S. Homer Dosh writes his thesis, titled "Some Experiments in Taking Transparencies," about developing photographs while a student at Dickinson College.
Professor Charles F. Himes' photograph album from 1893.
Professor Charles F. Himes' photograph album from around 1890.
Alexander Biddle, the patriarch of the collection, was born on April 29, 1819 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas A. Biddle and Christine Williams Biddle. A member of a prominent and wealthy Philadelphia family, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and became a successful lawyer—a profession that ran in his family and would continue in later generations. He married Julia Williams Rush in 1855—the granddaughter of Founding Father Benjamin Rush—which allows for both the Williams and Rush families to be well represented in this collection. It is Alexander, his wife Julia, and his seven children—Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford, that make up a majority of this collection.
The Biddle Family Collection is housed in 11 document boxes. This collection consists primarily of correspondence between both friends and members of the Biddle Family as well as business associates. The collection is centered around Alexander Biddle (April 29, 1819—May 2, 1899), starting with him and progressing into an emphasis on his wife and children (Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford) as well as other family members. The Rush family, via Alexander marrying into it, is also well represented.
These materials are arranged into the following 9 categories: Correspondence, Financial Materials, Legal Materials, Clubs/Societies, Invitations, Animal Business, Ephemera, Miscellaneous, and Photographs. This collection was generously donated by Samuel and Anna D. Moyerman.
The collection consists of the papers of Charles Gilbert Beetem, a Carlisle, PA rug manufacturer, local historian and genealogist, amateur artist, and omnivorous collector. Diaries, manuscripts, letters, advertisements, greeting cards, and extensive runs of Philadelphia and Carlisle turn-of-the-century theater programs are all included in the collection, as well as accounts of Carlisle and Cumberland County history. College memorabilia includes his own drawings for Dickinson's yearbook. The collection also contains the Conodoquinet Yacht Club Archives. Miscellaneous materials include journals and accounts for homes he designed and built as well as those for proposed real estate development in Carlisle. The correspondence reflects Beetem's longtime interest in U. S. island possessions, which is the subject of his large collection of publications and books housed in our library.
The collection contains correspondence, pamphlets, and photographs of Dr. Annie (Wood) Besant (1847-1933), a prominent and revolutionary freethinker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Besant was a Christian wife and mother who later in life became an Atheist doctor and activist. She became active in social reform after her children had been taken from her following her separation from her husband. In her later years Besant moved to India to help champion the cause of home rule in that country. The correspondence consists mainly of letters from Besant to her friends, family, and colleagues in the United States, England, and India. A particularly noteworthy letter is one written to Besant from Mohandas Gandhi. Also included in the collection are pamphlets written by Besant, a stamp from India dedicated to her honor, and several photographs of Besant.
John Black, Jr. (1842-1915) attended Dickinson College between 1858 and 1860, before returning to his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to begin his career as a druggist. During the Civil War, Black served in the 122nd Pennsylvania Volunteers and the 47th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Militia of 1863. This small collection contains some materials documenting his family history, his high school and college experiences, and his military service and resulting pension.
The collection contains materials relating to family life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Ohio. The central figure is Daniel Bowdle (1796-1876), who as a young man moved to Cincinnati and became the successful business man of his family, with real estate and other interests. He aided his less fortunate kin in Talbot County, MD, including making provisions for the old age of James Lloyd, a beloved slave. The letters of William James Bowdle (1834-1876; Class of 1854) reflect student life at Dickinson College; letters of numerous other relatives are supplemented by genealogical notes on the Bowdle Family. Also included are papers on the settlement of the estate of Capt. Patrick Dickey, dated 1806-1841, which involve lands in Ohio and in Mason Co., VA.
This collection contains materials documenting the personal and business lives of George W. Bowman (1809-1887) and his son Harry Leader Bowman (1848-1915). It also documents the death of George's wife and Harry's mother, Ann Leader Bowman (1813-1885).
The photographs series in this collection includes images of family members and Dickinson College students. Several folders contain carte de visites of Dickinson graduates from the Classes of 1867, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1872
The Robert Bridges Papers Collection provides insight into literary works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and reflects Bridges’ long period of work as an editor and literary critic. The collection spans a date range of 1875-1937, with large portions pertaining to the early 1890s and 1900s. The collection is divided into 16 series: Administrative Records, Editorial, Literary Reviews, Prose, Poetry, Drama, Addresses and Speeches, Other Writings, President Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University, Aldine Club, Personal, Images, Biographical Materials, Publications, Photographs, Oversized Photographs, and Artifacts.
A fuller description of each series is provided in the Collection Inventory.
This collection contains 11 images believed to be owned by Brockey (Blackfeet Piegan), also known as Charles Walter Buck, and his first wife, Spyna Deveraux, both of whom attended the Carlisle Indian School. The collection also contains a copy of the Glacier County Chief, in which his extensive obituary is printed. The collection was donated by Tom and Patricia Anderson. Patricia was the great niece of Florence McKenzie, Brockey's second wife.
These photographs about the Carlisle Indian School were acquired by the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections individually and are not part of any larger collection.
The Naomi Greensky Collection has been organized into two sections, Papers and Photographs. Most of the Papers can be categorized as ephemera and reflect extracurricular activities that Naomi participated in while at Carlisle. The papers include dance cards, holiday cards, a commencement program, and materials from Mercer Literary Society. There are also several calling cards or business cards from the Great Northern Railway and Glacier National Park. The Photographs include several postage-stamp sized images taken and developed at Carlisle Indian School’s Leupp Art Studio. The individuals pictured in the photographs are suspected to be students from the school, but most are unidentified. One young woman appears in six photographs – four as a young adult and two as a child – suggesting that she may be Naomi. A young man appears in three of the photographs, and it is likely that this young man is Naomi’s brother, Peter Greensky.
This collection contains a number of items purchased as a group from Robert Rowe in 2017, and includes a number of photographs, artifacts, and documents related to the Carlisle Indian School. The four court martials in this collection are from the year 1904, and include charges against a total of five students. The Ephemera and Publication sections include printed materials related to the Carlisle Indian School, including four schoolbooks used at the school in the 1910s. These books contain marginalia written by students. The photographs included in this collection include the E.A. Seabrook Photograph Album as well as a number of miscellaneous images. The artifacts in this section include a ceramic china dish and three brass buttons off of a school uniform.
Most of the materials in this collection are available online at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.
Images of the Carlisle Indian School held by the Archives and Special Collections.
Marcia Chamberlain was a friend and correspondent of poet Marianne Moore. This collection contains letters exchanged between the two women and other acquaintances, as well as a small amount of writings, photographs, and ephemera.
This collection consists of drafts, letters, manuscripts, notes, financial accounts, and a prospectus for the publication of a book. Specifically, there are lectures and notes on mechanics, as well as drafts for patents on inventions submitted to the Royal Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1850, including an air engine. The collection also includes letters and papers on W. L. Henson's Knitting Machine, plans and contracts for the establishment of railways and public works in India, and photographs of the "New" Lebaudy Airship and Airship Hanger.
This collection contains 39 glass plate negatives, dating from the 1880s, from the studio of John Nicholas Choate. Choate was a photographer based in the town of Carlisle who took thousands of images of Carlisle Indian School students, buildings, and related subjects. The images in this collection are portraits, mostly of single subjects or groups of two people. Some of the images are identified with captions. The negatives in this collection represent unique images which were not prepared for wider commercial sale. As a result, prints of these images are not known to exist.
The images in this collection are available online at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.
Moncure Daniel Conway was born into a southern aristocratic family, but ultimately became one of the nation's leading abolitionists and humanitarians. Conway was a graduate of Dickinson College in 1849 and was trained for the ministry at Harvard Divinity School. The collection consists mainly of correspondence relating to all phases of Conway's career; his student days at Dickinson and at Harvard, his anti-slavery witness, and his pastorate at South Place Chapel in London. His letters reflect his wide acquaintance with leading intellectual and political figures of his day; some of his correspondents include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dr. Annie Besant.
The journal in this collection has been digitized and is available for reading online (see the link for related entries below).
John T. Cuddy (1844-1864) was the son of John and Agnes Cuddy of Carlisle. Not much is known about his early childhood. At the age of 16 he enlisted in a local Pennsylvania regiment as a drummer boy and thus entered the Civil War. The collection consists of correspondence between Cuddy and family back in Carlisle; there are 82 letters or letter fragments in the collection. There are very few gaps in the flow of the correspondence. The last letter is from Cuddy to his parents, dated May 1, 1864, in which he expresses his earnest desire to come home. He would not return home, however; Cuddy was captured by rebel troops at the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864, and subsequently died as a prisoner of war at Florence, South Carolina, on September 29, 1864. Also included are two tintype portraits of Cuddy in uniform.
This collection reflects the three year period in which Andrew Curtin served as minister to Russia, and is arranged in two series: Photograph Albums and Loose Photographs. The albums are housed in one document box, while the loose photographs are housed within the Dickinson College Photograph Collections as PC 2001.21. Because no definitive date has been given for most of these items, the date of the materials has been indicated as c1870. Curtin, Dickinson College Class of 1837, served as "war governor" for Pennsylvania during the Civil War and was appointed minister to Russia following his tenure as governor.
Albert L. Demaree (1894-1964) graduated from Dickinson College in 1923. This collection contains materials from his service in the U.S. Navy during both World Wars, including certificates, medals, and photographs. The collection also includes materials pertaining to his academic credentials as a graduate of Dickinson College, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University.
The collection documents the education and early teaching career of Velva Diven Daihl, class of 1927, and her husband, Sam Daihl. The bulk of the materials pertain to Velva's experiences as a Dickinson student and alumna. Some other items of note include photographs, a scrapbook, and a Daihl family genealogy.
The collection includes various materials gathered by Blanche, Ray, and Miriam Dum, graduates of Dickinson College in 1910, 1911, and 1913, respectively. Examples of the materials include college bills and report cards from the early part of the century, scholastic materials from Carlisle High School, and photographs.