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The Emmett M. Smith photograph album contains approximately 790 photographs and 6 pieces of ephemera related to the experiences of American soldier and engineer Cpl. Emmett Merle Smith while he served with the United States Army Air Service’s 800th Aero Repair Squadron in France during World War I.

The Emmett M. Smith photograph album contains approximately 790 photographs and 6 pieces of ephemera related to the experiences of American soldier and engineer Cpl. Emmett Merle Smith while he served with the United States Army Air Service’s 800th Aero Repair Squadron in France during World War I.

The album (28 x 37 cm) has black cloth covers with “Postal Souvenirs” stamped on the front; the covers and spine are in poor condition, as are a relatively small number photographs (some of which bear signs of insect damage).

On the inside of the front cover is a tipped-in copy of A History of the 800th Aero Repair Squadron, an official unit history account of the squadron published by its members in 1919. A small group of 10 loose photos and 6 pieces of ephemera are also present, including postcards, snapshots, YMCA guides to Paris and Marseilles, and two programs related to jointly held French and American Mother’s Day celebrations in Paris in May 1919 that were organized by L’Association des French Homes.

The first pasted-in photographs in the album are a series of 24 panoramic views showing Parisian scenery and famous landmarks. This section ends with another YMCA guide to Paris and a matriculation card for the Université de Paris Faculte des Sciences 1918-1919 for Emmett M. Smith that includes a portrait. Smith appears to likely have been the compiler of this album as he appears in numerous other photographs throughout. He was a member of the 800th Aero Repair Squadron’s Flight A, who were stationed at Camp de Souge near Bordeaux.

From pg. 15 through to the end of the album photographs are individually numbered from 1 to 781. While a typescript index describes photographs #25-28, there is no overarching index for the entire series. Numerous photos have captions (including manuscript captions), though the majority do not. Images come in a range of sizes and appear to have originated from numerous sources including German and French photographers as well as snapshots possibly taken by Smith himself. “AR” also appears on several photographs, possibly indicating that these images were taken by 800th Aero Repair Squadron photographers. However, by and large photographers are not identified for specific images.

In general, this album contains frontline scenes of battlefields, dead soldiers and animals, trench views, and ruined structures as well as images documenting camp life, military bases, and aerial reconnaissance views. Numerous photographs of military equipment, weaponry, airplanes, tanks, warships, soldiers, and street scenes showing cities/towns and civilians are also present. Post-war scenes include documented stays in Paris, southern France, Italy, and Spain.

• #3 (image showing charging soldiers, some in gas masks, with one man appearing to be clutch his throat while falling; captioned “Actual photo of action at Verdune”)
• #7, 651 (800th Aero Repair Squadron group portraits)
• #12 (shot of Kaiser Wilhelm talking with German officers)
• #15, 17 (aerial views of Albert, France, in November 1916)
• #48, 70.1 (pictures of German tanks)
• #73, 76 (view of citadel with German signage and view showing street signage by ruins; amongst other views that appear to be in Belgium)
• #109 ("Toul - French plane ready for a flight")
• #110, 111 (images showing the French and American sections of the 1918 panoramic painting Panthéon de la Guerre)
• #142, 143 (two images of a train wreck by “Chiljian,” possibly Armenian American photographer Pvt. Henry B. Chiljian)
• #146, 148 (two images showing plane crash wreckage)
• #167 (French observation balloon being inflated)
• #209 (Georges Clemenceau visiting aviation field)
• #219 (clipping showing aftermath of the Halifax explosion with inscription reading “Spent 10 day aboard ship here right after explosion was supposed to have been here just before explosion but was delayed”)
• #374 (post-war image captioned “U.S.A. bound” which precedes series of naval voyage images)
• #451+ (images from Italy and Southern France)
• #525 (railroad scene with “Chicago Opera Association” sign in view)
• #631 (view of three men at typewriters working in an office with maps and aerial photographs pinned to the wall)
• #638 (aerial view captioned “My aviation camp. Camp de Souge - North of Bordeaux from the 2nd Artillery Aerial Observation Island 1917-1918-1919”)
• #649 (view showing surgery being performed on a man in operating room captioned “Hell - without [anesthesia]”)
• #699 (view showing a queue outside of a YMCA in Bangor, Maine)
• #712, 715 (two portraits of young women captioned “My Italian fiancée” and “My Spanish fiancée”)

The New England family travel photograph album contains approximately 600 photographs that document the domestic life and foreign travels of an unidentified husband and wife couple from suburban Boston during the first decade of the 20th-century.

The New England family travel photograph album contains approximately 600 photographs that document the domestic life and foreign travels of an unidentified husband and wife couple from suburban Boston during the first decade of the 20th-century. The album (28.5 x 36 cm) has pebbled black leather covers with “Photographs” stamped in gold on the front. By and large, images are presented chronologically and many have extensive captions which mainly identify the locations pictured as well as certain individuals. It appears that many image captions were cut and pasted from white paper and added on top of pre-existing faded captions that had been written directly on the album pages. Some images that show people of African descent have subtly derogatory captions. Photographs showcasing the family’s domestic life include pictures of annual spring blooms in their backyard; friends and family; various domestic activities including interacting with pet cats; and regional outings such as visits to Mt. Washington, Point of Pines nature park in Revere, Massachusetts, and poet John Greenleaf Whittier's birthplace in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

In the summer of 1905, the couple travelled to Montreal and up the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City and beyond, resulting in the production of nearly ten pages of photographic highlights (pgs. 7-16). Later that summer, they also took photographs while vacationing in the Lake Sebago region of Maine with friends whom they later visited in Providence, Rhode Island (pgs. 16-20, 22). A visit to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Beauvoir, Mississippi, in December of 1906 is also documented (pgs. 30-37). In 1907 the couple undertook a period of extensive international travel beginning with a trip to England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, and France (pgs. 38-57). A second visit to Quebec in September 1907 is briefly represented (pgs. 57-58), while a series of pictures from a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, in April 1908 are also included (pgs. 59-62). Photographs related to two separate tours of the Caribbean and Central/South America in July and August of 1908 and March of 1909 make up a substantial portion of the album (pgs. 63-103); images from the first tour mainly include scenes from Caribbean islands such as St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and Barbados as well as British Guiana, while images from the second trip include scenes from Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. Also present are several commercially-produced photographs, including a number of panoramic views, showing scenes from Mexico (pgs. 104-111). The majority of images taken during the couple’s travels consist of typical sightseeing photographs showing important cultural landmarks and historic buildings as well as street scenes, methods of transportation, and local people and industries. Throughout the album there are also numerous photographs taken aboard various transport vessels mid-voyage.

A few noteworthy historical events are minimally represented by photographs in this album, such as the January 15 1905 Washington Street Baptist Church fire in Lynn, Massachusetts (pgs. 2 & 3); the Quebec Bridge a few weeks after its collapse on August 29 1907 (pg. 57); the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908 (pg. 59); Panama Canal construction in 1909 (pgs. 87-89); long distance views of the site of the village of St. Pierre, Martinique, which was decimated by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelée on May 8 1902 (pg. 80); and the wreck of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor (pg. 179). Individuals identified by captions throughout the album include Dr. Robert L. Bartlett (pgs. 4 & 89); “Miss Morse” (pg. 5); Stanley and Donald Clauss of Providence, Rhode Island (pgs. 17, 19 & 22); Hattie English, Lizzie English, “Mrs. Boynton,” and “Miss Lord” (pg. 19); Samuel Pickard (pg. 20); Jessie Pauline Whitney (pg. 21); "Mr. Little" (pgs. 19 & 22); William Rhodes (pg. 26); Maud Burdett (pgs. 38 & 58); George C. Hardin (pg. 74); Dr. Selah Merrill, American Consul in British Guiana (pg. 80); "Mrs. Parker" (pg. 85); and Hermann Ahrensburg (pg. 91). Other images of interest include a couple of photographs showing United States cavalrymen at camp in Lakeville, Massachusetts (pg. 2); a multiple exposure photograph showing the wife and other women (pg. 22); four photos showing a group of women that appear to be associated with a possible Masonic organization with the acronym “O.E.O.T.” (pg. 23); two photos of local boys diving in St. Lucia (pg. 72); a picture of a school for natives in St. Thomas where students were supposedly fined 10 cents a day for being absent (pg. 82); photos from Kingston, Jamaica, showing women working on a railroad and men operating a hand-made sugar mill (pg. 86); a group portrait of a baseball team in Venezuela (pg. 92); photos of the natural asphalt deposit Pitch Lake in Trinidad (pgs. 94 & 95); and photographs showing people with Brownie box cameras (pgs. 82 & 103).

This collection is made up of 51 items related to Private Victor J. Harles, who served in France with the United States Army's 350th Infantry Regiment during World War I. Harles sent 47 letters and postcards to his parents and sister in Clayton, Missouri, while in training at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and while serving in France and Germany between August 1918 and May 1919. He described his training exercises, aspects of military life, and the towns he visited in France during and after the war. Also included are 2 pre-enlistment letters and 2 pieces of ephemera.

This collection is made up of 51 items related to Private Victor J. Harles, who served in France with the United States Army's 350th Infantry Regiment during World War I. Harles sent 47 letters and postcards to his parents and sister in Clayton, Missouri, while in training at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and while serving in France and Germany between August 1918 and May 1919. He described his training exercises, aspects of military life, and towns he visited in France during and after the war. Also included are 2 pre-enlistment letters and 2 pieces of ephemera.

Harles wrote 13 letters from Camp Dodge, Iowa, between May and August 1918, and 2 while awaiting deployment from Camp Upton, New York, in early August. He discussed many aspects of military life, such as the food; leisure activities; his influenza inoculation (with a small drawing of the mark it left on his arm, June 16, 1918, and June 19, 1918); and training exercises, including rifle practice and anti-gas maneuvers (July 3, 1918). On July 7, 1918, he mentioned having seen three African American men hanged for an assault on a young woman. Once he received his assignment to the signal corps, Harles took classes in telegraphic systems and described the work of the corps. He also encouraged his family to look after his fiancée, "Lil," while he served abroad, and composed 1 letter while en route to Europe.

Victor Harles sent 17 letters, 13 postcards, and 1 Christmas card from France and Germany to his family in Missouri, writing primarily about his surroundings and war news. He reported seeing foreign allied soldiers and German prisoners of war, drew maps for his regiment's signal corps, and commented on the small French villages in which the 350th Regiment stayed during most of its active service. Harles had some knowledge of the French language, attained through his immigrant grandmother, and could interact with the locals. He described local customs and gave his impressions of the town's buildings. Although he arrived in Europe shortly before the armistice, he reported that his unit had participated in battle. His letters also include a brief comparison between occupied Germany and wartime France (May 5, 1919) and signal his intent to break off his engagement (May 17, 1919).

After the war, Harles traveled around France and to Coblenz, Germany, as a theater painter with the 88th Division "Show Troupe." He spent some additional time in Paris before returning to the United States onboard the Pocahontas in late May 1919. Three printed and partially printed postcards provided his family with news of his arrival in France, a new mailing address, and news of his return to the United States on June 1, 1919.

The collection's visual materials include printed postcards, an illustrated Christmas card, and 3 photographs of Victor Harles. Two photographs are enclosed in his letter of February 25, 1919, and the third is attached to his passport, also present in the collection. The postcards depict scenes from Paris, other French cities, and Coblenz, Germany. Additional material includes 2 early letters Victor wrote about life as an artist in Norway, Maine (June 13 and 30, 1916), and a metal identification tag for "M. J. Schreibert." One postcard postmarked 1908 depicts a Papago Native American woman filling a pot.

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:

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• Keystone Alaska and Panama views, set box (1)
• Stereoscope (1)

• 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)