Photographs COLLECTION

 

 

Inventory

 

 

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

 

July 1997

 

 

Contents

 

 

Summary

 

Historical Note

 

Container List

 

List of Known Photographers Represented in the Collection

 

Other Index Terms

 

Procedures for Requesting Special Collections Materials

 

 

 

Summary

 

 

Size:                          9 linear feet

 

Geographic

locations:                 Primarily New Orleans, La.

 

Inclusive dates:      ca. 1850-present

 

Summary:                An artificial collection of photographs, compiled from various sources.

 

Related

collections:              Frank B. Moore Collection (Mss 145); Vieux Carré Photographs Collection (Mss 207); William Hession Collection (Mss 229); New Orleans Views Collection (Mss 235)

 

Source:                     Gifts, purchases

 

Access:                     No restrictions

 

Copyright:                Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

 

Citation:                    Photographs Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

 

 

 

Historical Note

 

 

 

            Photography was brought to New Orleans by Jules Lion, a portrait painter and lithographer, in March 1840.  Just six months before, the daguerreotype process had been introduced in Paris by its originator, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre.  According to Photography in New Orleans: The Early Years, 1840-1865 by Margaret Denton Smith and Mary Louise Tucker (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982), "The early history of photography in the Crescent City was similar to that of many cities in the United States.  There was at first a reaction of total amazement to the daguerreotype; local commentators expressed curiosity and delight in the process that enabled one to create pictures with light" (p. [3]).

 

            An Englishman, Frederick Scott Archer, in 1851 "developed a method of using a light-sensitive collodion emulsion as the medium for creating a negative image.  When the negative was formed upon a glass plate and backed by a dark ground, the image appeared positive.  This unique photograph was called an ambrotype.  When the negative was formed on a thin iron sheet, which had been japanned black or dark brown, it was called a ferrotype or tintype.  This was also a unique image.  Photographs upon glass or common sheet metal were much cheaper to produce than daguerreotypes, which required more precious metals as well as hours of preparation.  But the most important use of the collodion process was for the production of glass negatives from which many paper positives could be made, thus introducing a means of rapid production of inexpensive multiple prints" (p. 5).

 

            "If New Orleans was like other American cities in its enthusiastic acceptance and participation in the development of the photographic processes the first two decades, it was radically different from them in the 1860s.  In 1861 the trend was dramatically reversed by the events and consequences of the Civil War: the blockade of the port, federal occupation and confiscation of property, and finally Reconstruction government.  A tragic decline in private fortunes and quality of life persisted for almost twenty years" (p. 6).

 

            "The war created a shift from an emphasis on leisurely portrait making to a fast turnout of inexpensive images such as the tintype and carte-de-visite, which recorded the faces of the young soldiers and their families as well as the generals of opposing armies.  The carte-de-visite was a small paper photograph, usually 2½ by 4 inches, which was mounted on a card about the size of a visiting card.  It was a French invention, patented in 1854.  Works of this type were mailed by the thousands to loved ones, who placed them in albums as cherished mementoes or popular souvenirs.  The war also contributed to the expanson of the photographer's interests and to commissions beyond the portrait."  Several New Orleans photographers "participated in recording a tragic part of their country's history" (p. 6).

 

            During its first quarter-century, "photography in New Orleans evolved from a one-man artistic endeavor to a business-oriented profession intent on the rapid production of inexpensive prints.  The multiplication character inherent in the paper photographic processes was fully exploited.  The stereo view card became as popular an item as the carte-de-visite, and in 1866 the cabinet portrait was introduced.  This was a print, 4 by 5½ inches, mounted on a card that was 4¼ by 6½ inches.  By 1865 the paper photograph had replaced the unique images of the daguerreotype and ambrotype, and the tintype was in declining use" (p. 7).

 

            "In 1869 several important changes occurred.  A method for retouching the negative rather than the finished print revolutionized the portrait business; the opening of the American West by the railroad companies stimulated an interest in landscape photography and boosted the stereo trade card.  In 1871 a radical change was made by a British physician, Richard L. Maddox, who took the first steps in the development of a gelatin-based negative, which would eventually lead to the production of cameras for the millions.  Photography was then taken out of the exclusive domain of the professional operator, who offered traditional and formal images, and was put into the hands of the amateur who used the camera for personal expression" (p. 7).

 

 

 

Container List

 

Number:                P-1

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Nienaber family tomb, Carrollton Cemetery; probably shortly after Miss Margaret Nienaber's funeral, September 4, 1907 (See Daily Picayune, September 4, 1907, p. 5, col. 6-7)

 

Date:                       Probably September 4, 1907

 

Photographer:     Ernest J. Bellocq, New Orleans

 

Form:                      Print (7" x 9") mounted on paper board (11" x 14")

 

Condition:             Some foxing on print and mount board; corner of mount board chipped

 

Remarks:               See also P-2

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1980

 

 

Number:                P-2

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Nienaber family tomb, Carrollton Cemetery; probably shortly after Miss Margaret Nienaber's funeral, September 4, 1907 (See Daily Picayune, September 4, 1907, p. 5, col. 6-7)

 

Date:                       Probably September 4, 1907

 

Photographer:     Ernest J. Bellocq, New Orleans

 

Form:                      Print (7" x 9") mounted on paper board (11" x 14")

 

Condition:             Some foxing on print and mount board

 

Remarks:               See also P-1.  Lent to New Orleans Museum of Art, Bellocq Exhibition, 1996

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1980

 

 

Number:                P-7

 

Location:               5.2

 

Subject:                 St. Patrick's Day Banquet, St. Charles Hotel

 

Date:                       1910

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (8" x 12") tinted green, mounted on paper board (12" x 15")

 

Condition:             Holes and tears on print and mounting board

 

Remarks:               Printed list of dignitaries on mounting board

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1978

 

 

Number:                P-8

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Group pose with sign "6th Grade | 1907."  McDonogh 23 School?

 

Date:                       1907

 

Photographer:     Teunisson Photo, N.O.LA.

 

Form:                      Print (7¾" x 9_") mounted on paper board (11" x 14")

 

Condition:

 

Remarks:               Dealer reported picture came from same source as photographs P-1 and P-2

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1980

 

 

Number:                P-20

 

Location:               5.2

 

Subject:                 Child in urban winter scene with considerable ice

 

Date:                       ca. 1920s?

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (8" x 10") mounted on paper board (12" x 14")

 

Condition:             Edge of mounting board scuffed

 

Remarks:               Penciled on reverse "Albert Robert | 4713 S. Carrollton Ave."

 

Source:                  Unknown

 

 

Number:                P-21

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Large frame residence in rural community (St. Tammany Parish?)

 

Date:                       1910?

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (7" x 9") with mat (11" x 14")

 

Condition:

 

Remarks:

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1980

 

 

Number:                P-23

 

Location:               5.2

 

Subject:                 Posed group of girls with "Wright High School" banner; school building in rear

 

Date:                       ca. 1920?

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (8" x 10") mounted on paper board (12" x 14")

 

Condition:             Edges broken on mounting board

 

Remarks:               Inscribed on reverse, "High School Class of Lillian Olga Fincke"

 

Source:                  Unknown

 

 

Number:                P-24

 

Location:               5.2

 

Subject:                 Man at controls of motorized wagon parked on Elysian Fields Avenue; Washington Square and Dauphine Street in background

 

Date:                       ca. 1915-1920

 

Photographer:     H. J. Harvey ½ Photo-N.O.

 

Form:                      Print (7" x 10") mounted on paper board (12" x 14")

 

Condition:             Print stained; mounting board stained and corners broken

 

Remarks:               See also P-25; Garland Wagon Company is listed in city directories of 1914 through 1962 at 725 and 731 Elysian Fields Avenue.  Earlier city directories from 1880s to 1914 list Garland family at same address and as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and wagon manufacturers

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1979

 

 

Number:                P-25

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Wagon with name "GARLAND" stenciled on side; Elysian Fields Avenue with railroad tracks, Washington Square, and Dauphine Street in background

 

Date:                       ca. 1915-1920

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (8" x 10") mounted on paper board (12" x 14")

 

Condition:             Print foxed; mounting board cracked with missing corners

 

Remarks:               See also P-24; Garland Wagon Company is listed in city directories of 1914 through 1962 at 725 and 731 Elysian Fields Avenue.  Earlier city directories from 1880s to 1914 list Garland family at same address and as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and wagon manufacturers

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1979

 

 

Number:                P-32

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 St. Patrick's Day Banquet, St. Charles Hotel

 

Date:                       ca. 1905-1915

 

Photographer:     Teunisson

 

Form:                      Print (7¾" x 9½") mounted on paper board (11" x 14")

 

Condition:             Minor scratches on print; mounting board torn with frayed corners and edges

 

Remarks:               Inscribed on reverse in pencil: "I don't know | and I [dont] care"

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1980

 

 

Number:                P-36

 

Location:               3.1

 

Subject:                 Black Civil War soldier identified in accompanying copy of National Archives letter (August 4, 1942) as Jules Dickerson, alias Jules Dixon, Corporal, Company B, 80th United States Colored Volunteer Infantry.  Mr. Jules Edward, a Dickerson descendant, stated that the subject was originally from St. James Parish, Louisiana.

 

Date:                       ca. 1865

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Modern color print (10" x 8") of earlier print tinted by pastel and/or water color

 

Condition:             Good

 

Remarks:

 

Source:                  Gift, 1981

 

 

Number:                P-39

 

Location:               1.1

 

Subject:                 Public market, New Orleans

 

Date:                       ca. 1920s or 1930s

 

Photographer:     Unknown

 

Form:                      Print (4½" x 2¾")

 

Condition:             Some yellowing, corners bent

 

Remarks:

 

Source:                  Purchase, 1982

 

 

Number:                P-40

 

Location:               4.1

 

Subject:                 Interior group scene, "50'TH BIRTHDAY.  R. PELAYO | N.O. FEB 28 .1913."

 

Date:                       February 28, 1913

 

Photographer:     C. L. Franck, 1717 Third St., New Orleans, La.

 

Form:                      Print (8" x 10¼") mounted on card (11" x 14")

 

Condition:             Top corners on card mount broken; minor water stains; some surface dirt

 

Remarks:               Lettered in white on face of print: "50'th BIRTHDAY.  R. PELAYO. | N.O.  FEB 28.1913."  Stamped on reverse: " C. L. Franck, | 1717 THIRD ST. | NEW ORLEANS, LA. | Telephone Jackson [18]72."  New Orleans city directories for 1913 and 1914 list a Rudolph Pelayo, clerk, residing at 2314 Franklin Avenue.

 

Source:                  Purchase

 

 

Number:                P-48

 

Location:               3.2

 

Subject:                 Street scene featuring two-story brick building with sign, "THE M[I]DWAY SALOON.  [C] CRESSIONNIE PROP."  View includes two men, one of whom appears to be the bartender.  Support columns of building's gallery bear signs advertising Louisiana Pilsener Beer, New Orleans Brewing Company.  Building, now demolished, stood on the downtown side of the 400 block of Jackson Avenue