Litchfield-Stryker family photograph album, 1878-1886
1 volume
The Litchfield-Stryker family photograph album (34cm x 27cm) contains 52 carefully composed photographs, including 1 cyanotype and 51 albumen prints. The album belonged to Thomas H. Stryker of Rome, New York. Stryker was a nephew of Edwin C. Litchfield whose home, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, is featured in the album. Primarily dated 1878, the album also includes photographs dated 1879; April 11, 1884; and February 1886.
The first page displays portraits posed outdoors at "Grace Hill" of Edward H. and Grace D. Litchfield; Thomas H. Stryker with two women; and an unidentified woman alone. Grace Litchfield appears wearing a fez and holding a small stringed musical instrument, possibly a machete; Edward Litchfield is shown twice, once posed in a military uniform, once seated in civilian dress. The album features "Grace Hill" and other homes with six exterior views of the large, Gothic Revival residence in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York (4 items), a view across "Grace Court" from a second home owned by Litchfield in Brooklyn Heights (1 item), and a stable that Litchfield owned in Brooklyn (1 item). A group of 13 pictures relate to hunting trips by Tom Stryker and Ned Litchfield showing scenic forests, lakes, and pictures of their lean-to, possibly in the Adirondack region. One image shows the two men posed and equipped for winter hunting with snow shoes. Two of three pictures labeled "Virginia" appear to show a drilling or mining operation.
The album contains 15 pictures of scenery, people, and buildings in Saint Croix, Bermuda, and in Florida, including "Hubbard's orange grove, Crescent City." Also shown are photographs of John Stryker's residence in Rome, New York (2 items), "Cooper House" in Cooperstown, New York (1 item), "Hubbard Hall" in Utica, New York, (one exterior view and one interior view showing a grandfather clock), and unidentified scenes and buildings (2 items). "Dash No. 1," a pet dog, is posed in two photographs with hunting gear including pistols, rifles, and snowshoes. An image of a brass plate honoring Reverend Bella Hubbard (1739-1812), first rector of Trinity Church in New Haven, Connecticut, is pasted onto the volume's final page.
Of particular note are the exterior views of the impressive "Grace Hill" property, the early camping and hunting photographs, the view of the "Cooper House" hotel and grounds with well-dressed figures in the foreground; street scenes in Santa Cruz; a fine print of the waterfront in Bermuda; and the pictures of Florida orange production. The Virginia drilling/mining photos may be of importance if identified.