Historical Photograph Collection, Student Photograph Albums 1851-1938 (mostly 1860-1920)

Summary

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Overview

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Abstract

The Student Photograph Albums Series of the Historical Photograph Collection (HPC) contains 163 photographic albums created by Princeton University students. These albums, along with the other photograph collections in the University Archives, help document the experiences of students, faculty, and staff at Princeton University. The albums date from 1851 to 1938, although the bulk date from the 1860s to the 1910s. New accessions are added regularly to the collection.

Description

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Description

Consists photographic albums created by Princeton University students. These albums, along with the other photograph collections in the University Archives, help document the experiences of students, faculty and staff at Princeton University. The albums date from 1851 to 1938, although the bulk date from the 1860s to the 1910s. New accessions are added regularly to the collection.

Collection Creator History

Beginning in the early 1850s students at the College of New Jersey, as Princeton University was then named, began to pose for photographic portraits. Many students then collected these portraits into bound albums to keep as reminders of their classmates and their years at Princeton. Faculty members' portraits were often included as well, and sometimes students collected portraits of staff. Some albums, for instance, contain photographs of university servants. In the first decade of this practice, some students chose to have engravings made rather than photographs, and these were included in the albums. Often the engravings were made from photographic portraits. As a result, some of the early albums include both engravings and photographs.

By the late 1850s it had become common practice for the student body to select and hire a professional photographer to travel to Princeton to take photographs for the class. In addition to each class member, the photographer also photographed faculty, certain staff members (caretakers and servants, for example), student groups and organizations, the campus, and Princeton Borough. The photographer provided students with a list, or catalogue, of photographs he had taken, and the students would select those images they wished to purchase and arrange in an album. Many students must have purchased an album from the photographer, or from the same store in Princeton, for there are many identical albums for the same years in the collection. A number of students kept these lists of photographs and placed them in scrapbooks they assembled to further document their years at Princeton. [For a list and reproductions of these catalogues, see: Historical Subject Files: Photographers. For scrapbooks, see: Scrapbook Collection.

With the introduction of the Kodak box camera in 1888, many students began to take their own photographs to place in albums. Yet while these albums contain many Kodak snapshots, a number of other photographic processes are represented: albumen prints, tintypes, cyanotypes, collodion, and gelatin prints. This variety indicates that, in addition to the Kodak film (which was sent back to the Kodak company to be developed), Princeton students were taking and developing their own photographs on campus; perhaps in the darkrooms in the John C. Green School of Science. At the same time, improvements to the half-tone printing process helped to bring about the rise of the published student yearbook with its professional portraits of students and faculty. These yearbooks in no way replaced the more informal albums. Students continued to create their own, and, if anything, some of these albums became more informal and more creative.

From the very beginning, Princeton students included a great variety of images in their albums. Photographs of fellow students, faculty, and the campus were especially common, but candid shots and posed scenes (or tableaux) in dorm rooms or on campus were also popular subjects. In addition to these images taken at Princeton, a number of students included photographs of subjects taken off campus. For example, a number of albums from the late 1890s and first years of the twentieth century contain photographs of the first modern Olympic games held in Athens in 1896, while others include photographs of friends and relatives, and snapshots from travels. Some albums also include photographs that postdate their creator's Princeton years; while some of these are of Princeton Reunions, other photographs depict family and friends. Fortunately, many of the subjects in these albums are identified with captions or notations, written either at the time the albums were made or later.

Collection History

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Acquisition

The Student Photograph Albums Series of the Historical Photograph Collection is an artificial collection assembled over a period of several decades from many sources. The majority of the albums were sent to the University by alumni or relatives of alumni; some have been removed from other collections in the University Archives.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Melissa Johnson in 2001. Finding aid written by Melissa Johnson in 2001.

Access and Use

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Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the University Archivist. Copyright is held by the Trustees of Princeton University.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Many of the albums in this collection are extremely fragile. Some of the bindings have broken, pages may be loose, and in some cases photographs have become loose. Researchers should use great care when examining them. Please examine only one album at a time, take the albums out of the boxes to look at them, and use padded cushions to support the albums on the desk. Please do not flip through an album; turn pages carefully and one at a time.

Preferred Citation

Historical Photograph Collection, Student Photograph Albums; 1851-1938 (mostly 1860-1920), Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Find More

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Topics

• Princeton University

Subject Terms

• Administration
• Alumni and alumnae
• Anniversaries, etc
• Class reunions
• College students
• Dormitories
• Employees
• Faculty
• History
• Olympic Games én (1st : 1896 : Athens, Greece)
• Princeton (N.J.)
• Princeton University
• Schools
• Social life and customs
• Societies, etc
• Sources
• Sports
• Student housing
• Students
• War work

Genre Terms

• Albumen prints
• Collodion prints
• Cyanotypes
• Gelatin silver prints
• New Jersey
• Photograph albums
• Photographs
• Princeton
• Tintypes

Other Finding Aids

Each album in this series has been catalogued into a database that is searchable on the web at http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/databases/photos.html. Choose “Albums” under “Division” to limit your search to only this collection.

Related Material

Historical Photograph Collection

Campus Life

Grounds & Buildings

Class Photographs

Group Portraits

Reunion Photographs

Individuals

Faculty Photographs

Alumni Photographs

Student Photographers

Stereoscopic Photographs

Cased Images (Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes)

Lake Carnegie Construction Photographs

Kopp/Wanless Glass Plate Negatives

Alan Richards Negatives

John Simpson Photographs

Princeton Alumni Weekly Photographs

Contents and Arrangement

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Arrangement

The Historical Photograph Collection's Student Photograph Albums Series is arranged chronologically by the student's class year or by the year of creation if the student's identity is unknown. Sometimes only an approximate date of creation can be determined, and some dates are followed by a plus sign (e.g., 1859+) indicating that materials date from after this point but that the exact dates are undetermined.

Request Checked Items

	Title	Date	Container
	Class of 1851	1851	Box 1
	Class of 1855	1855	Box 2
	Class of 1855	1855	Box 3
	Class of 1855: William Alexander Fisher	1855	Box 4
	Class of 1855: Theodore McGowan	1855	Box 5
	Class of 1856: Samuel S. Halsey	1856	Box 6
	Class of 1856: William H. Woodward	1856	Box 7
	Class of 1856: George W. Ford	1856	Box 8
	Class of 1856	1856	Box 9
	Class of 1856: David Magie, Jr	1856	Box 10
	Class of 1856	1856	Box 11
	Class of 1856: John Chester (Class of 1851)	1856	Box 12
	Class of 1856: Sidney M. Abbay	1856	Box 13
	Class of 1856: Horace Y. Evans (Class of 1855)	1856	Box 14
	Class of 1859: George W. Ketcham	1859	Box 15
	Class of 1859: Charles Parker Glover	1859	Box 16
	Class of 1859	1859	Box 17
	Class of 1859: Anderson Lalor Brearley	1859	Box 18
	Class of 1859	1859	Box 19
	Class of 1859	1859	Box 20
	Class of 1859: Thomas Jefferson McKaig	1859	Box 21
	1860-1861, circa 1867	1860-1861 circa 1867	Box 21.01
	Class of 1860: Eben J. D. Cross	1860	Box 22
	Class of 1860: Charles E. Green	1860	Box 23
	Class of 1860: Samuel V. McCorkle	1860	Box 24
	Class of 1860	1860	Box 25
	Class of 1861: David R. Frazer	1861	Box 26
	Class of 1861	1861	Box 27
	Class of 1863:Algernon Marcellus	1863	Box 28
	Class of 1863: Lawrence Turnbull	1863	Box 29
	Class of 1863: Rowland Cox	1863	Box 30
	Class of 1863: Henry U. Swinnerton	1863	Box 31
	Class of 1863: William H. Littell	1863	Box 32
	Class of 1863: Robert S. Van Cleve	1863	Box 33
	Class of 1863: Charles H. Potter	1863	Box 34
	Class of 1864: George H. Clark	1864	Box 35
	Class of 1864: Harvey C. Warren	1864	Box 36
	Class of 1864: William Kershaw, Jr	1864	Box 37
	Class of 1864: James Leslie Lupton	1864	Box 38
	Class of 1864	1864	Box 39
	Class of 1865: Charles Freeman Richardson	1865	Box 40
	Class of 1865: James Robbins Schank	1865	Box 41
	Class of 1865: Edward G. Cook	1865	Box 42
	Class of 1865: Archibald McIntire MacMartin	1865	Box 43
	Class of 1865: John Dunbar Hewitt	1865	Box 44
	Class of 1865: Nathan Dickerson Petty	1865	Box 45
	Class of 1865: William F. Shelley	1865	Box 46
	Class of 1865: Theodore A. Leggett	1865	Box 47
	Class of 1866: Addison G. Marr	1866	Box 48
	Class of 1866	1866	Box 49
	Class of 1866: Macomb K. Elmer	1866	Box 50
	Class of 1866: John B. McPherson	1866	Box 51
	Class of 1866: W. Wallace Harris	1866	Box 52
	Class of 1866: Edward Wilder Haines	1866	Box 53
	Class of 1867: Samuel M. Murphy	1867	Box 54
	Class of 1867: John Turner	1867	Box 55
	Class of 1867: Malcolm McMartin	1867	Box 56
	1865	1865	Box 57
	Class of 1868: William B. Scott	1868	Box 58
	Class of 1868: David Hutchinson Mount	1868	Box 59
	Class of 1867: Peter Winter Brakeley	1867	Box 60
	Class of 1868: Walter Cummins	1868	Box 61
	Class of 1868: Benjamin F. Dorrance	1868	Box 62
	Class of 1868	1868	Box 63
	Class of 1868: Stephen Hedges Little	1866	Box 64
	Class of 1868: Chas S. Ryman	1868	Box 65
	Class of 1868: Alpheus Beall McKaig	1868	Box 66
	Class of 1868: Edward A. van Wagenen	1868	Box 67
	Class of 1868: W. C. Rommel	1868	Box 68
	Class of 1869: John E. Fox	1869	Box 69
	Class of 1869: K. Duncan Mellier	1869	Box 70
	Class of 1869: Will S. Lalor	1869	Box 71
	Class of 1870: Adrian Hoffman Joline	1870	Box 72
	Class of 1870: Elias M. Pennington	1870	Box 73
	Class of 1870: John Thomson Mason, Jr	1870	Box 74
	Class of 1870	1870	Box 74.01
	Class of 1870	1870	Box 74.02
	Class of 1871	1871	Box 74.03
	Class of 1872	1872	Box 75
	Class of 1872	1872	Box 76
	Class of 1872	1872	Box 76.01
	Class of 1872	1872	Box 76.02
	Class of 1873	1873	Box 77
	Class of 1873	1873	Box 77.01
	Class of 1873	1873	Box 77.02
	Class of 1874: Robert Sterling Clark	1874	Box 78
	Class of 1876: John F. Duffield	1876	Box 79
	Class of 1879: Philippus W. Miller [album #1]	1879	Box 80
	Class of 1879: Philippus W. Miller [album #2]	1879	Box 81
	Class of 1879: Hiram Woods[album #1]	1879	Box 82
	Class of 1879: Hiram Woods[album #2]	1879	Box 83
	Class of 1879: Theodore Ayers, Jr	1879	Box 84
	Class of 1880: William Miller, Jr	circa 1876-1880	Box 143
	Class of 1881: J. O. H. Pitney	1881	Box 84.01
	Class of 1887	circa 1887	Box 84.02
	Class of 1890: Knowlton Lyman Ames	1890	Box 84.03
	Class of 1888: E. M. Hopkins	1888	Box 85
	Class of 1891: C. E. Rhodes	circa 1890-1891	Box 85.01
	[Class of 1895]	1893-1895	Box 85.02
	Class of 1894: Alex Benson	1894	Box 86
	Class of 1894: Samuel H. Curran	1894	Box 87
	Class of 1894: John Davidson McCord	circa 1894	Box 87.01
	Class of 1894: William Corbit Spruance, Jr	1894	Box 88
	Class of 1894: Herbert J. Fraser	1894	Box 89
	Class of 1895	1895	Box 90
	Class of 1895	1895	Box 91
	Class of 1896: John H. Scheide	1896	Box 92
	Class of 1896: William Sutton Dickson	1896	Box 93
	Class of 1897: Charles Johnston Dunlap	circa 1896-1897	Box 93.01
	Class of 1897: Robert Garrett	1897	Box 94
	Class of 1897: A. W. Jamison	1897	Box 95
	circa 1896-1897	circa 1896-1897	Box 95.01
	Class of 1898: L. Insley Blair, Jr	1898	Box 96
	Class of 1898: Frankland Briggs	1898	Box 97
	Class of 1898: Roy C. Cooper	circa 1898	Box 97.01
	Class of 1899: Marshall Geer	circa 1899	Box 144
	Class of 1899	1899	Box 98
	Class of 1899	1899	Box 99
	Class of 1899: Edwin N. Benson, Jr	1899	Box 100
	1899-1903	1899-1903	Box 100.01
	Princeton and Penn	1890s-1905	Box 100.02
	Class of 1900: Frederick P. King	1900	Box 101
	Class of 1900: Ralph H. Poole	1900	Box 102
	Class of 1901: Calvin Fentress	1901	Box 103
	Class of 1901: Clarence D. Kerr	1901	Box 104
	Class of 1901: H. Alexander Smith	1901	Box 105
	Class of 1902: Samuel H. McVitty	1902	Box 106
	Class of 1902: Henry W. Huston	1902	Box 107
	Class of 1902: Charles Edward Vail	1902	Box 108
	Class of 1902: Charles H. Bradley	circa 1898-1902	Box 108.01
	Class of 1903: Edgar H. Havens	1903	Box 109
	Class of 1903: Robert C. McNamara	1903	Box 110
	Class of 1903: James C. Ames	1903	Box 111
	Class of 1904: Harold P. Baker	1904	Box 112
	Class of 1904: William Alsop Bours	1900-1904	Box 142
	Class of 1904: William R. Stone	1904	Box 113
	Class of 1905: Walter L. Foulke	1905	Box 114
	Class of 1905: Noah R. Brooks	1905	Box 115
	Class of 1906: Wilson Hazard	1906	Box 116
	Class of 1906: Kenneth Sawyer Goodman	1906	Box 117
	Class of 1906: Louis D. Froelick	1906	Box 118
	Class of 1907: Marshal G. Cochran	1907	Box 119
	Class of 1907: David M. Davis	1907	Box 120
	Class of 1907	1903-1907 1932	Box 120.01
	Class of 1908: Charles F. Hosford, Jr	1908	Box 121
	Class of 1909	1909	Box 122
	Class of 1910: Donald B. Sinclair	1910	Box 123
	Class of 1910: L. Walter Stephens	1910	Box 124
	Class of 1912	1912	Box 125
	Class of 1912	1912	Box 126
	Class of 1913	1913	Box 127
	Class of 1913	1913	Box 128
	Class of 1914	1914	Box 129
	Class of 1914	1914	Box 130
	Class of 1917: Evan J. Miller	1913-1914	Box 131
	Class of 1917: Evan J. Miller	1914-1915	Box 132
	Class of 1917: Evan J. Miller	1915-1916	Box 133
	Class of 1917: Evan J. Miller	1916-1917	Box 134
	[Class of 1920]	circa 1916-1920	Box 135
	Class of 1920: Harold Wanless	circa 1920	Box 136
	Album	circa 1929	Box 137
	Class of 1938	1934-1938	Box 138
	Class of 1886	1920s	Box 139
	Class of 1894	circa 1914	Box 140
	Class of 1915: William Wickham Case Harter	1912-1915	Box 141