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Collection

European Tour, Yosemite, and Minnesota photograph album, 1870s-1900s

1 volume

The European Tour, Yosemite, and Minnesota photograph album contains pictures of scenes in various European countries, reproductions of famous paintings, portraits of prominent Europeans, and comic strips. Many of the visual items are engravings and colored illustrations.

The European Tour, Yosemite, and Minnesota photograph album (27cm x 34cm) contains around 780 photographs, engravings, and illustrations of scenes, people, architecture and artwork from various European countries, Great Britain, and the United States. Newspaper clippings and comic strips appear at the end. Most of the photographs appear to be commercially produced prints of the type made for tourists, and many of the illustrations are in series related to a particular place. The images range in size from full page to smaller items pasted in as many as 11 or 12 to a page. Original covers are missing.

Countries represented in the photographs include present-day Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, France, and Great Britain around the 1870s. Bird's-eye views, street scenes, landmarks such as religious buildings and ancient structures (particularly in Athens and Rome), famous paintings and sculptures, bas reliefs, and other works of art predominate. Of interest are a group of pictures showing traditional Neapolitan funeral costume, and a photograph of Mount Vesuvius erupting in 1872. Portraits of local ethnic "types" in traditional dress, political and religious leaders, and royalty are also present. The engravings and other illustrations, sometimes colored, often depict similar scenes and landmarks.

The final pages contain photographs taken in present-day Yosemite National Park and Minnesota, a newspaper clipping showing a "dynamiter in [a] Los Angeles police station," electrical equipment related to the New York City Subway, and a group portrait of firefighters in Watertown, New York. A group of newspaper clippings of the comic strip "Sambo and his Funny Noises" are pasted on top of European views. The comic strip, by William F. Marriner, ran from 1905-1914 and chronicled the misadventures of "Sambo," later "Samuel Johnson," a racist stereotype caricature of an African American boy.

Collection

San Francisco (Calif.) autograph album, 1859-1888

1 volume

The San Francisco (Calif.) autograph album contains manuscript inscriptions, portrait photographs, photographs of western scenes, pictures of statues, and reproductions of popular paintings.

The San Francisco (Calif.) autograph album (20cm x 13cm, 180 pages) contains around 125 photographs and prints, as well as manuscript inscriptions. Some of the inscriptions, dated at San Francisco between 1860 and 1888, include brief quotations and uplifting messages, along with the contributor's signature. A few small dried plant specimens are laid into the album. The brown leather cover has a floral design, the word "Autographs," and an illustration of a quill and book inlaid in gold.

The majority of the album's photographic prints are studio portraits of women and, less frequently, men; pencil captions identify many individuals, such as John S. Hittell, an early author of Yosemite guidebooks, and Benjamin P. Avery, miner, journalist, and diplomat. Some photographs are associated with inscriptions and autographs. A number of images are missing. Images include reproductions of popular paintings, and pictures of statues, primarily busts. A number of the paintings are attributed to David Dalhoff Neal.

Of note are views of Yosemite National Park, likely commercially produced stereograph halves; a photograph of a group of men participating in "Hydraulic Washing" in Yuba County, California, published as a stereograph by Lawrence and Houseworth; a view of tourists under giant Redwood trees; the upended tree stump in Mammoth Tree Grove (Calaveras County, California). One view and one portrait carrying the blind-stamp of photographer Carleton E. Watkins and several other views are similar to known Watkins images; at least one (Crystal Lake House) compares to a stereo by Alfred A Hart.

A small number of images are from Europe, showing cathedrals, the view from Trinità dei Monti in Rome, and a view of a waterfall below a village. The majority of the inscriptions are in English, with several in German.