The Richard P. Mallory sketchbook contains 80 pages of complete and incomplete sketches of various landscapes and buildings in Vermont and New York, drawn between 1855 and 1857.
The Richard P. Mallory sketchbook contains 80 pages of sketches of various landscapes and buildings in Vermont and New York, drawn between 1855 and 1857. Manuscript inscriptions on the inside cover indicate that the sketchbook belonged to R.P. Mallory and was rebound in 1888. A brief index is included in the front with the locations of many of the subjects in the sketches. The pages are inconsistently numbered, and not all pages contain drawings. Many of the drawings are incomplete. Captions and dates are included with most of the sketches, many containing the location of the subject in the drawing. These subjects are from various villages and cities in Vermont, including Burlington, Fairfield, Saint Albans, and Winooski. New York views include Dannemora, Keeseville, Malone, Ogdensburg, Plattsburg, Redford, and Rouses Point.
There are many detailed sketches of buildings: churches, schools, homes, hotels, banks, court houses, and train depots. There are also many landscape sketches, depicting farms, lakes, rivers, trees, mountains, and waterfalls. Of note are sketches of the Ausable River, including the Ausable Falls and Devil's Oven, on pages 74 to 87. Two ports are also depicted, Port Kent in Burlington and Port Jackson in New York.
Pages 30 to 44 are devoted to the Franklin sawmill in Plattsburgh, noted as the "largest mill in the state of New York." Included are views of the interior and exterior, and an introductory page with a history and details of the mill. Great attention is also given to the Clinton Prison and its related mining operations in Dannemora, New York, spanning pages 96 to 103. Of note are an overview of the prison facility and striking views of underground mining operations.
The style of the drawings throughout the sketchbook suggests the occasional use of an optical device such as a camera obscura.
