The impact of war

The photographic collections are an important complement to the rich holdings of Civil War materials in all other Clements Divisions. Along with major works by Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner (including the two volume Photographic sketch book of the Civil War), George N. Barnard (Photographic views of Sherman's Campaign), A.J. Russell, and Levy & Cohen, the Library houses the work of many lesser known photographers, as well as several hundred portraits of generals, politicians, and soldiers.

Increasingly during the past fifteen years, the Library has also attempted to document the post-war activities of Civil War veterans. In addition to photograph albums and collections representing individual veterans' tours of battlefields, Civil War sites, and reunions, the Currier-McCombs Division includes a fine series of scenic cartes de visite taken by W.E. James on a trip to Charleston, S.C., in 1865, a sample book of W. H. Tipton (a professional photographer from Gettysburg who recorded the return of veterans and veterans' groups to the battlefield beginning in the 1870s), and several albums that include images depicting conditions in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction South. Among the more unsual albums in the collection is a carte de visite album of teachers and "inmates" of the Dayton (Pa.) Orphan Asylum, which includes images of the young orphans wearing cast-off federal uniforms.

Connect to the Schoff Civil War Collections for descriptions of the Civil War holdings in the Manuscripts Division.

The Clements' photographic collections relating to the Spanish-American War and the American wars of the twentieth century have been expanding rapidly. All theatres of action during the Spanish-American War are represented, though the Philippines theatre is more thoroughly represented than the Caribbean. The Hussey-Wadsworth Papers include an outstanding series of images, taken or acquired by a soldier in the 1st Nebraska Infantry in the Philippines, and the Whittemore-Low Papers includes several photograph albums kept by two brothers, career Marines, who served in both the Pacific and Caribbean.

The Library's holdings for the World Wars are equally strong, containing substantial collections of images taken by soldiers, sailors, aviators, nurses, surgeons, and civilians. The largest individual collection is comprised of hundreds of images taken by a U.S. Signal Corps photographer during the First World War, however the collections include several other collections of similar size. The World War collections are supplemented by smaller, but growing collections of images documenting war work and life on the home front. The Library is in the early stages of extending its collections to encompas the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.

Portraiture

The Clements has long collected materials pertaining to influential figures in American intellectual, political, and social life, and its photographic collections therefore contain images of hundreds of notable Americans. In this regard, the single most interesting item may be the Brearly photograph album, which contains over 150 autographed images of "celebrities" of the 1860s through 1890s. Among other notables, the album features signed photographs of most of the presidents from Fillmore through Garfield, other politicians, over two dozen Union and Confederate generals, artists (e.g. Thomas Nast, Gustave Doré), musicians and other performers (Chang and Eng, Barnum, Tom Thumb), writers, and intellectual figures. A complete listing is included with the collection description.

The Actors and Actresses collection includes several hundred cabinet cards, cartes de visite, and photographs in other formats of performers of the late 19th century through early twentieth century.

Interiors and domestic architecture

Throughout its photographic collections, the Clements has emphasized documentation of American domestic space, the urban environment, and rural life. The Henry Wheeler albums includes hundreds of cyanotype and silver images of colonial structures throughout eastern Massachusetts, many of which have not survived, and Wheeler also meticulously documented sites that he considered to be otherwise worthy of historical note.

Photograph albums, of course, are a rich resource for study of house exteriors, interior decoration, and furnishings, but several collections and albums include images of places of work and public venues of various sorts.

American landscape and cityscape

The Clements' interest in photographs of American landscape and cityscape dovetails with parallel interests in its collections of books, manuscripts, and prints. The collections are rich in 19th century images of the American west -- including fine collections of work by Watkins, Muybridge, O'Sullivan, Russell, Fiske, and d'Heureuse -- but include numerous vernacular and professional images of all parts of the continent, from the west to the northeast and deep south, Canada, and Mexico.

Tourism, travel, and Americans abroad

Photography is an important medium for recording and constructing memories associated with travel and tourism. Since the inception of the collections, the Clements has placed an emphasis on collecting photographs taken by "average" Americans, and the collections now comprise a useful resource for study of American self-representation, at home and abroad. Touristic albums, particularly from the 19th century, typically include images taken by professional photographers, but gathered and arranged by the tourist.

Reference inquiries

[ Books ][ Manuscripts ][ Maps ][ Music ][ Photographs ][ Prints ][ Reader Services ][ Women's History Project ]