Collections

The Celebrity portraits scrapbook contains numerous clipped engraved portraits of actors, actresses, singers, musicians, entertainers, politicians, writers, and other famous individuals that were compiled by an aunt of Florence C. Everett (wife of Norwood, Massachusetts-based journalist William Winthrop Everett) during the 1880s.

The Celebrity portraits scrapbook contains numerous clipped engraved portraits of actors, actresses, singers, musicians, entertainers, politicians, writers, and other famous individuals that were compiled by an aunt of Florence C. Everett (wife of Norwood, Massachusetts-based journalist William Winthrop Everett) during the 1880s.

The volume (32 x 19 cm) has brown leather covers (front cover detached) and contains 176 pages, all of which bear pasted-in engravings that were clipped from various newspapers, magazines, journals, advertisements, etc. Two inscriptions are present on the inside of the front cover; one states “This book is the property of W. W. Everett - 76 Winter St. Norwood, Mass.” while the other reads “The book was made by Mrs. W. W. Everett’s aunt Helen, probably in the 1880s. WWE.” The volume appears to have originally served as some type of accounting ledger before being repurposed.

Notable individuals represented within the volume include Joseph Jefferson, Sarah Bernhardt, P. T. Barnum, Lillie Langtry, Genevieve Ward, J. H. Haverly, E. A. Sothern, Sol Smith Russell, Ada Gilman, James H. Wallick, Adelaide Neilson, Buffalo Bill, Mittens Willett, Henry Clay, Susan B. Anthony, Wendell Phillips, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Louis Pasteur.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints consisting of architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y, as well as photographs of Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also includes images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, Nova Scotia, and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, and Texas.

The Pan-American Expo and Travel photograph album (17 x 19 cm) has 60 amateur gelatin silver prints, 18 of which are architectural photographs taken at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. It also includes 4 photographs of what appears to be a demonstration of Coast Guard lifesaving procedures. Other views show a War of 1812 cannon on display, Niagara Falls, General Grant’s Tomb, and caged animals at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The album also documents a trip to Fort Independence in Boston, as well as to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, including images of the Old Fort in Annapolis, N.S., and shipbuilding in Yarmouth, N.S. There are also images of the U.S. Navy Battleships U.S.S. Kearsarge, Indiana, Texas. Also of note are a group of 4 photographs of the St. John's River and harbor in New Brunswick accompanied by a newspaper clipping describing the tidal movements in the harbor. All of the photographs in the album are accompanied by handwritten captions.

The album has a brown cover inscribed with the title "Photographs," and is housed in a light blue box.

The Schuylkill Arsenal photograph album is a 26.5 x 35 cm photograph album with a black leather cover. The album contains 12 18 x 23 cm albumen prints, all of which depict various buildings and streets at Schuylkill Arsenal. Also present in many of the photos are various unidentified individuals, presumably most are Arsenal workers but also women and children.

The Schuylkill Arsenal photograph album is a 26.5 x 35 cm photograph album with a black leather cover. The album contains 12 unattributed 18 x 23 cm albumen prints, all of which depict various buildings and streets at Schuylkill Arsenal. Also present in many of the photos are various unidentified individuals, presumably most are Arsenal workers but there are also women and children. There may have been a 13th photograph within the album at one point, no longer extant; the back of each photograph is numbered sequentially in pencil, skipping number 8.

Nothing within the actual album gives a precise date for the photographs, but three of the photographs (3, 6, and 8) were in possession of a Richard P. Barr (the 1920 Census shows a 58 year old Richard P. Barr living in Philadelphia working as a "foreman" at the "arsenal") and were used in Frank H. Taylor's 1913 publicationPhiladelphia in the Civil War , which states that the photographs date from 1862. According to Taylor's publication, the eighth photograph in the album depicts "Old Bill" the white warhorse used by General George G. Meade. This has not been confirmed, and is certainly not Meade's famous horse Old Baldy.

The last page of the album has four items related to the Trout family of Philadelphia. The demise of Clinton J. Trout (died on December 14, 1909), his wife Mary E. Trout (died on March 1, 1907), and their son Warner F. W. Trout (died on September 21, 1909) is documented. The connection between the Trout family and the Schuylkill Arsenal is unknown.