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1 volume

The New Jersey carte-de-visite album contains studio portraits of men, women, and children taken in New York and New Jersey in the late 19th century, as well as three chromolithograph "scraps" mounted on visiting cards.

The New Jersey carte-de-visite album (17cm x 13cm) contains 36 cartes-de-visite, 10 tintypes, and 3 chromolithograph "scraps" mounted on visiting cards. The cartes-de-visite and tintypes are studio portraits of men, women, and children taken in New York and New Jersey in the late 19th century. A small number have hand coloring. Most items show adult men and women photographed individually, with one picture of an adult couple, two pictures of young children, and one picture of an infant sitting in a chair. Eight mounted gem tintypes are included. Three lithograph "scraps" depict a young girl pictured with a friendship album, an open envelope, and an artist's palette with the captions "Friendship," "Devotion," and "Forget Me Not." Each scrap is mounted on a visiting card with a raised decorated border and the names "Mrs. George Carmers" and "Morriss Algoe" printed in script. The volume's brown cover has a raised geometric design, and it has two enameled metal clasps.

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1 volume, plus 98 loose manuscript

The Ulster Iron Works records consist of documentation of the financial, management, and technical aspects of iron production during the 1830s and 1840s, and correspondence between the owners of the company and John Simmons, the on-site manager.

The Ulster Iron Works records consist of two parts, a bound volume that includes retained copies of out-going correspondence, and a series of approximately 100 miscellaneous items, mostly consisting of correspondence between the owners of the company and John Simmons, the on-site manager. The collection provides documentation of the financial, management, and technical aspects of iron production during the 1830s and 40s, with particularly interesting information on governmental contracting and on technology transfer from English and Welsh mills.

Both the bound volume and loose manuscripts include sets of technical specifications, and some plans and figures for various aspects of refining and iron production. The owners of the iron works were keen on importing the latest English and Welsh technology to make Ulster more efficient in production, with a specific interest in improving the rolling operations, furnace technology, steam power, and -- as might be expected for a works situated not far from the coal regions of Pennsylvania -- integrating anthracite into the operation as a fuel source. Among the miscellaneous manuscripts at the end of the collection are yield estimates and statements of production costs for various manufacturing processes, some production records, price comparisons with products from other works in the United States and Britain, and tests and specifications for various iron products.

The collection contains a number of items relating to labor and labor relations at the Saugerties mills. Scattered throughout the collection is correspondence relating to the hiring of both skilled and unskilled hands, with some particularly items relating to efforts to locate highly skilled English and Welsh workers and persuade them to emigrate, both to fill labor needs and to bring workers experienced with new technologies. In 1839, when William Young was traveling in Britain to examine iron works, Simmons argued that compared to English mills, Ulster could offer higher wages for several positions for boys, and argued that this might be an effective tool for luring emigrants in the face of an expected shortage of labor. There are also a number of items relating to workmen's wages, including some vouchers, receipts, and labor contracts for individual workers. Of a more personal nature, the collection includes a subscription list forwarded by John Simmons to provide relief to the widow of a mill hand (1830 August 25), and a letter from a former mill employee, Walter Kearny, requesting a loan to help purchase the business of a deceased partner. There are several references, though none terribly substantive, to "disturbance and dissatisfaction" among the employees of the mill in 1831. An 1842 letter relating to the New Jersey Iron Works, another operation managed by the owners of the Ulster Iron Works, contains even greater evidence of labor unrest. The unidentified writer insists that the workers accept a 25% reduction in wages without negotiation, and concludes, "we have orders on hand to execute, which may take another month to complete. We shall then stop, until the Workmen submit to our terms" (1842 January 16). A few letters relate to Simmons' own dissatisfaction with his position at the iron works and his feeling that his authority was being undermined by the actions of the owners.

Like many "business" collections from the early Republic, the Ulster Iron Works Records contain some personal correspondence of the mill owners and executives, particularly of the supervisor, John Simmons. Among the most poignant letters in the collection is a letter from Simmons to a bar owner, Samuel Oaks, in which Simmons writes that his father had been frequenting Oaks' "works" and been seen "in Places and in Condition highly Discreditable to the humane race" (1834 August 8). Simmons professed to finding the situation "mortifying" and pleaded with Oaks to persuade his father to return home.

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approximately 1,530 items in 12 boxes

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:

Series I: General Subjects
  • 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)
Series II: Views, U.S.
  • 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)
Series III: Views, Foreign
  • 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)
Series IV: Objects
  • Keystone Alaska and Panama views, set box (1)
  • Stereoscope (1)
Items of particular interest include:
  • 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)
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