may have contributed some material. One photograph on pg. 32 shows Unadilla and her husband Omar C. Mead, Admiral Mead’s brother, posing together on a dock in either Portsmouth or Newport while the former can be seen holding a camera in her hands, while on pg. 44 there is a self-portrait taken in a mirror of a woman with a camera that appears to be Unadilla.

The album provides extensive documentation of lighthouses along the shores of Lakes Superior and Huron in the mid-1890s, as well as views from Great Lakes locations such as Duluth, Copper Harbor, and the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. Specific lighthouses represented include Seul Choix Light, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, Sand Island Lighthouse, Huron Island Lighthouse, Isle Royale Light, an abandoned lighthouse on Isle Royale, a pair of unidentified lighthouses possibly located in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Windmill Point, a lighthouse in St. Clair Flats, Gull Rock, Stannard’s Rock, Rock Harbor Light, and other unidentified structures. Images related to Admiral Mead’s time at the Newport naval base include portraits of Mead both in and out of uniform, portraits of family members such as Julia Mead, a collotype postcard of Trinity Church, and various buildings and street scenes. Images related to Admiral Mead’s time at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard include views of the Commandant’s house, “The Admiral’s Yacht,” and portraits of various individuals including John W. Yerkes, Elizabeth O. Yerkes, Amelia R. Yerkes, Annie Meade Matthews, Omar C. Mead, and Annie Adelia Meade as a young child. Of particular interest are a number of candid shots of locations and participants in the Portsmouth peace talks that ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 (including several photographs of three unidentified Japanese men described as “servants” in one caption) that are present on pgs. 30, 36, 37, and 39. While most of the ships that appear in the album are unidentified, identified vessels include the passenger steamer North Land on pg. 16 and the lighthouse tender Marigold on pg. 23. Other individuals identified by caption include Robert A. Watts (Admiral Mead’s brother-in-law) and Margaret A. Watts (Admiral Mead’s mother-in-law). Also present are three outdoor portraits of unidentified African American men and women on pg. 21 captioned “Those good ole’ days!!” and “Same good ole days!” as well as a cyanotype of an unidentified African American girl on pg. 48.

Collection

Alaska and Yellowstone photograph album, [ca. 1888]

1 volume

This photograph album contains photographs of scenery in Alaska, Yellowstone National Park, and the Yosemite Valley in the late 19th century. Several photographs feature tourists or members of the photographer's traveling party, and others were taken onboard the steamer Queen.

This photograph album (25cm x 19cm) contains 87 photographic prints depicting scenes in Alaska, Yellowstone National Park, and the Yosemite Valley in the late 19th century. The photographs, all of which have captions, were taken during visits to four geographic areas: Muir Glacier (21 photographs); Tacoma, Washington, and Helena, Montana (8 items); Yosemite National Park (48 items); and the Yosemite Valley and Arizona (10 items). Most photographs show natural scenery such as mountains, rock formations, waterfalls, and geysers, and some are pictures of hotels. Many show tourists climbing or viewing natural formations and scenery, and some show members of the photographer's party posing for portraits.

The album has two identical prints of a group of amateur photographers holding box cameras onboard the Queen, which is shown in several other photographs. Views of buildings in Sitka, Alaska; Tacoma, Washington; Helena, Montana; and Yosemite National Park are also included. One photograph shows a woman modeling a Chilkat blanket and totem pole cane, and another shows a "Tamed Bear" standing on a raised platform. Also of note is a picture of a train, taken as the photographer's party disbanded near Chicago. The volume is a quarter-bound album with a title stamped on the cover in gold: "Photographs."

Collection

Alaska Gold Rush photograph album, 1898-1902

1 volume

The Alaska Gold Rush photograph album contains approximately 300 photographic prints. Most photographs show scenery, people, and settlements in Alaska around the turn of the 20th century, as well as a small group of scenes from San Francisco, California.

The Alaska Gold Rush photograph album (25cm x 30cm, 92 pages) contains approximately 300 photographic prints. Around 280 prints, including around 270 mounted onto the album's pages and around 10 loose items laid into the volume, show settlements, natural scenery, and people in Alaska from 1898-1902. Settlements such as St. Michael, Dutch Harbor, and Dawson are shown, as are native settlements, tents, and log cabins; a few interior shots are present. Some of the buildings and people pictured were associated with the North American Transportation & Trading Company. Subjects include: United States military personnel, indigenous Alaskans, men and women (sometimes in heavy winter dress), landscape views, glaciers, native animals and other natural scenery, and military and civilian boats.

Most of the photographs are black-and-white prints, though the album also includes a small number of cyanotypes. Items of note include a small panorama (p. 14), a photograph taken at the "dawn of the century" (p. 7), and pictures of a totem pole (p. 77), an early telegraph pole (p. 81), and a hands-free pie-eating contest (p. 85). A partial manuscript list of captions, roughly contemporary with the photographs, is laid into the volume. The final four pages of the album contain small photographic prints of scenes from San Francisco, California, with a focus on missions and other architecture. Penciled captions accompany many of the album's prints, though many are difficult to read. The album has post binding with screw posts.

Collection

Albert D. Noble, Jr., Glass Negatives Collection, 1885-1910

92 glass plate negatives, 33 photographic prints, 1 CD-R, 2 clippings

The Albert D. Noble, Jr., glass negatives collection consist of 92 glass plate negatives made by photographer Albert D. Noble, Jr. as well as 33 photographic prints, 2 newspaper clippings, and a computer disk with 180 digital images (including additional photographs by Noble, Jr. and copies of older family portraits).

The glass plate negatives are contained in two boxes and include images of Noble, Jr.'s childhood home in Grand Rapids and other private residences and public buildings in the area as well as views taken in Detroit of Noble, Jr.'s family's Christmas decorations, community ice skating, bicycling in the countryside, rural buildings, and regional parks including Belle Isle Park. The majority of images depict people, activities, and scenes from summer vacations to places like Orchard Lake and Upper Straights Lake; a group visit to the French Lick Springs Hotel in Indiana in 1902; views from the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901 (misidentified in Bayard C. Schoettle's publication Glass Negatives: Albert Dewitt Noble, Jr. as an event based in Grand Rapids); and numerous studio portraits of family members, acquaintances, and the noted elocution teacher Edna Chaffee Noble (no relation to Noble, Jr.). The glass plates are in a variety of sizes (16.5 x 21.5, 12.5 x 20.5, 11.5 x 16.5, and 10 x 12.5 cm) and each is stored in individual paper slipcases. Some but not all of the splipcases provide information regarding an image's subject matter. Most of the plates are in good condition, with only a few displaying cracks and none being broken. 33 photographic prints (31 unmounted and 2 mounted) are also present and include an image of several cows near a body of water, two mounted albumen prints of "Orchard Lake Cottage," two silver platinum prints showing an unidentified house and a sailboat, 16 unmounted gelatin silver prints showing various domestic, industrial, social and architectural scenes (most of which are represented in the glass negatives), and a series of 11 unmounted snapshots and 1 negative transparency showing scenes from Roseland Park Cemetery and the gravesite of Edna Chaffee Noble. Two newspaper clippings from the July 16 1899 Detroit Free Press Art Supplement related to Noble, Jr.'s second place finish in a photo competition are also included.

The CD-R accompanying the collection contains about 180 scanned images including all 92 of the glass plates present in the collection, approximately 75 additional photographs produced by Noble, Jr., and several photographs of trophies awarded to Noble, Jr., by the Grand Rapids camera club. The CD-R also includes images of early Noble family portraits that were scanned and retouched by Schoettle during his preparation for Glass Negatives: Albert Dewitt Noble, Jr.

Collection

Algae from Fort Jefferson, Tortugas, Florida, [ca. 1864?]

1 volume

This album contains pressed algae specimens and a photograph of Fort Jefferson, Florida. Possibly compiled and owned by someone named Stuart.

This album (24cm x 24cm) contains 305 algae specimens collected around the mid-1860s, comprised of 294 items pressed onto 10cm x 6cm cards and 11 items pressed onto larger cards. Only one specimen is identified. The smaller cards are mounted six to a page and the larger cards are laid into the volume between pages of specimens. Numerous types of algae are represented, in a multitude of colors. The bottom cards on the first two facing pages spell the name "Stuart," which is also stamped in gilt on the front cover. The album is bound in brown leather and cloth with the title "Algae from Fort Jefferson, 'Tortugas,' Florida" is stamped on the back cover and "Album" stamped on the spine. A photograph of Florida's Fort Jefferson is pasted onto the first page as a frontispiece.

Collection

Allen family photograph album, [ca. 1875]-1894

1 volume

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

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

Collection

Al Parker Collection, 1850s-1926

1 box containing 3 envelopes of photographs, sheet music, and clippings, and 1 scrapbook volume

The Al Parker collection includes three envelopes of photographs, sheet music, and newspaper clippings as well as a scrapbook relating to the professional and personal life of Philadelphia-based photographer and photographic supplies salesman Alfred Parker.

The Al Parker collection includes three envelopes of photographs, sheet music, and newspaper clippings as well as a scrapbook relating to the professional and personal life of Philadelphia-based photographer and photographic supplies salesman Alfred Parker.

Envelope A (photographs): includes unmounted oval portraits of Parker’s children Eda and Ray from the early 1900s; studio portraits of Eda and his wife Alice from the 1910s, two of them from the Philadelphia studio of Gilbert and Bacon; an mounted school class photo (ca. 1890s?)

Envelope B (sheet music): includes three examples of World War I songs from the Eagle Publishing Company of Philadelphia with "music by Geo. L. Robertson and lyrics by Al. Parker."

Envelope C (letters, clippings, etc.): includes a letter appointing Dr. Ray Parker head of plastic surgery at a hospital in Johnstown, PA; a magazine article on “Flood Free Johnstown”; letters and clippings about Dr. Ray Parker; article on World War II factory workers; newspaper article on Theodore Roosevelt urging U.S. entry into World War I; and a note from Christmas 1926 from Parker’s grandson Donald addressed to “Ganco."

Scrapbook: The volume (37 x 28) is cloth-bound and has 66 pages total. Materials are not arranged in any chronological or thematic order and so unrelated items often appear together on the same page.

The album begins with photographs of Parker’s family members while the next few pages focus on scenes from his professional life, including a magazine cover from April 1900 and documentation of his break with Willis & Clements in 1910. Portraits of Parker at every stage of his life appear throughout the scrapbook, though not in any chronological order. The earliest is a tintype from the 1850s that shows him as a young boy with his brothers. Many portraits and casual snapshots of Parker's daughter Eda and son Ray from their early childhood into adulthood are included, while a collection of clippings reflects Parker’s pride in Ray's success as a doctor. His delight in playing the doting grandfather is clear from the drawings Parker made for Eda’s son Donald and in the notes that Donald wrote to Parker using the nickname “Ganco.”

A handful of portraits that were taken by Parker show that he was a capable studio photographer in addition to being a successful promoter of platinum photography products while working for Willis & Clements. Requests for his opinions from Eastman Kodak Company, Photo Era magazine, and the Photographers’ Association of New England testify to his recognized expertise. Numerous portraits of Parker in the company of other well-regarded photographers of the day confirm his acceptance in that professional circle.

Many ephemeral items also help illuminate the arc of Parker's career including programs from his minstrel show days; an advertisement for his Australian window blind company; the initial offer of employment from Willis and Clements; business cards from various stages of his career; and an ad for a new camera shutter he invented. Interspersed amongst these items are letters and photographs from various colleagues and employers along with miscellaneous poems, cartoons, programs, drawings, song lyrics, newspaper clippings, and so on.