This collection contains the trail diaries, papers, photographs and slides, and writings of Earl V. Shaffer, the man credited with being the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (AT). His complete trail hikes took place in 1948, 1965, and 1998. He was also a hiking and nature enthusiast and advocate.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains correspondence, trail diaries (including those from Shaffer's 1948, 1965 and 1998 hikes of the Appalachian Trail), maps and trail guides, writings (most notably drafts of Walking With Spring), galley proofs from his final book Calling Me Back to the Hills, and printed material from hiking and environmental organizations. The collection contains items relating to Shaffer's early life and education, such as diplomas, a baptismal certificate, papers from his years in elementary school, and materials relating to his Army service. One extremely important item found in Series 5 is an article by Benton MacKaye (founder of the AT) that is inscribed to Earl from the author. The bulk of the collection spans the years 1903-2002. There is one item from 1803 (a land deed) and one item each, compact discs, from 2004 and 2007. The collection is divided into five series. Addendums were donated in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2012 consisting of additional letters and poetry, and a book of poetry entitled South of the Sunset.
Arrangement:
This collection is divided into five series.
Series 1: Biographical information, 1803-2006
Subseries 1.1: Shaffer Family Papers, 1873-1998
Subseries 1.2: Education, 1918-1980, undated
Subseries 1.3: Army, 1940-1948, undated
Subseries 1.4: Personal Documents, 1803-2006, undated
Subseries 1.5: Correspondence, 1945-2005, undated
Series 2: Materials Related to Hiking, 1935-2002
Subseries 2.1: Trail Notes, Diaries and General Information, 1935-1998, undated
Subseries 2.2: Photographs and Slides, 1940-2001, undated
Subseries 2.3: Maps and Plats, 1936-1998, undated
Series 3: Writing and Related Materials, 1910-2007, undated
Series 4: Hiking Associations and Clubs, 1937-2002, undated
Series 5: Collected Publications, 1910-1999, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Earl Victor Shaffer (1918-2002) is credited as the first person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine. Shaffer was born on November 8th, 1918 in York, Pennsylvania to Daniel and Frances Gallagher Shaffer. One of his most influential childhood friends was Walter Winemiller. Shaffer termed Winemiller, ". . . the most capable outdoorsman I had ever known." They grew up together in and around York. When WWII broke out Shaffer joined the Army and Winemiller joined the Marines. Shaffer served in the Army Signal Corps from April 15, 1941 to September 17, 1945. Three years and three months of his service was in the Pacific Theatre based in Hawaii but for a good amount of time on detached service on various outposts and combat islands. Winemiller died in the assault on Iwo Jima and Shaffer's decision to hike the AT in 1948 was in his own words a testament to his friend and ". . . to eradicate as much as possible the lingering effects of that wartime service in the tropics." He wrote that when he was in the army the three books he had with him were the Bible, an Oxford English Dictionary and a volume of Rudyard Kipling's poems. It was during his time in the army that his love of writing poetry manifested itself.
Shaffer hiked the entire AT for the first time in 1948 traveling south to north. This trek is detailed in his book Walking With Spring. For the rest of his life Shaffer was a trail enthusiast and participated in local and national hiking clubs and events. In 1951 Shaffer was named corresponding secretary for the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC). Shaffer hiked the AT north to south in 1965. Shaffer lived his entire life in and around York, Pennsylvania. He wanted to purchase property for a permanent home near the Appalachian Trail. This dream almost became a reality in the 1980s when Shaffer purchased a small parcel of land near the trail. With the ramifications of the 1968 National Trails System Act and the land purchasing policies of the National Park Service conflicting with his desires Shaffer sold his land near the trail to the National Park Service and broke ties with the ATC over their handling of the affair.
Shaffer continued writing poetry throughout his life. He wrote prose almost always centered on his experiences in the army or while hiking. He self published Walking With Spring in 1981. In 1983, the ATC published the work with Shaffer donating his share of the proceeds to the ATC. In 1998, Shaffer decided to undertake a 50th Anniversary hike commemorating his 1948 hike of the entire AT. He was seventy-nine years old. He completed the hike in October 1998 and gained much national notoriety for it. Shaffer was a carpenter and beekeeper. He also refinished and repaired furniture. Shaffer never married but maintained ties to a large, extended, and supportive family. Shaffer's health gradually deteriorated after his last AT hike and he died on May 5, 2002. The Earl Shaffer Foundation was founded in his honor and is based in York, Pennsylvania.
Separated Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) contain the following:
Accession#: 2002.0195
Kodak camera used by Earl Shaffer on his first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1948 and the flannel shirt, cotton trousers, leather hiking books, knit cap, and canvas backpack he used for his 1998 hike.
Accession#: 1999.0189
Backpack, boots, pith helmet, head net, poncho, and a cook-set, all used by Earl Shaffer on two of his hikes of the Appalachian Trail, 1948 and 1965.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian in April 2003 by John Shaffer, Earl V. Shaffer's brother.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Use reference copies of diaries.
Rights:
Copyrights to all donated materials, both printed and photographic, are retained exclusively by the Earl Shaffer Foundation.
The collection consists of thirty-four (34) items, including thirty-two (32) maps of the Baffin Island coast drawn by unidentified Inuit informants and annotated by Franz Boas; and two (2) numbered lists of place names by Boas. Most of the maps are not identified as to the precise area they represent except by Inuit place names. Other notes on the maps include a short text in an Inuit language and some notes in German and English; most of these notes are illegible because Boas used a shorthand system of his own in writing many of them. Moreover, his handwriting is very difficult to read even when not abbreviated. Many of the maps consist of two or more sheets of paper that were glued together and contain notes and drawings on both sides.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
The items in the collection were numbered 1-32 when cataloged by the United States National Museum (USNM). This order has been maintained when possible. Several numbers are now missing from the series, and a few items do not have numbers. Unnumbered items appear at the end of the collection.
Biographical Note:
Franz Boas (1858-1942) was a German-American anthropologist and pioneer of modern anthropological practice. He studied physics and geography at the universities at Heidelberg and Bonn before completing a doctoral program in physical geography at Kiel in 1881. After graduation, he joined an expedition of Baffin Island (1883-1884), which influenced his decision to focus on cultural tradition rather than biological and physical influences. In the summer of 1883 Boas traveled from Germany to Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, aboard the sailing vessel Germania whose main objective was to evacuate the personnel of the German station of the First International Polar Year from Kingua Fjord. Over the winter of 1883–1884 Boas confined himself to Cumberland Sound and in the spring and summer of 1884, he crossed the Cumberland Peninsula and visited numerous Inuit communities along the Davis Strait coast.
In 1885, Boas emigrated to the United States, where he took an editorial position with the journal Science and started what would become his most famous ethnographic project, working among the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) Indians, in 1886. Boas spent three years teaching at Clark University in Massachusetts, then took an appointment at the Field Museum in Chicago in 1892. Boas then moved to New York, where he joined the American Museum of Natural History (1895-1905) and began teaching at Columbia University in 1896. For 37 years, Boas established himself as an academic and mentored numerous future influential anthropologists, including Margaret Mead, Alfred Kroeber, Edward Sapir, and Zora Neale Hurston. He also served as one of the founders of both the American Anthropological Association and the International Journal of American Linguistics.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 169270
USNM Accession 29060
Publication Note:
Some of the maps were reproduced in:
Boas, Franz. Baffin-Land: Geographische Ergebnisse einer in den Jahren 1883 und 1884 ausgeführten Forschungsreise. Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1885.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Drawings
Maps
Citation:
Maps of parts of Baffin Island collected by Franz Boas (MS 169270), National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
"Dar al-Funun Institute was the first of its modern kind - institution of higher education in technology - in Iran. It owes its establishment - to a large extent - to Nasir al-Din Shah's teacher and chief minister, Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir (b.1807-d.1852). It opened its doors in 1851 to cater, primarily, to the technological and medical needs of the army in Iran. The first 30 students of Dar al-Funun were chosen from the sons and daughters of the aristocratic circle of Iran, sent to Europe for completion of their degrees and re-employed in the country upon the conclusion of their education. The education was offered free of charge to the students. The initial group of teachers were seven Austrian teachers, which were then expanded to include Italian, French and German teachers in later years. The main areas of study in the school were: military technicians, medicine, pharmacology, mining, natural sciences, history and geography, and painting, music and languages. The photograph shows the building and courtyard of Dar al-Funun school from the top of the main gateway to Canons' Square. The small minaret -head, visible in the foreground of the image is one of the old Dawlat gate's minarets, facing out of the Maydan or square. The building of Dar al-Funun, framed in between the brick column - called Mil Asia - and the minaret was constructed around 1860s in Tehran to house the first institution of higher education, primarily focused on medical, technical and military training." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- FSg curatorial research specialist remark on Antoin Sevruguin photo manipulation reads, "Black paper on the back and black ink on the front."
- Handwritten number (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "290."
- Handwritten information on slip of paper (from a 1943-1944 cash book, produced by the Bathni Brothers, Tehran) reads, "70) Scene of Teheran." [Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information]
- Myron Bement Smith handwritten caption in English reads, "47.P; Box 48.8: Tehran, general view (#70)." [Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P: Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran]
Arrangement:
According to Myron B. Smith handwritten document (Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran), Antoin Sevruguin's 696 glass negatives, at the time of their acquisition, were arranged into 61 boxes without any apparent organization. Today they are housed in archival document boxes, essentially duplicating the original arrangement, and stored on shelves. This glass negative was included into "Box 48."
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, leaving behind only a fraction of his large collection of glass negatives, which is currently in the Archives of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.4 2.12.GN.48.08
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
The Myron Bement Smith Collection, FSA A.04. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Katherine Dennis Smith.
1 Film reel (black-and-white sound; 360 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1955
Scope and Contents:
Edited film describes the occupations and crops of the three main geographic regions of Mexico while touching on history and current events. Film includes scenes of farmers, miners, cattle ranchers, factory workers and city dwellers.
Legacy Keywords: Economic development ; Agriculture Mexico
General:
Local Numbers: HSFA 1994.21.9
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
REMC 2 educational film collection, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Dizon-Fitzsimmons, Edith Albaladejo, 1922- Search this
Extent:
0.24 Cubic feet (1 flat box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Date:
1965-1967
Summary:
Edith Albaladejo Dizon Fitzsimmons (1922--2014) was a music teacher, writer, and pilot in the Philippines and later Australia. This collection consists of a scrapbook created by Edith Albaladejo Dizon Fitzsimmons that documents both her life and career, but also civil aviation in the Philippines more generally.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a scrapbook created by Edith Albaladejo Dizon Fitzsimmons that documents both her life and career, but also civil aviation in the Philippines more generally. The spiral bound scrapbook, which covers the approximate time period of 1965--1967 and is extensively captioned by Dizon, includes a map of airports and airfields in the Philippines; lists of commercial and government owned aircraft; a brief history of the Philippine Airmen's Organization; information on the Philippine Air Transport Service (PATS) and the Philippines Civil Aeronautics Administration; and articles written by Dizon on aviation topics including difficulties facing female pilots, different women's motivations for flying, and air traffic control. There are many photographs of Dizon, including several of her in or posed with aircraft, and of additional interest is information and photographs of other female pilots in the Philippines including Virginia Flores Rivera; Benita Yu; Lolita Butac; Felicia Natividad; Susan Ruiz; Rosario Spirig; Herminigilda Argones; as well as a British pilot operating from Sabah, Borneo, Mary Skitch. The scrapbook also contains news clippings and correspondence. A portion of the scrapbook documents the record-setting round-the-world (Manila-to-Manila) flight by Robert and Joan Wallick flying in their Beech Baron C55 Philippine Baron in June 1966.
Arrangement:
Collection is in original order.
Biographical / Historical:
Edith Albaladejo Dizon Fitzsimmons (1922--2014) was a music teacher, writer, and pilot in the Philippines and later Australia. Dizon began flying in 1959, receiving instruction at the Philippine Air Transport Service (PATS) in Manila. Dizon received private pilot license no. 1202. In addition to being an active pilot, Dizon was also an organist for several churches as well as a music teacher, served for a time as a public relations officer for the Philippines Civil Aeronautics Administration, and was a free-lance writer who published numerous articles about her experiences as a pilot and the difficulties facing women pilots in general, as well as general aviation-related articles. These endeavors helped Dizon support her six children after the death of her first husband, D. Paulo Dizon. In 1967, Edith Dizon joined the Ninety-Nines and the Philippine Airmen's Organization (of which she was a member) provided funding for her to be able to attend the Ninety-Nines convention in the United States that year. Also in 1967, Dizon was the only female pilot on a goodwill flight to Sabah, Borneo that was sponsored by the Philippine Airmen's Organization. Dizon also held a record in the Philippines for high altitude flight in a light aircraft, having reached 13,120 feet without the use of oxygen. In 1970, Dizon emigrated with her children to Australia where she worked as the public relations officer for the Mission of St James and St John in Melbourne before marrying her second husband Ray Fitzsimmons and moving to Shepparton, Victoria in 1973. Together they were responsible for the creation of Philippines House at the International Village there. In the 1990s, Dizon traveled to the United States to complete a master's degree in music therapy and enrolled in a doctoral program in women's studies at La Trobe University upon her return to Australia in 1995. Dizon also continued to teach music, perform as an organist, and lecture. Dizon celebrated her 70th, 80th, and 85th birthdays with parachute jumps. In 1998, Dizon published a book of essays on her philosophy of life entitled, The Sky's the Limit. Dizon founded the Goulburn Valley Organ Club, the Filipino-Australian Friends Association, and the Goulburn Valley Multicultural Youth Singing Bell Choir, and was the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Pamana Ng Pilipino Presidential Award for Filipino Individuals Overseas (2000), the Centenary Medal to commemorate the Federation of Australia (2001), and the Victoria Senior Australian of the Year award (2002). Dizon was also selected to be portrayed on postage stamps as part of the Australia Post's "Face of Australia" series in 2000 and was the subject of a documentary produced in 2002 by Central Philippine University.
Provenance:
Edith A. Dizon, Gift, Date Unknown, NASM.XXXX.0281
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
Collection consists of lantern slides and stereographs produced by several companies: Keystone View Company, Better America Lecture Service, Incorporated, American Press Association, J. Stanley-Brown, William H. Rau, and J. F. Maertz Department Store. The lantern slides were primarily intended to be used for educational presentations about the United States, other countries, history, and society. Many of the slides and stereographs are accompanied by descriptive text and in some instances by small cards--one card for each slide--and in other instances directly on the back of a stereoview. The majority of images were taken from 1900 to 1930.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of lantern slides and stereographs primarily designed for use in audio-visual educational presentations about the United States, other countries, history, and society. Many of the slides and stereographs are accompanied by descriptive text. In some instances on small cards--one card for each slide-- and in other instances printed directly on the back of a stereoview. A few of the lantern slides, particularly the ones of the J. F. Maertz Department Store of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are advertisements for consumer products. The majority were taken from 1890 through 1930. While the collection as a whole is in good general condition, some lantern slides, stereographs, and text cards are missing, and some of the lantern slides are cracked.
The collection will appeal to researchers examining the course of nineteenth-century social history broadly, especially how lantern slides were marketed to educators to teach geography, social studies, science, history and reading. The lantern slides as artifacts will be of interest to those who study material culture.
Series 1, Keystone View Company Lantern Slides and Stereographs, undated, is divided into seven subseries: Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated; Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300; Subseries 3, Biblical, undated; Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated; Subseries 5, Roads, undated; and Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated.
The series depicts scenes from around the United States and the rest of the world. Each image is intended to be characteristic of its location and in most cases is accompanied by a text card that describes the scene and gives the geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the location. Many of the glass lantern slides have corresponding stereoviews and in these instances two box numbers are given.
Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated, is arranged in order by the numbers on the image. Views #1-261 are arranged in a rough geographic order beginning in Maine and proceeding down the Atlantic Coast, through the former Confederate states, into the Midwest and Plains states, the mountain West states and the West coast, and ending in the territories of Alaska and Hawaii and the Panama Canal. Views #262-346 begin in eastern Canada, proceed across Canada and move through Mexico and Central America into the Caribbean, thence the length of South America and the Antarctic. Views #347-554 begin in the British Isles and move through Northern and Southern Europe and into Central Europe and then Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East. Views #556-592 begin in North Africa and cover the length of the continent and a few areas in the Pacific. The series concludes with views of several planets, President McKinley reviewing Civil War heroes (1899), and the work of a Mexican artist (1900).
Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300, undated, is arranged in order by the numbers on the image. H-1 to H-258 depict scenes and sites of American history beginning with several images of indigenous peoples and proceeding, roughly chronologically, through major events and locations to about 1925. Images H-259 to H-300 document a range of localities and activities across the country in the mid-1920s, including major buildings in Washington, D.C., industrial activities, and modern agricultural practices.
Subseries 3, Biblical, undated, shows religious art works and rural scenes.
Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated, contains two images. One is pastoral with a Franscican friar, the other a fountain.
Subseries 5, Roads, undated, includes three images of roads, one with a person on horseback, the other two depicting wagons.
Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated, contains lithoprint stereographs, each with a short description, depicting scenes such as landmarks in the United States; news events in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; warfare; domestic scenes and scenes of foreign countries.
This series consists of lantern slides produced by Newell Dwight Hillis' Better America Lecture Service Incorporated. Newell Dwight Hillis (1858-1929), was a noted clergyman, lecturer and author. The Better American Lecture Service sought to make better Americans and to inspire greater loyalty to American institutions. Better America Lecture Service rented the lecture manuscript and slides to churches, societies, schools, and patriotic organizations. Slides were sent in a tin box and contained suggestions for publicity arrangements. (Nevada Educational Bulletin, December 1920).
Hillis published more than twenty volumes including collections of his sermons, inspirational works, and a novel. In addition, many of Hillis addresses were published and distributed as pamphlets. The slides were intended to be used for lectures on subjects such as socialism and equality. The slides generally consist of text, drawings, images of persons, paintings, and landscapes. A few slides in each set are missing, and there is no text accompanying any of the slides. The series is arranged into twelve subseries alphabetically by topic.
Series 3, American Press Association lantern slides, undated, is divided into ten subseries: Subseries 1, General Images, undated; Subseries 2, Coffins and soliders, undated; Subseries 3, Mexican War, undated; Subseries 4, Niagara Falls Conference, undated; Subseries 5, Pancho Villa and Major Gonzales, undated; Subseries 6, Parade, undated; Subseries 7, Refugees, undated; Subseries 8, Warships, undated; Subseries 9, West Virginia Mine Explosion, undated; and Subseries 10, Women March for Votes (Suffrage), undated.
The series consists of lantern slides from the American Press Association depicting news events from early twentieth century history (e.g., Mexican War; Ludlow Colorado strike; suffragettes; Gettysburg veterans; various ship disasters). Each slide has a caption with a brief description of the scene. Many slides are cracked; one is completely broken and is in a folded paper. There are also approximately fifty slides with scenes of events associated with the Mexican-American War, most with short captions identifying the scenes. Many of these slides are cracked.
Series 4, J. F. Maertz Department Stores advertisement lantern slides, early 1920s, is divided into thirteen subseries: Subseries 1, Bathrooms, undated; Subseries 2, Children's shoes and clothing, undated; Subseries 3, Dress goods, undated; Subseries 4, Dress patterns, undated; Subseries 5, Hosiery, undated; Subseries 6, House furnishings, undated; Subseries 7, House wares, undated; Subseries 8, Ladies' Home Journal, undated; Subseries 9, Shoes, undated; Subseries 10, Store advertising, undated; Subseries 11, Underwear, undated; Subseries 12, Women's clothing, undated; and Subseries 13, Miscellaneous, undated.
The series consists of lantern slides showing advertisements used in J.F. Maertz Department Store catalogs for consumer goods. Slides are categorized by type of goods, including children's shoes and clothes, bathroom needs, dress patterns, men's wear, shoes, house furnishings, house wares, Ladies' Home Journal, and underwear.
Series 5, J. Stanley-Brown and E. H. Harriman lantern slides, undated, is divided into nineteen subseries: Subseries 1, Alaska-California scenes, undated; Subseries 2, Animal life, undated; Subseries 3, Artifacts, undated; Subseries 4, California/Franciscan life, undated; Subseries 5, California Indians, undated; Subseries 6, California mission exteriors, undated; Subseries 7, California mission interiors, undated; Subseries 8, Eskimos,undated; Subseries 9, Franciscans, undated; Subseries 10, Indians, undated; Subseries 11, Landscapes, undated; Subseries 12, Maps, undated; Subseries 13, Mission interiors, undated; Subseries 14, Seascapes, undated; Subseries 15, General images (#1-7;10), undated; Subseries 16, General images (#11-14; 16-17; 19-20), undated; Subseries 17, General images (#21-30), undated; Subseries 18, General images (#31-33; 36-40), undated; and Subseries 19, General images (#42; 45-50), undated.
The series contains lantern slides, each labeled with the names of distributors, "J. Stanley-Brown, 1318 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. and E.H. Harriman, 1 East, 55th Street, New York." The slides, some with captions, depict maps; landscapes; seascapes; Eskimos; animal life; Franciscan dwellings; Indians of California; California missions and Franciscan life. There are slides depicting various scenes of California missions and scenes of indigenous Alaskans. Some slides are cracked.
The series consists of lantern slides and stereoviews from distributors that include the American Series; Griffith and Griffith; Pesko Binocular Company; William H. Rau Publisher; and the Universal Photo Art Company.
The stereographs related to domestic and military issues and geography are dated circa 1905, and copyrighted by H. C. White, and distrbuted by World Series.
The stereo views produced by William H. Rau, a publisher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, show parades and other ceremonies at Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) encampments and Elks conventions held in Philadelphia. The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Keystone View Company Lantern Slides and Stereographs, undated
Subseries 1, #1-#600, undated
Subseries 2, H-1 to H-300, undated
Subseries 3, Biblical, undated
Subseries 4, Santa Barbara, California, undated
Subseries 5, Roads, undated
Subseries 6, Miscellaneous, undated
Series 2: Hillis Better America Lecture Service Lantern Slides, undated
Series 3: American Press Association Lantern Slides, undated
Subseries 1, General Images, undated
Subseries 2, Coffins and Soliders, undated
Subseries 3, Mexican War, undated
Subseries 4, Niagara Falls Conference, undated
Subseries 5, Pancho Villa and Major Gonzales, undated
Subseries 6, Parade, undated
Subseries 7, Refugees, undated
Subseries 8, Warships, undated
Subseries 9, West Virginia Mine Explosion, undated
Subseries 10, Women March for Votes (Suffrage), undated
Series 4: J. F. Maertz Department Store Advertisement Lantern Slides, early 1920s
Subseries 1, Bathrooms, undated
Subseries 2, Children's shoes and clothing, undated
Subseries 3, Dress goods, undated
Subseries 4, Dress patterns, undated
Subseries 5, Hosiery, undated
Subseries 6, House furnishings, undated
Subseries 7, House wares, undated
Subseries 8, Ladies' Home Journal, undated
Subseries 9, Shoes, undated
Subseries 10, Store advertising, undated
Subseries 11, Underwear, undated
Subseries 12, Women's clothing, undated
Subseries 13, Miscellaneous, undated
Series 5, J. Stanley-Brown and E.H. Harriman lantern slides, undated
Subseries 1, Alaska-California scenes, undated
Subseries 2, Animal life, undated
Subseries 3, Artifacts, undated
Subseries 4, California/Franciscan life, undated
Subseries 5, California Indians, undated
Subseries 6, California mission exteriors, undated
Subseries 7, California mission interiors, undated
Subseries 8, Eskimos, undated
Subseries 9, Franciscans, undated
Subseries 10, Indians, undated
Subseries 11, Landscapes, undated
Subseries 12, Maps, undated
Subseries 13, Mission interiors, undated
Subseries 14, Seascapes, undated
Subseries 15, General images (#1-7;10), undated
Subseries 16, General images (#11-14; 16-17; 19-20), undated
Subseries 17, General images (#21-30), undated
Subseries 18, General images (#31-33; 36-40), undated
Subseries 19, General images (#42; 45-50), undated
Series 6: Miscellaneous Stereographs, 1887-1907
Subseries 1, American Series, 1887
Subseries 2, C.H. Graves Publisher, 1907
Subseries 3, Griffith and Griffith, 1894
Subseries 4, Pesko Binocular Company, 1907
Subseries 5, William H. Rau Publisher, undated
Subseries 6, Domestic scenes, undated
Subseries 7, Military, undated
Subseries 8, Places-Asia, undated
Subseries 9, Places-Cuba, undated
Subseries 10, Places-Egypt, undated
Subseries 11, Places-France, undated
Subseries 12, Places-Germany, undated
Subseries 13, Places-Italy, undated
Subseries 14, Places-Monte Carlo, undated
Subseries 6.15, Palestine, undated
Subseries 6.16, Places-United States, undated
Subseries 6.17: Miscellaneous, undated
Series 7: Miscellaneous Lantern Slides, undated
Historical:
Lantern slides are hand-drawn, painted, or photographic images on glass, intended for viewing by projection; often made in sets. Photographic lantern slides were introduced in the United States by 1850 and popular through World War I; commonly 3.25 x 4 in. (9 x 10 cm.) with a black paper mask, a cover glass, and taped edges. Thesaurus of Graphic Materials
Stereographs consist of two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image, usually when viewed through a stereoscope. Typically, the images are on card mounts, but they take the form of daguerreotypes, glass negatives, or other processes. Stereographs were first made in the 1850s and are still made today. They were most popular between 1870 and 1920.
In 1851 stereo daguerreotypes were exhibited for the first time to the general public at the London International Exhibition (Crystal Palace). Shortly thereafter, American photographers began making stereographs. One of the first American photographic firms to produce stereographs was the team of William and Frederick Langenheim. The Library owns a set of their early stereoviews of American cities on the East Coast.
By 1860 both amateur photographers and publishing firms were making stereographs. The major stereo publishers sold their views by mail order, door-to-door salesmen, and in stores. Stereographs were sold individually and in boxed sets.
Stereographs are usually mounted. They were typically published with caption information printed under the image or on the back of the mount. The mount also provided information about the publisher, photographer, and sometimes the series or a list of views available from the photographer or publisher.
Stereographs were collected by many middle-class families in the late 19th century. People acquired stereographs of tourist sites they had visited, as well as exotic locales that they would only experience through the wonder of the stereoscope. Viewing stereographs was a common activity, much like watching television or going to the movies today. Stereoviews were also used as an education tool in classrooms.
(Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, Stereograph Format)
The Division of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History assembled a collection of miscellaneous lantern slides and stereographs beginning in 1943. Other collection contents were acquired over many years in unrecorded transactions.
Several distributors and publishers of stereographic images are represented in the collection. One of the most prominent was the Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Founded by Benneville Lloyd Singley (d.1938), a former Underwood & Underwood salesman, Keystone became a major distributor of stereographic images. From 1892 through 1963 it produced and distributed both educational and comic/sentimental stereoviews and stereoscopes used to see the images in 3-D. By 1905 it was the world's largest stereographic company. In 1963 Department A (stereoviews sold to individual families) and the education departments were closed, but Keystone continued to manufacture eye-training stereographic products as a subsidiary of Mast Development Company. In 1972 Mast closed the Meadville manufacturing site.
All of Keystone's manufacturing was done in Meadville, but branch offices were in New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Toronto, Canada and London, England. Salesmen and photographers were scattered around the world, and the company offered 20,000 different views.
Selling stereoviews and lantern slides to schools was a field pioneered by Underwood & Underwood, and for several years Underwood & Underwood and Keystone were competitors for the growing educational market. According to the 1953 Keystone Sales Manual the more aggressive sales methods and the more progressive editorial policies of the Keystone View Company soon made it the acknowledged leader in the industry, and Underwood & Underwood decided to give up the contest.
Between 1915 and 1921 Keystone View Company purchased the negatives of nearly all of its competitors. They also continued to have staff photographers travel the world, so that by 1935 Keystone had approximately two million stereoscopic negatives.
Keystone View Company produced stereographic sets up through the mid-twentieth century, and had a stereoscopic photographer on staff until at least 1955.
References
Thesaurus of Graphic Materials, (2007), http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/ (accessed February 10, 2011).
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, Stereograph Format, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/stereo/background.html (accessed February 14, 2011).
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
University of California, Riverside/California Museum of Photography
George Eastman House
Temple University
Brooklyn Historical Society
Provenance:
Donated to the Department of Anthropology, United States National Museum by Mrs. Joseph Stanley-Brown, through Mrs. Herbert Feis, in 1943.
The Division of Cultural History (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) at the National Museum of American History assembled a collection of miscellaneous lantern slides and stereographs beginning in 1943. Other collection contents were acquired over many years in unrecorded transactions. An unknown portion of the collection transferred to the Archives Center, date unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected lantern slides and stereographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
Portions of this collection are restricted from use as means to further preserve the collection. Digital surrogates are available for portions of this collection.
Collection Rights:
The NMAAHC Archives can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions may apply and limit reproduction for other purposes.
Collection Citation:
Historical Records of the DeWolf Family, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Scrapbook of Newspaper clippings on polar exploration.
Local Numbers:
AC0702-0000020
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
