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The Cora Smith photograph album contains approximately 214 photographs documenting the travels and daily life of a woman living in Cornwallville, New York, in the late 1890s.

The Cora Smith photograph album contains approximately 214 photographs documenting the travels and daily life of a woman living in Cornwallville, New York, in the late 1890s.

The album (26 x 22 cm) is a blank page scrapbook with "Cora M. Smith" written in pencil on the fly leaf. Photographs consist primarily of snapshots and cyanotypes, and many of the people represented in this album (including members of the Smith and Olcott families) are identified with captions. Several trips are documented including visits to New York State destinations such as the Catskills, Niagara Falls, and Cambridge as well as Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Images of note include views of the Brooklyn Bridge; an older African American woman captioned "Aunt Caroline, Virginia"; young girls on "Poverty Row"; scenes around Cambridge, New York, and Cornwallville; a wedding party; the Smith family home; “Dr. Carter” preparing to remove a tooth from the mouth of an African American man; a semi-domesticated bear; the 1899 Dewey Land and Naval Parade; and Niagara Falls. Cora Smith appears in photographs on pages 24 and 33. Also present is a note regarding a store display designed by Cora to advertise Payne’s Celery Compound.

The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 100,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering, mining, suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is only partially open for research.

The subject contents of different photographic format series within the Tinder collection vary, depending in part upon how each format was historically used, and the date range of that format's popularity. For example, cartes de visite and cased images are most often formal studio portraits, while stereographs are likely to be outdoor views. Cabinet photographs are frequently portraits, but often composed with less formality than the cartes de visite and cased images. The postcards and the mounted prints contain very diverse subjects. The photographers' file contains many important and rare images of photographers, their galleries, promotional images, and the activities of photographers in the field. See individual series descriptions in the Contents List below for more specific details.

Included throughout are images by both professional and amateur photographers, although those by professionals are extant in far greater numbers.

The Edmund P. and Myra C. Gaines Collection is made up of 23 letters and documents dating between November 10, 1834, and April 5, 1850, and one full-plate daguerreotype portrait of Edmund P. Gaines. The materials present in this collection pertain to mid-19th century United States military politics, the antebellum U.S. frontier, and the activities, perspectives, and public controversies of Edmund Pendleton Gaines and his wife Myra Clark Gaines. In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created an item-level collection inventory index: Edmund P. and Myra C. Gaines Papers Collection Inventory.

The Edmund P. and Myra C. Gaines Papers are made up of 23 letters and documents dating between November 10, 1834, and April 5, 1850, and one full-plate daguerreotype portrait of Edmund P. Gaines. The primary recipient of the Gaines' correspondence is Myra C. Gaines's cousin, Colonel John H. "Jesse" McMahon (d. 1869). The manuscripts offer insight into Edmund P. Gaines's opinions and responsibilities while in command of the U.S. Army Western Division, especially with regards to national security, frontier defense policy and the annexation of Texas. Also present are documents concerning the Myra C. Gaines inheritance lawsuits, the Gaines' views on politics, war, Winfield Scott, legal issues and family matters. Edmund Pendleton Gaines wrote, published, and lectured on the subject of frontier defense, a topic directly related to his professional obligations as a career U.S. Army officer. This collection includes several examples of his advices. On December 7, 1841, he offered appointment recommendations to the Secretary of War John C. Spencer. He also suggested that Col. Stephen Kearny, Col. William Davenport, or Gen. Henry Atkinson would be acceptable commissioners to effect "the arrangement" of removing the remaining Sac and Fox Indians from Iowa. A February 21, 1842, letter to Adjutant General Roger Jones elaborates on Gaines's public suggestions for the improvement of defense on the frontiers by adding a particular kind of floating battery and boats, and by paying particular attention to defense at ports in the Gulf of Mexico. Accordingly, Gaines believed that Texas was of vital importance to the naval power and defense of the United States. In a March 28, 1844, letter to a Judge Pascal in Washington D.C., Gaines stated that he had pushed for the annexation of the Republic of Texas from its earliest days, although he was forced to speak and act with cautious impartiality to both Texas and Mexico on account of American neutrality. In a letter to James K. Polk, dated July 4, 1845, Gaines provided enthusiastic remarks on the annexation of Texas. Reflecting on the "Fathers of the Revolution" and quoting from the Star Spangled Banner, he provided his thoughts on the newly acquired land: "We must prove ourselves to be vigilant and ready at every vital point to maintain the ground we have fairly won. Let us no longer be idle, but go to work vigorously until we secure our Sea Ports by means applicable alike to War, and to a prosperous commerce in Peace and in war."

Prior to the annexation, in June of 1845, Maj. Gen. Gaines raised around 1,500 Louisiana volunteers to assist Zachary Taylor in the defense of the western frontier of Texas. The War Department reprimanded the commander for recruiting the men without presidential authorization. The following May, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities with Mexico, Gaines repeated his performance, authorizing the recruitment of almost 12,000 volunteers--again without presidential approval. Gaines was tried at court martial and successfully defended his actions. Apparently unfazed, Gaines wrote to President Polk on March 25, 1847, soliciting orders to raise a division of volunteers for service in Mexico. Gaines intended to send notice to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans regarding his recruiting efforts and estimated that he could raise some 20-25,000 "first rate" volunteers. Gaines patriotically referenced the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

Multiple letters in this collection reveal the bitter nature of Edmund P. Gaines's rivalry with Winfield Scott. Gaines served under Alexander Macomb until the General's death in 1841, at which point both Gaines and Winfield Scott vigorously pursued Macomb's vacancy. President John Tyler attempted to avoid rekindling the Gaines-Scott feud by swiftly promoting Scott to Major General of the U.S. Army. War Department clerk Albert M. Lea's letter of October 11, 1841, informed Gaines of Scott's appointment, praised Gaines's War of 1812 service, and (perhaps provocatively) noted that President Tyler returned one of Gaines's letters without comment. However, as Gaines conducted an inspection tour from Baton Rouge to St. Louis in 1842, he received a series of communications respecting a case brought against him without court martial related to discrepancies in paymaster accounts. In a 19-page letter to Secretary of War John C. Spencer, Gaines defended himself and illustrated how he had been unfairly targeted with inappropriate disciplinary procedures. Gaines was convinced that Winfield Scott was behind what he perceived as an attack on his character and that his old rival had "laboured from the 1st of January 1825 (if not the 15th of August 1814) to the 14th of March 1836 to prove that Major General Gaines was ‘a bad or indifferent officer'--as the Brevet Letters and the Starring and Rescue and Sortie letters written by General Scott to the Adjutant General of the Army will testify."(October 10, 1842).

In the summer of 1842, General Scott divided the Eastern and Western Army Divisions into nine smaller units which effectively reduced Gaines's rank and pay from that of (Brevet) Major General to that of Brigadier General. In a letter to Adjutant General Roger Jones, Gaines criticized Scott for breaking up his Division. Gaines's strong feelings on the matter may be summed up by his statement that "Major General Scott's elevation to a larger command than he ever before had cannot lawfully subject me to the degradation of being reduced to a smaller command than I have at any time since the month of August 1814 been honored with" (April 20, 1843). Ultimately, Gaines was able to retain his rank and pay and was serving in command of the Western Division when he died of cholera on June 6, 1849.

The collection includes six letters by Myra C. Gaines. Her correspondence reveals a politically-minded woman with an active interest in her husband's profession, a resilient plaintiff in her inheritance suits, and a troubled mother. In her letter of September 11, 1846, to her "dear cousin" Colonel J. H. McMahon, Gaines provided a summary of the prevailing political climate, believing that her husband had a chance to succeed in the 1848 Presidential election. She remarked that "the whole City have said to me 'I wish the General would be brought forward for the Presidency we give our votes--and if our wives were permitted they would most cheerfully give theirs.'" She remarked that Polk was in poor standing in Tennessee on account of his unfavorable treatment of her husband. On March 13, 1848, she claimed that Henry Clay told her "that if he runs he will insist that I be put upon his ticket for Vice President - but I think I shall decline - having said I was satisfied." A letter dated January 14, 1842, and an undated letter by Edmund P. Gaines provide additional insight into the independent and self-assured nature of Myra Gaines. In the 1842 letter Edmund Gaines expressed support for his wife's address on the horrors of war and referenced the heroic exploits of Sally Ridley Buchanan, while in his undated letter Gaines requested that Col. McMahon forward a letter to Myra. Anticipating that his recipient would wonder why Gaines did not know the whereabouts of his wife, he explained that she had some difficulties with her travel plans, amplified by the theft of her purse "no doubt by a Black chambermaid, who was the only person in the Ladies Cabin on board the Steam Boat."

Items that mention Myra C. Gaines's inheritance case include a letter to Col. McMahon during a visit to New York City in which Gaines mentioned that she believed her "suit against the vile Executors of my late father in laws Estate" will be decided soon and that although the entire affair has been overwhelmingly difficult at times, she possesses a "light heart--resolved to conquer and to put down all opposition" (November 26, 1846), as well as a letter from an unidentified family friend written in response to a report on the case titled A full report of the great Gaines case, in the suit of Myra Gaines vs. Chew, Relf & others, for the recovery of property of the late Daniel Clark, involving several millions, in which the legitimacy of the plaintiff, is investigated, and her romantic and interesting history developed : including the depositions and documents in the case, the speeches of the lawyers (embracing some of the most eminent talent of the bar of Louisiana and Alabama) and the decision of Judge McCaleb, published by Alexander Walker, editor of the New Orleans Delta newspaper. This unknown "family friend" felt obliged to come to the defense of Gaines's mother, who had been cast in an exceedingly negative light by the report, and to refute numerous other unsubstantiated claims made by Walker that were deemed unfairly critical (April 5, 1850).

The Gaineses' only daughter (from Myra's first marriage), Rhoda, was a source of additional tribulation. In her candid letter of September 22, 1848, Gaines blamed "wicked" persons from her own childhood for Rhoda's troubles and remarked that if she hadn't removed Rhoda from New Orleans "it would have been too late to have saved her." Myra determined that Rhoda would be placed in an institution, "a perfect Military Garrison," where she would remain until she is 20 years old. She also made arrangements for Rhoda to attend Madame Conda's academy as a day scholar.

In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created an item-level collection inventory index: Edmund P. and Myra C. Gaines Papers Collection Inventory.

The Edward R. Mullin, USS Albany in Asia photograph albums consist of three volumes containing images and ephemera that document an American sailor’s experiences aboard a US Navy ship in the Asiatic Fleet from 1919 to 1920.

The Edward R. Mullin, USS Albany in Asia photograph albums consist of three volumes containing images and ephemera that document an American sailor’s experiences aboard a US Navy ship in the Asiatic Fleet from 1919 to 1920.

Volume A: This album (14.5 x 21 cm) contains photographs of scenes in Panama, Hawaii, Japan, Russia, China, California, and the Philippines that mostly depict the USS Albany, American soldiers and sailors, local citizens, and tourist scenes. Numerous ephemeral items compiled by Edward R. Mullin (the album’s creator) from various foreign places are also present, including tickets, stamps, bank notes, and an Asahi beer label. Of note is a “familiar phrases” card for translating English to Japanese. On the inside back cover of the album a handwritten log lists arrivals and departures of the USS Albany, while a typescript description of a military takeover of Vladivostok, Russia, is also included.

Volume B: This album (18 x 26 cm) contains photographs of scenes in Russia and China. Images show American soldiers and sailors exploring sites and interacting with local citizens as well as natural scenery and architecture. Of note are photographs of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in China. Some photos have handwritten captions that identify locations and/or persons pictured

Volume C: This album (20.5 x 29 cm) contains photographs of scenes in Russia, the Philippines, Panama, Japan, China, Hawaii, and California. Of note are photographs of the Panama Canal and some images showing the compiler of the album, Edward R. Mullin. Many photos have handwritten captions. Also present are various types of ephemera including a beer label, tickets, and a fabric poppy flower, as well as a photocopy of Mullin’s service record, a large portrait of the USS Albany in Shanghai, China, and a loose photo of the USS Albany in Vladivostok.

The Flathead Indian Reservation photograph album contains 65 photographs of Native American men, women, and children on the Flathead Indian Reservation and in Missoula, Montana.

The Flathead Indian Reservation photograph album contains 65 photographs of Native American men, women, and children on the Flathead Indian Reservation and in Missoula, Montana.

The album (30 x 26 cm) is a modern three-ring binder with brown faux leather covers. All the album’s images are unmounted snapshots that have been arranged inside plastic album sleeves. The snapshots are mostly either 10 x 7 cm or 10.5 x 16 cm.

The album begins with portraits of Native American individuals taken in the Higgins Block of downtown Missoula, Montana, including two portraits of a Native American man posing with his infant child in a cradleboard as well as an unidentified white man, and four portraits taken outside of “Al Green’s Shaving Parlor.” Other images likely taken in and around Missoula show up elsewhere throughout the album, including several group portraits with a white fence in the background that may possibly have been taken outside the residence of the photographer, Dr. C. W. Lombard. Many photographs also appear to have been taken at the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Images of particular interest include photographs showing Native American individuals and groups (including many families) wearing western and/or traditional clothing, infants in cradleboards, encampment and reservation scenes, and landscape views. While many portraits appear to be quite casual and relatively unscripted, several clearly staged photographs are present including a man and older woman posing with sheep heads, two women (one holding a mirror) combing their hair by a river, and two men playing cards in front of a tipi.

While none of the subjects photographed in this album are identified by captions, an older man appearing in two photographs (one posing with a child on a hobby horse and another posing with a group in downtown Missoula with a child in a hand-pulled wagon) has been identified through research as Baptiste Kakashee, also known as Judge Phte and Kil-Ki-Chee.

The Frost family travel photograph album contains approximately 345 photographs of trips to Florida, the Bahamas, Colorado, Maine, and other locations.

The Frost family travel photograph album contains approximately 345 photographs of trips to Florida, the Bahamas, Colorado, Maine, and other locations.

The album (18 x 29.5 cm) has brown leather covers with "Photographs" stamped in gold on the front. Contents begin with images of Greenwich, Connecticut, and views taken aboard a Clyde steamer heading to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1898. Subsequent images of interest include a couple posing in front of Hotel Ponce de Leon; breaking ground for the Miami Hotel; views of Palm Beach; Fourth of July in the Catskills; and views of New York and Long Island. Also present are images of a trip to Colorado Springs in 1900 including views of the Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak; views of Minneapolis and Duluth in Minnesota (including "Indian Mounds"); a steamer from Duluth to Buffalo; the Great Lakes; the International Hotel in Buffalo; Niagara Falls; several large commercially produced views of Cuba; Frost family headstones in Newcastle and Eliot, Massachusetts; the Pepperrell and Sparhawk houses in Kittery Point, Maine, and Boston; the Pepperrell Tombs; Washington, D.C.; and a trip to Nassau in the Bahamas in 1897.

The Grisson family photograph album contains 31 portraits of men, women, and children taken in Michigan.

The Grisson family photograph album contains 31 portraits of men, women, and children taken in Michigan.

The album (28 x 22 cm) has an ornate design with faux wood paper pages. The first page states "Return to M. L. Grisson Grand Ledge, Mich.," indicating that the album may possibly have belonged to Maybel L. Grisson (1876-1954). Images of note include portraits of a family holding a card photograph and a family posing in front of a house.

The Hubble family scrapbooks consist of two volumes containing trade cards, clipped engravings, and other scrapbook materials compiled by members of the Hubble family of Monroe, Michigan.

The Hubble family scrapbooks consist of two volumes containing trade cards, clipped engravings, and other scrapbook materials compiled by members of the Hubble family of Monroe, Michigan.

Volume 1: The first volume (35 x 25.5 cm) was originally a copy of the 1876-77 Autumn and Winter edition of Mme. Demorest’s Illustrated Portfolio of the Fashions and has red cloth covers and gilt embossing work on the front and back. “Monroe Hubble” is inscribed on the volume’s first page, while “Willie Hubble” is written on the inside of the back cover; both inscriptions appear to be written in a child’s hand. Two engravings by Kimmel & Voigt made for Demorest’s Monthly Magazine appear towards the front and were part of the original volume. Subsequent pages also reveal numerous illustrations and descriptions of various articles of clothing listed in Demorest’s fashion catalog, though much of this has been obscured by scrapbook items that were pasted in. Compiled materials mainly include various trade cards and scrapbook decorations, but also include several engravings showing scenic and rural landscapes, women’s fashions, portraits, and performance artists (including Smith’s Swiss Bell Ringers). Of particular note are Uncle Tom’s Cabin-related illustrations and cartoons involving racial caricatures of an African American regiment called “The South 5th Rangers.”

Volume 2: The second volume (25 x 20 cm) has red paper covers with “Scrapbook” and decorative designs embossed in gold on the front. A photomechanical reproduction of a portrait of N. B. Hubble as an adult appears on the inside of the front cover. Subsequent materials mostly include trade cards and scrapbook decorations, several of which also appear in the first volume. Many of the trade cards were produced by the Calvert Lithograph Co. of Detroit. Items of note include Shakespeare-related cartoons; an ad for “Mme. Fontaine’s Bosom Beautifier” that incorporates a portrait of Oscar Wilde; a photographic portrait of a baby made to look like a stamp; and scrapbook cutouts including one of a black man (likely supposed to be a Haitian soldier) wearing one boot and components of a French Army uniform as well as one of two women embracing and kissing.

The Hugh Fred Cameron photograph album contains approximately 121 photographs related to a young man in New England including images from vacations with friends in Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire as well as snapshots from Cameron’s final year at Brown University in 1909.

The Hugh Fred Cameron photograph album contains approximately 121 photographs related to a young man in New England including images from vacations with friends in Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire as well as snapshots from Cameron’s final year at Brown University in 1909.

The album (25.5 x 18 cm) is bound in green cloth with "Photographs" stamped in gold on the front cover. Most photographs are accompanied by hand-written captions identifying people, places, activities, and dates. Images of particular interest include group portrait photographs showing Cameron with his friends and family posing on the beach, hiking, wearing baseball uniforms, interacting with pet cats and dogs, celebrating Labor Day, and engaging in a number of aquatic activities (including yachting in Bristol, Rhode Island) as well as a portrait of Cameron from his youth sitting alongside the members of the “Hope Orchestra.” Additional photographs show commencement activities and buildings at Brown University including the John Carter Brown Library and Lyman Gymnasium as well as class traditions at Wellesley College including the Alumni Game, Tree Day, and the “Ancient Greek Dance of the Huntresses above Lake Waban.”

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The album (28 x 23.5 cm) has moiré fabric covers with "James S. Galloway" stamped on the front. The title page lists the photographer as J. W. Winder. The majority of images are studio portraits of members of the Class of 1860, most of which include the subjects’ signatures and hometowns. Of note is a portrait of suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), the first woman to both graduate from theological school and become a full-time ordained minister. Also present is an image of the Antioch College campus, three photographs of co-educational classes, and a letter from one of Galloway's classmates describing the Class of 1860’s 50th reunion in 1910 which Galloway did not attend.