1
20
31
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bdd3a0bf28770e0559a7d9a990bd9675
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
John A. Barrows Photograph Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Barrows, John A.
Photography - Virginia
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
John A. Barrows joined the staff of the Williamsburg office of Boston architects Perry, Shaw & Hepburn as a draftsman in the early days of the restoration. Remaining with them until his untimely death, Barrows assisted in the restoration of the College of William and Mary's Wren Building, and was involved with design work for the reconstructed Raleigh Tavern, Capitol, and Governor's Palace. In addition to his research and restoration work, John A. Barrows co-authored "The Domestic Colonial Architecture of Tidewater Virginia" with colleague Thomas Waterman.
As part of his field research, Barrows--at the wheel of his 1928 Buick roadster "Lucy"--photographed numerous buildings and plantations throughout the Tidewater region, including sites in the now restored historic area of Williamsburg, Bacon's Castle, Cleve, Carter's Grove, King William Courthouse, Mt. Airy, Mt. Vernon, Rosewell, Stratford Hall, Sabine Hall, Shirley, Little England, the U.S. Capitol, and the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. These photographs form the core of the collection. The John A. Barrows Photograph Collection is an important adjunct to existing groups of photographic documentation for buildings in Williamsburg's historic area and of Virginia architecture.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
Black and white photographs, negatives, postcards, and miscellaneous items of Norfolk native John Alden Barrows (b. ca. 1905, d. 1931), architect for the Colonial Williamsburg Restoration. The photographs--some taken by Barrows, Thomas Waterman, Milton Grigg and others--remain in their original order, which follows a somewhat erratic alphabetical arrangement by site/subject.
The John A. Barrows Photograph Collection contains photoprints, taken mainly in Virginia and South Carolina, negatives, portraits, and personal papers and objects. The Photoprints series comprises the bulk of the collection, numbering close to 800 items. The photos, taken by architect and photographer John A. Barrows, display homes, churches, college buildings, and other structures along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Most of the photos were taken in Virginia and South Carolina, but other locations include New Jersey and Maryland. The prints were made in two sizes, 2.5x4 inches and 5x7 inches. The Negatives series has not been inventoried. John A. Barrows is the subject of the portraits found in the Portraits Series. The five images were all taken at different times. The final series, Personal Papers and Objects, includes some of Barrows' writings as well as memorabilia from trips and celebrations.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Barrows, John A.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1930
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
John A. Barrows Photograph Collection, MS1996.22
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin silver print
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
2.5 x 4 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ampthill: Ballroom Wing
Subject
The topic of the resource
Architecture, Domestic - Virginia - Chesterfield County
Historic buildings - Virginia - Chesterfield County
Plantations - Virginia - Chesterfield County
Description
An account of the resource
Ballroom Wing of Ampthill when in its original location in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Factory smoke stack in the background.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Barrows, John A.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
John A. Barrows Photograph Collection, MS1996.22, Box 1
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Bar-025w (see also 89-1334CN)
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
before 1929
Ampthill
Ballroom Wing
Brickwork
Chesterfield County
Chimneys
Hipped Roofs
John Barrows
Virginia
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26a321468ad13c99eebde8a460f57a0e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Andrew Hepburn Pencil Sketches
Subject
The topic of the resource
Hepburn, Andrew, 1880-1967
Architectural drawings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Sketches - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Biographical Sketch
Andrew Hopewell Hepburn was born in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania on March 6, 1880 to Robert Hopewell Hepburn and Elizabeth Hunt. After attending primary schools in New Jersey and Maryland, he undertook study to prepare for entrance into the Naval Academy at Annapolis but did not receive an appointment. He turned his interests towards architecture and gained admittance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated with an architectural degree in 1904. While at M.I.T., he met Robert E. Lee Taylor, a native of Norfolk, Virginia and a graduate of the University of Virginia. The two worked as colleagues in the office of Harry Morse in Philadelphia. After marrying Beatrice Outram Sturgis in 1907, Hepburn formed a partnership with Taylor in Norfolk, Virginia, where a building boom was predicted to coincide with the Jamestown Tercentennial. The pair collaborated on such projects as the reconstruction of a hospital in Ghent and the Auslow Gallery Building.
When the predicted building boom in Norfolk did not materialize, Hepburn relocated to New York City to join the office of Herbert Hale. He later transferred to the firm of Henry F. Bigelow in Boston and then moved on to work for Guy Lowell until 1914. With the start of the First World War, Hepburn received an appointment from the U. S. Housing Administration to serve as architect for Seaside Village, a housing community in Bridgeport, Massachusetts. During this project, he met Arthur Shurcliff, who served as the landscape architect and would later join him in Williamsburg, Virginia. The end of the war led him to his next project with Albert Farwell Bemis to design inexpensive, prefabricated houses for workmen. After that he formed a partnership with Thomas Mott Shaw, with whom he worked from 1919-1922, and then the two added a third partner, William Graves Perry, to form the firm of Perry, Shaw & Hepburn. Hepburn helped to prepare and deliver some of the firm’s first concept drawings for the restoration of Williamsburg to show to Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and Dr. Lyon G. Tyler. He helped lead the effort to develop a master plan for restoring Williamsburg, Virginia to its colonial appearance.
Scope and Content Note
Andrew Hepburn’s pencil sketches, created between 1927 and 1948, are primarily rapid concept drawings he prepared as a member of the architectural team for various projects that were part of Colonial Williamsburg’s restoration. They encompass perspective sketches, bird’s-eye views, plans, elevations, and details relating to such 18th-century buildings as the Governor’s Palace and St. George Tucker House, and modern structures such as the Williamsburg Inn and the Business Block, later known as Merchants Square.
Reconstruction of the Governor's Palace involved educated guesswork on the part of the architects as they examined archaeological and documentary evidence and then tried to fill in the gaps through study of architectural precedents. One of Hepburn's drawings of the front elevation of the Palace reflects how the architectural team thought it might have appeared prior to the discovery of the Bodleian plate, a copperplate found at the Bodleian Library which included a depiction of the Palace complex. Hepburn also finished studies for the Ballroom Wing and the outbuildings and stable complex.
One of Hepburn's major responsibilities involved creating the original concept sketches for structures that would be part of a new business block at the west end of Duke of Gloucester Street. In order to restore Williamsburg to its eighteenth-century appearance, many business, civic, residential and religious buildings along Duke of Gloucester, Francis, and Nicholson streets had to be re-located. The architects suggested concentrating business activity in a new park and shop complex designed to blend harmoniously with the architectural styles of the buildings being restored. The eleven sketches relating to Merchants Square document his evolving ideas for the complex and range from bird's-eye views of blocks of shops to details of multi-bay windows, doorways, and elevations.
Between 1937-1938, Hepburn traveled to Williamsburg every other week to oversee construction progress on the Williamsburg Inn. His involvement with the project is reflected in ten sketches of both exterior and interior architectural features ranging from fireplaces, doors and windows to the proposed bath house, pediments, colonnades, and entrances.
Together, the set of thirty pencil sketches by Hepburn offer insight into the design process for major eighteenth-century and modern structures that are iconic architectural landmarks for Colonial Williamsburg today.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hepburn, Andrew
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1929-1934
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pencil on paper
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
10 3/4" x 8" inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Ballroom Wing
Description
An account of the resource
Pencil sketch of the Ballroom Wing of the Governor's Palace viewed from the North, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hepburn, Andrew H.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
193212
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
193212
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Andrew Hepburn Pencil Sketches, Drawing #22
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AHH-022 W
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia- Williamsburg
Andrew Hepburn
Ballroom Wing
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Pencil Sketches
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from the Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Nivison, Frank
Black and white photographs
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Domestic - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Frank Reginald Nivison served as a contract photographer for Colonial Williamsburg during the initial restoration of the town between 1930 and 1935. Prior to this, he served as a darkroom assistant at the University Film Foundation at Harvard University. He was hired by the Williamsburg Holding Corp. to take progress photos of construction and restoration work, as well as of buildings to be wrecked or moved. According to a memo issued by architect William G. Perry to Frank Nivison on December 12, 1930, his work was to “…include the photography of all buildings and parts of buildings, exterior and interior, which the architects deem necessary for architectural and historical purposes. Such photographs would be supplemented by progress photographs of construction work as it proceeds. All buildings to be wrecked should be photographed before the wrecking takes place. In addition, there will be photographs of furniture, fabrics, and objects of all kinds.”
Nivison set up a small photographic studio in a room in the Bruton Parish House. His equipment included a Zeiss camera, 5x7 inch, with a F 4.5 lens and a special magazine for cut films, along with a Mitchell tripod with a ball and socket head. His darkroom equipment consisted of an Eastman Auto-focus Enlarger, printing machines, and various accessories such as tanks and scales. Over the course of five years, he took more than 7,000 photographs documenting each stage of the restoration or reconstruction of various 18th-century buildings in Williamsburg. Copies of these photographs were forwarded to the offices of Perry, Shaw, & Hepburn in Boston so that the architects could monitor the progress of various projects. Nivison’s photographs were also used to produce postcards, “before and after” lantern slides, and publicity relating to the restoration of Williamsburg.
By late 1935, Nivison had started taking on a lot of outside photography business and Colonial Williamsburg officials felt he should establish himself as an independent photographer. Nivison’s employment with Colonial Williamsburg terminated on July 1, 1935. However, Colonial Williamsburg continued to utilize his services on an as needed basis and assisted him in setting up his own business in Williamsburg. Unfortunately, Nivison did not attract enough outside commissions to enable him to operate independently and filed for bankruptcy in 1937. He applied to Colonial Williamsburg for a monthly retainer fee for his periodic services and was given $100.00 per month to draw upon in 1938. With the advent of World War II, Nivison moved back to Massachusetts in 1940.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin silver print
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8 x 10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace Under Reconstruction
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
View looking across the C&O railroad tracks towards the ballroom wing of the Governor's Palace under reconstruction, Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1930s.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Nivison, Frank
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1930s
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
Circa 1930s
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N5178
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
C & O Railroad
Frank Nivison
Governor's Palace
Restoration Progress
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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31233a4254169548c3c7e61e831e33b9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from the Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Nivison, Frank
Black and white photographs
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Domestic - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Frank Reginald Nivison served as a contract photographer for Colonial Williamsburg during the initial restoration of the town between 1930 and 1935. Prior to this, he served as a darkroom assistant at the University Film Foundation at Harvard University. He was hired by the Williamsburg Holding Corp. to take progress photos of construction and restoration work, as well as of buildings to be wrecked or moved. According to a memo issued by architect William G. Perry to Frank Nivison on December 12, 1930, his work was to “…include the photography of all buildings and parts of buildings, exterior and interior, which the architects deem necessary for architectural and historical purposes. Such photographs would be supplemented by progress photographs of construction work as it proceeds. All buildings to be wrecked should be photographed before the wrecking takes place. In addition, there will be photographs of furniture, fabrics, and objects of all kinds.”
Nivison set up a small photographic studio in a room in the Bruton Parish House. His equipment included a Zeiss camera, 5x7 inch, with a F 4.5 lens and a special magazine for cut films, along with a Mitchell tripod with a ball and socket head. His darkroom equipment consisted of an Eastman Auto-focus Enlarger, printing machines, and various accessories such as tanks and scales. Over the course of five years, he took more than 7,000 photographs documenting each stage of the restoration or reconstruction of various 18th-century buildings in Williamsburg. Copies of these photographs were forwarded to the offices of Perry, Shaw, & Hepburn in Boston so that the architects could monitor the progress of various projects. Nivison’s photographs were also used to produce postcards, “before and after” lantern slides, and publicity relating to the restoration of Williamsburg.
By late 1935, Nivison had started taking on a lot of outside photography business and Colonial Williamsburg officials felt he should establish himself as an independent photographer. Nivison’s employment with Colonial Williamsburg terminated on July 1, 1935. However, Colonial Williamsburg continued to utilize his services on an as needed basis and assisted him in setting up his own business in Williamsburg. Unfortunately, Nivison did not attract enough outside commissions to enable him to operate independently and filed for bankruptcy in 1937. He applied to Colonial Williamsburg for a monthly retainer fee for his periodic services and was given $100.00 per month to draw upon in 1938. With the advent of World War II, Nivison moved back to Massachusetts in 1940.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin silver print
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8 x 10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace Gardens
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Progress photograph looking across the newly planted maze towards the formal gardens at the Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1935.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Nivison, Frank
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
05151935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
05151935
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N5325
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
Frank Nivison
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Mazes
Restoration Progress
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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07a8e6b6cf04a3ab3d1d645c594eaa01
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from the Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Nivison, Frank
Black and white photographs
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Domestic - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Frank Reginald Nivison served as a contract photographer for Colonial Williamsburg during the initial restoration of the town between 1930 and 1935. Prior to this, he served as a darkroom assistant at the University Film Foundation at Harvard University. He was hired by the Williamsburg Holding Corp. to take progress photos of construction and restoration work, as well as of buildings to be wrecked or moved. According to a memo issued by architect William G. Perry to Frank Nivison on December 12, 1930, his work was to “…include the photography of all buildings and parts of buildings, exterior and interior, which the architects deem necessary for architectural and historical purposes. Such photographs would be supplemented by progress photographs of construction work as it proceeds. All buildings to be wrecked should be photographed before the wrecking takes place. In addition, there will be photographs of furniture, fabrics, and objects of all kinds.”
Nivison set up a small photographic studio in a room in the Bruton Parish House. His equipment included a Zeiss camera, 5x7 inch, with a F 4.5 lens and a special magazine for cut films, along with a Mitchell tripod with a ball and socket head. His darkroom equipment consisted of an Eastman Auto-focus Enlarger, printing machines, and various accessories such as tanks and scales. Over the course of five years, he took more than 7,000 photographs documenting each stage of the restoration or reconstruction of various 18th-century buildings in Williamsburg. Copies of these photographs were forwarded to the offices of Perry, Shaw, & Hepburn in Boston so that the architects could monitor the progress of various projects. Nivison’s photographs were also used to produce postcards, “before and after” lantern slides, and publicity relating to the restoration of Williamsburg.
By late 1935, Nivison had started taking on a lot of outside photography business and Colonial Williamsburg officials felt he should establish himself as an independent photographer. Nivison’s employment with Colonial Williamsburg terminated on July 1, 1935. However, Colonial Williamsburg continued to utilize his services on an as needed basis and assisted him in setting up his own business in Williamsburg. Unfortunately, Nivison did not attract enough outside commissions to enable him to operate independently and filed for bankruptcy in 1937. He applied to Colonial Williamsburg for a monthly retainer fee for his periodic services and was given $100.00 per month to draw upon in 1938. With the advent of World War II, Nivison moved back to Massachusetts in 1940.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin silver print
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8 x 10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Installation of Governor's Palace Gardens
Description
An account of the resource
Progress photo workmen beginning to plant shrubs in the formal garden located behind the Governor's Palace ballroom wing in Williamsburg, Virginia, early 1930s.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Nivison, Frank
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1930s
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
Circa 1930s
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Frank Nivison Photograph Collection
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N4134
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Ballroom Wing
Frank Nivison
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Restoration
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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63835067b569f1666da7ea9e0637b0d3
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard Garrison Photography Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Garrison, Richard
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architectural photographs - 1930-1940
Williamsburg (Va.)--History
Description
An account of the resource
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Richard Garrison was a New York photographer with a studio at 52 Vanderbilt Avenue in New York City. His architectural photographs appeared regularly in such magazines as "House Beautiful," "American Art and Architecture," "Architectural Record," and "House & Garden." According to a recommendation written by Mr. Frederic C. Hirons, Garrison “…was trained as an architect and …knows the vital points in taking architectural photographs…”
After F.S. Lincoln’s photography contract expired in 1937, Colonial Williamsburg hired Richard Garrison in his place. A contract signed by Garrison in June 1937 indicates that Garrison was contracted to be available when requested to photograph exterior and interior views of buildings between June 15, 1937 and June 14, 1938. Colonial Williamsburg renewed this agreement with Garrison in 1938 and 1939.
Colonial Williamsburg staff members asked Garrison to create a master collection of official photos of Colonial Williamsburg buildings and gardens. He was given several lists of suggested views to take of the exterior and interior of the Governor’s Palace, the Capitol, the Raleigh Tavern, the Public Gaol, the Wren Building, Market Square Tavern, and the Travis House. The lists also instructed him to photograph various gardens and street scenes in the historic area, as well as shops in the business block and exterior views of the Williamsburg Inn. Some of Garrison’s photos formed part of the Virginia exhibit at the New York World’s Fair in 1939.
Richard Garrison joined the Navy in 1942 and closed his office for the duration of World War II. During this period, his negative files were made available to Colonial Williamsburg at the offices of Underwood & Underwood in New York City. Garrison received his discharge from the Navy in 1946 and contacted Colonial Williamsburg about the possibility of additional contract work. The photographer presented Kenneth Chorley, President of Colonial Williamsburg, with a proposal to photograph the interiors of private homes within the historic area. Mr. Chorley vetoed the proposal because he felt the private interiors were not accurately restored and would confuse the public as to the objectives of the restoration work. Other Colonial Williamsburg staff members were more enthusiastic about the proposal, but it was never approved. Therefore, Garrison did not perform any more contract photography for Colonial Williamsburg after World War II.
Scope and Contents
The Richard Garrison Photo Collection consists of one portfolio of black and white and hand-colored photos ranging in size from 8x10 to 11x14. These are the only known Garrison photos in the Foundation’s photo archives. The whereabouts of the other negatives and prints created by Garrison while under contract to Colonial Williamsburg are unknown.
Although it is unfortunate that only a small portion of Garrison’s photographic work for Colonial Williamsburg has been preserved, this small portfolio provides a sample of the types of photographs he created. The subject matter includes interior views of the Governor’s Palace, George Wythe House, Market Square Tavern, and the Raleigh Tavern; exterior views of the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Public Gaol, Courthouse, Ludwell-Paradise House, Ayscough Shop, Palmer House, Travis House, Pitt Dixon House, Coke-Garrett House, and the Williamsburg Inn; and various unidentified garden scenes. Some of the photos are mounted on board and signed by the photographer. They date from the period of 1937-1939, when Garrison worked on a contract basis for Colonial Williamsburg.
Garrison's photographs of Colonial Williamsburg appeared in an exhibit at the Pedac Galleries at Rockefeller Center and also in the publication "Williamsburg, Virginia: A Brief Study in Photographs" published in 1939 by Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Garrison, Richard
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin silver print
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8 x 10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Rear View of Governor's Palace
Subject
The topic of the resource
Garrison, Richard
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03A.
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Hand-colored photograph of rear view of the Ballroom Wing of the Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1930's
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Garrison, Richard
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1930's
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
Circa 1930's
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Richard Garrison Photography Collection, AV-1998.14, Box 3, Folder 2
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Garr-017A (Hand-colored)
Garr-017B (B&W)
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Balconies
Ballroom Wing
Boxwood
Brickwork
Chimneys
Coats of Arms
Cornices
Cupolas
Door Surrounds
Dormers
Governor's Palace
Pediments. Gardens
Public Buildings
Richard Garrison
Twelve Apostles
Urns
Virginia
Weathervances
Williamsburg
-
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4d1953aa0fd1e15ad960f4153d6aff83
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slide Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Hornbeck, Peter - 1936-1998
Williamsburg (Va.)--History.
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Mr. Peter Hornbeck, a renowned Landscape Architect and Harvard professor, assembled this collection of lantern slides produced between the late 1930s and early 1940s. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Peter Hornbeck managed the landscape architecture firm of Hornbeck Associates in North Andover, Massachusetts during the 1950s. He became a faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1963 and taught courses focusing upon historic landscape preservation and city planning.. These lantern slides served as visual aids during lectures he gave about the Williamsburg Restoration and eighteenth-century garden history. The lantern slides encompass a variety of images of Williamsburg available commercially from A.D. Handy, F.S. Lincoln, Eldredge Studio, and the National Geographic Society. They also include some images of historic homes and gardens in other parts of Virginia and in Great Britain.
This collection is significant as a record of how landscape architects were interpreting and presenting eighteenth-century garden history during the 1930s and 1940s. It also provides a visual record of Williamsburg buildings and gardens before, during, and after the restoration work undertaken in the early 1930s. In addition, the collection documents how the Williamsburg Restoration publicized its work through commercial slide sets. For example, Mr. F.S. Lincoln, a New York photographer hired to compile a photographic portfolio of restored Williamsburg buildings for a special issue of the "Architectural Record" in 1935, also created colorized lantern slides of his photos for sale in Williamsburg shops. The Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slide Collection contains numerous examples of these early souvenir images.
A precursor of 35mm slides, lantern slides are large format positive transparencies, usually 3.25 x 4 inches, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Many were hand-colored. A projector allowed the slides to be viewed on a wall or screen. Instead of automatically advancing from one slide to the next, the lantern slides had to be manually placed into a slot on the projector.
Invented in 1848, lantern slides evolved from those associated with magic lanterns in the late nineteenth-century to the format represented in this collection. Between 1848-1870, oil lamps served as the light source for magic lantern projectors. By the 1890s, the carbon arc lamp offered a better lighting method. The introduction of electricity in the twentieth-century allowed the projection of lantern slides to become common in schools and universities. Lantern slides became obsolete in the 1950s when the Kodachrome three-color process brought about the introduction of 35mm slides.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Lantern Slide
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
3.25 x 4 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace Gardens and Maze
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slides Collection, AV-2000.9, Box 3
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
HLS-117
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Description
An account of the resource
View looking from the maze across the formal garden towards the Ballroom Wing of the Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1935.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Circa 1935
Ballroom Wing
Brick Walls
Chimneys
Cupolas
Dormers
Gardens
Glass Transparencies
Governor's Palace
Lantern Slides
Maze
Peter Hornbeck
Public Buildings
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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9a7f639b25f240d57af036a46fb3797b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slide Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Hornbeck, Peter - 1936-1998
Williamsburg (Va.)--History.
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Mr. Peter Hornbeck, a renowned Landscape Architect and Harvard professor, assembled this collection of lantern slides produced between the late 1930s and early 1940s. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Peter Hornbeck managed the landscape architecture firm of Hornbeck Associates in North Andover, Massachusetts during the 1950s. He became a faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1963 and taught courses focusing upon historic landscape preservation and city planning.. These lantern slides served as visual aids during lectures he gave about the Williamsburg Restoration and eighteenth-century garden history. The lantern slides encompass a variety of images of Williamsburg available commercially from A.D. Handy, F.S. Lincoln, Eldredge Studio, and the National Geographic Society. They also include some images of historic homes and gardens in other parts of Virginia and in Great Britain.
This collection is significant as a record of how landscape architects were interpreting and presenting eighteenth-century garden history during the 1930s and 1940s. It also provides a visual record of Williamsburg buildings and gardens before, during, and after the restoration work undertaken in the early 1930s. In addition, the collection documents how the Williamsburg Restoration publicized its work through commercial slide sets. For example, Mr. F.S. Lincoln, a New York photographer hired to compile a photographic portfolio of restored Williamsburg buildings for a special issue of the "Architectural Record" in 1935, also created colorized lantern slides of his photos for sale in Williamsburg shops. The Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slide Collection contains numerous examples of these early souvenir images.
A precursor of 35mm slides, lantern slides are large format positive transparencies, usually 3.25 x 4 inches, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Many were hand-colored. A projector allowed the slides to be viewed on a wall or screen. Instead of automatically advancing from one slide to the next, the lantern slides had to be manually placed into a slot on the projector.
Invented in 1848, lantern slides evolved from those associated with magic lanterns in the late nineteenth-century to the format represented in this collection. Between 1848-1870, oil lamps served as the light source for magic lantern projectors. By the 1890s, the carbon arc lamp offered a better lighting method. The introduction of electricity in the twentieth-century allowed the projection of lantern slides to become common in schools and universities. Lantern slides became obsolete in the 1950s when the Kodachrome three-color process brought about the introduction of 35mm slides.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Lantern Slide
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
3.25 x 4 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Williamsburg, Virginia
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slides Collection, AV-2000.9, Box 3
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
HLS-115
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Lincoln, F.S.
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Museum docents - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Exterior of the Governor's Palace, north facade, viewed from behind the Palace, 1935. In the foreground, standing along the central path of the Palace's formal gardens, are three female costumed interpreters (once called "hostesses"), dressed in gowns and holding flowers. The gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens. The ballroom wing of the Palace, featured in the background, was built as an addition during the 1750s. Above its rear doors, a painted carving of the royal coat of arms is mounted within a pedimented gable
Ballroom Wing
Boxwood
Coats of Arms
Costumed Interpreters
Cupolas
Dentils
Dormer Windows
F.S. Lincoln
Gardens
Glass Transparencies
Governor's Palace
Lantern Slides
Lead Vases
Museum Docents
Pediments
Peter Hornbeck
Urns
Virginia
Weathervanes
Williamsburg
-
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604cdb258d9bed8ef8624bfee48e73ac
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from the Postcard Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The Postcard Collection housed at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library consists of postcards of Williamsburg and surrounding areas dating from the late 19th-century to the present. It includes examples of early postcards of the town prior to its restoration by John D. Rockefeller Jr. In addition, it encompasses many examples of official postcards produced by Colonial Williamsburg for tourists. A smaller number of postcards of neighboring historic sites, such as Jamestown and Yorktown, are also present.
The selections included here are primarily vintage postcards of Colonial Williamsburg and surrounding tourist attractions ranging in date from 1898 to the 1950s. Early cards in the collection illustrate a range of common postcard types and reproduction techniques. The history of the postcard's development as a souvenir, as well as the growth of tourism in Williamsburg, can be traced via Colonial Williamsburg's Postcard Collection.
During what is known as the Pioneer Era from 1870-1898, the first form of postcard, featuring an illustration on one side and an undivided back on the other, did not allow the sender to include a note, unless it was written across a portion of the image on the front. The majority of pioneering postcard formats served as advertisements up until the 1893 Columbia Exposition, when postcards first appeared as souvenirs for Exposition visitors to purchase.
The Private Mailing Card Era from 1898-1901 is characterized by cards printed with the notice "Private Mailing Card Authorized by Act of Congress on May 19, 1898." Backs of the cards remained undivided and purchasers could mail the cards for a cost of one cent. Several examples of postcards from this era are present in the collection. They include some of the earliest instances of souvenir cards created to promote Williamsburg historic sites, such as the Courthouse, Bruton Parish Church, the Powder Magazine, and the Capitol site. European rather than American printers created many of these postcards due to their superb skills. Chromo-lithograph cards of this era exhibit extremely rich colors.
By the time the Jamestown Exposition took place in 1907, postcard production had entered the Divided Back Era, which continued until 1915. Modified postcard backs offered a segment on the left side for senders to pen a brief message. Production of cards gradually shifted to more American printers. The Jamestown Exposition provided a strong impetus for promotion of other historic sites that attendees might also stop at along the way. A series of postcards commemorating Williamsburg area historic sites in conjunction with the 1907 celebration are excellent examples of very early divided back cards.
The Early Modern Era between 1916-1930 led to an increase in production of souvenir cards relating to the Williamsburg area. One type of format popular in this period is the "White Border Card" characterized by a view surrounded with a white border. Real photo cards also began to appear that featured photographs, rather than prints, of local surroundings. In the era before Colonial Williamsburg operated official gift shops, tourists counted on the Cole News Shop as their source for maps, postcards, travel guides, and souvenirs. Mr. Henry Dennison Cole served as the proprietor. His business stood on the site of the present day Taliaferro-Cole Shop. He produced his own postcards of historic sites in the area being restored by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and other groups of preservation minded citizens. Several examples of cards published by the Cole Shop can be found in the collection and offer a glimpse of attractions popular with early 20th-century tourists, such as the old Masonic Hall and Custis Kitchen.
Once Colonial Williamsburg opened a core group of exhibition buildings to the public in the early 1930s, a new era dawned in which the museum began production of official postcards as souvenirs for visitors. Photographs by F.S. Lincoln, an architectural photographer hired on a contract basis in 1935 to take some of the first promotional photos of Colonial Williamsburg exhibition buildings, appeared on a number of real photo postcards issued in the late 1930s. Both examples of postcards bearing his photos, as well as his actual photograph collection, reside at the Rockefeller Library.
The Albertype Company of Brooklyn, New York, produced one of the earliest official postcard series highlighting Colonial Williamsburg exhibition buildings, costumed interpreters, Williamsburg Inn and Lodge, and Merchants Square. In addition to holding numerous examples of Albertype cards, the Rockefeller Library also houses the corresponding photographic prints used to generate the postcards. Albertype cards are characterized by sepia toned images that show exterior and interior views of exhibition buildings, as well as some of the earliest scenes of African Americans in costume demonstrating colonial cooking techniques.
For further information about Williamsburg postcards, please consult:
Preacher, Kristopher J. "Williamsburg in Vintage Postcards." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Reisweber, Kurt. "Williamsburg in Old Post Cards." Colonial Williamsburg XXI, No.2, (June/July 1999): 52-57.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Postcards - Virginia - Williamsburg
Souvenirs (Keepsakes) - Virginia - Williamsburg - Pictorial works
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
3.5 x 5.5 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ballroom Garden, Governor's Palace
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03A.
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Postcards - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Recto of an official Colonial Williamsburg postcard illustrated with a view looking down from the Governor's Palace cupola on the formal garden behind the Ballroom Wing.
The card offers a view of the formal gardens behind the Governor's Palace, flanking one side of the Ballroom Wing. These gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens. Near the top of the photo, a pleached hornbeam arbor is visible to the left. Just beyond the arbor is a small structure built into the garden wall that served as a privy (necessary).
The caption reads: "In 1724, the Reverend Hugh Jones wrote of the Governor's Palace 'a magnificent Structure, built at the public Expense, finished and beautified with Gates, fine Gardens, Offices, Walks, a fine Canal, Orchards &c.' The Palace, its dependencies, and gardens have been reconstructed to their original appearance."
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Colonial Williamsburg inc.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
ca. 1950s
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Postcard Collection
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AVPC-253-R
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Garden
Ballroom Wing
Boxwoods
Fruit Trees
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Hedges
Necessaries
Parterres
Pleached Hornbeams
Postcards
Privies
-
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1d849f0d98b196eef897bfc82c5b2b86
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from the Postcard Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The Postcard Collection housed at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library consists of postcards of Williamsburg and surrounding areas dating from the late 19th-century to the present. It includes examples of early postcards of the town prior to its restoration by John D. Rockefeller Jr. In addition, it encompasses many examples of official postcards produced by Colonial Williamsburg for tourists. A smaller number of postcards of neighboring historic sites, such as Jamestown and Yorktown, are also present.
The selections included here are primarily vintage postcards of Colonial Williamsburg and surrounding tourist attractions ranging in date from 1898 to the 1950s. Early cards in the collection illustrate a range of common postcard types and reproduction techniques. The history of the postcard's development as a souvenir, as well as the growth of tourism in Williamsburg, can be traced via Colonial Williamsburg's Postcard Collection.
During what is known as the Pioneer Era from 1870-1898, the first form of postcard, featuring an illustration on one side and an undivided back on the other, did not allow the sender to include a note, unless it was written across a portion of the image on the front. The majority of pioneering postcard formats served as advertisements up until the 1893 Columbia Exposition, when postcards first appeared as souvenirs for Exposition visitors to purchase.
The Private Mailing Card Era from 1898-1901 is characterized by cards printed with the notice "Private Mailing Card Authorized by Act of Congress on May 19, 1898." Backs of the cards remained undivided and purchasers could mail the cards for a cost of one cent. Several examples of postcards from this era are present in the collection. They include some of the earliest instances of souvenir cards created to promote Williamsburg historic sites, such as the Courthouse, Bruton Parish Church, the Powder Magazine, and the Capitol site. European rather than American printers created many of these postcards due to their superb skills. Chromo-lithograph cards of this era exhibit extremely rich colors.
By the time the Jamestown Exposition took place in 1907, postcard production had entered the Divided Back Era, which continued until 1915. Modified postcard backs offered a segment on the left side for senders to pen a brief message. Production of cards gradually shifted to more American printers. The Jamestown Exposition provided a strong impetus for promotion of other historic sites that attendees might also stop at along the way. A series of postcards commemorating Williamsburg area historic sites in conjunction with the 1907 celebration are excellent examples of very early divided back cards.
The Early Modern Era between 1916-1930 led to an increase in production of souvenir cards relating to the Williamsburg area. One type of format popular in this period is the "White Border Card" characterized by a view surrounded with a white border. Real photo cards also began to appear that featured photographs, rather than prints, of local surroundings. In the era before Colonial Williamsburg operated official gift shops, tourists counted on the Cole News Shop as their source for maps, postcards, travel guides, and souvenirs. Mr. Henry Dennison Cole served as the proprietor. His business stood on the site of the present day Taliaferro-Cole Shop. He produced his own postcards of historic sites in the area being restored by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and other groups of preservation minded citizens. Several examples of cards published by the Cole Shop can be found in the collection and offer a glimpse of attractions popular with early 20th-century tourists, such as the old Masonic Hall and Custis Kitchen.
Once Colonial Williamsburg opened a core group of exhibition buildings to the public in the early 1930s, a new era dawned in which the museum began production of official postcards as souvenirs for visitors. Photographs by F.S. Lincoln, an architectural photographer hired on a contract basis in 1935 to take some of the first promotional photos of Colonial Williamsburg exhibition buildings, appeared on a number of real photo postcards issued in the late 1930s. Both examples of postcards bearing his photos, as well as his actual photograph collection, reside at the Rockefeller Library.
The Albertype Company of Brooklyn, New York, produced one of the earliest official postcard series highlighting Colonial Williamsburg exhibition buildings, costumed interpreters, Williamsburg Inn and Lodge, and Merchants Square. In addition to holding numerous examples of Albertype cards, the Rockefeller Library also houses the corresponding photographic prints used to generate the postcards. Albertype cards are characterized by sepia toned images that show exterior and interior views of exhibition buildings, as well as some of the earliest scenes of African Americans in costume demonstrating colonial cooking techniques.
For further information about Williamsburg postcards, please consult:
Preacher, Kristopher J. "Williamsburg in Vintage Postcards." Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Reisweber, Kurt. "Williamsburg in Old Post Cards." Colonial Williamsburg XXI, No.2, (June/July 1999): 52-57.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Postcards - Virginia - Williamsburg
Souvenirs (Keepsakes) - Virginia - Williamsburg - Pictorial works
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Postcard
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
3.5 x 5.5 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Governor's Palace
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03A.
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Postcards - Virginia - Williamsburg
Albertype Co.
Description
An account of the resource
Recto and verso of postcard depicting the rear elevation and ballroom wing of the Governor's Palace as viewed through a pleached arbor in the formal garden. This card is part of a series featuring photos taken by the Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, New York, for production of 1930s Colonial Williamsburg postcards. John A. Luttrell of Williamsburg, Virginia, published the card.
The caption reads: "A view of the pleached arbors in the extensive gardens which have been designed in completing the reconstruction of the Governor's Palace as one of the most important places of historic interest in Williamsburg."
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Albertype Co.
John A. Luttrell, publisher
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
ca. late 1930s
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Postcard Collection
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AV-1996-36-71
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Advance Buildings
Albertype Company
Arbors
Balconies
Ballroom Wing
Benches
Brick Pathways
Chimneys
Cornices
Cupolas
Dormer Windows
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Hedges
Pediments
Pleached Hornbeams
Postcards
Royal Coats of Arms
Topiary
Trees
Urns
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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a7356c8db166f633309c3378e024fcd5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Company Lantern Slides
Description
An account of the resource
Produced by the Pacific Stereopticon Company of Los Angeles, this collection of forty-five lantern slides depicts individuals involved in the restoration of Williamsburg, as well as some of the restored buildings. The slides are a mixture of black and white and color images taken by various photographers in the late 1930s. Many are copies based upon photos taken by contract professionals hired to document the appeal of the architecture and landscapes of Colonial Williamsburg. Several of the black and white slides are derived from photos taken by noted architectural photographer F.S. Lincoln, whose collection is also available for viewing on this site.
The lantern slides are significant because they document early efforts to publicize the newly opened museum. California architect Reginald Davis Johnson utilized the set to lecture to students and colleagues about the massive efforts undertaken to bring Williamsburg's historic district back to its 18th-century appearance. Noted for his contributions to the development of the Spanish-Southern California architecture of Santa Barbara, Reginald Davis Johnson resided in Pasadena and operated an architectural design studio. Some of his best known projects include the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel, the Santa Barbara Post Office, and the Harbor Hills, Rancho San Pedro, and Baldwin Hills communities in Los Angeles.
A precursor of 35mm slides, lantern slides are large format positive transparencies, usually 3.25 x 4 inches, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Many were hand-colored. A projector allowed the slides to be viewed on a wall or screen. Instead of automatically advancing from one slide to the next, the lantern slides had to be manually placed into a slot on the projector.
Invented in 1848, lantern slides evolved from those associated with magic lanterns in the late 19th-century to the format represented in this collection. Between 1848-1870, oil lamps served as the light source for magic lantern projectors. By the 1890s, the carbon arc lamp offered a better lighting method. The introduction of electricity in the 20th-century allowed the projection of lantern slides to become common in schools and universities. Lantern slides became obsolete in the 1950s when the Kodachrome three-color process brought about the introduction of 35mm slides.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Co.
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Johnson, Reginald Davis, 1882-1952
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
ca. 1935
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Lantern slide
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
2 x 3 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Coat of Arms on the Governor's Palace
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Hand-colored lantern slide featuring a photo taken by F.S. Lincoln in 1935 of the royal coat of arms on the pediment of the Governor's Palace ballroom wing. It is the forty-fifth slide in a set produced by the Pacific Stereopticon Co. of Los Angeles, California, now defunct, to illustrate the story of Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin's dream to restore a portion of Williamsburg, Virginia to its 18th-century appearance as a shrine to early American ideals.
The slide shows the exterior of the Governor's Palace, north facade, featuring the rear entrance and ballroom wing of the building. The ballroom wing was built as an addition during the 1750s. Above its doors, a painted carving of the royal coat of arms is mounted within a pedimented gable.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Pacific Stereopticon Company
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSC-045
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Ballroom Wing
Brickwork
Coats of Arms
Dentils
F.S. Lincoln
Governor's Palace
Lantern Slides
Pacific Stereopticon Company
Pediments
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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5bba04380c73140b6079edacf9fcdc27
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Company Lantern Slides
Description
An account of the resource
Produced by the Pacific Stereopticon Company of Los Angeles, this collection of forty-five lantern slides depicts individuals involved in the restoration of Williamsburg, as well as some of the restored buildings. The slides are a mixture of black and white and color images taken by various photographers in the late 1930s. Many are copies based upon photos taken by contract professionals hired to document the appeal of the architecture and landscapes of Colonial Williamsburg. Several of the black and white slides are derived from photos taken by noted architectural photographer F.S. Lincoln, whose collection is also available for viewing on this site.
The lantern slides are significant because they document early efforts to publicize the newly opened museum. California architect Reginald Davis Johnson utilized the set to lecture to students and colleagues about the massive efforts undertaken to bring Williamsburg's historic district back to its 18th-century appearance. Noted for his contributions to the development of the Spanish-Southern California architecture of Santa Barbara, Reginald Davis Johnson resided in Pasadena and operated an architectural design studio. Some of his best known projects include the Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel, the Santa Barbara Post Office, and the Harbor Hills, Rancho San Pedro, and Baldwin Hills communities in Los Angeles.
A precursor of 35mm slides, lantern slides are large format positive transparencies, usually 3.25 x 4 inches, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Many were hand-colored. A projector allowed the slides to be viewed on a wall or screen. Instead of automatically advancing from one slide to the next, the lantern slides had to be manually placed into a slot on the projector.
Invented in 1848, lantern slides evolved from those associated with magic lanterns in the late 19th-century to the format represented in this collection. Between 1848-1870, oil lamps served as the light source for magic lantern projectors. By the 1890s, the carbon arc lamp offered a better lighting method. The introduction of electricity in the 20th-century allowed the projection of lantern slides to become common in schools and universities. Lantern slides became obsolete in the 1950s when the Kodachrome three-color process brought about the introduction of 35mm slides.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Co.
Lantern slides - Hand-colored - 1930-1940
Johnson, Reginald Davis, 1882-1952
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Pacific Stereopticon Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
ca. 1935
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Lantern slide
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
2 x 3 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hostess in Governor's Palace Garden
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Block 20. Building 03.
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Hand-colored lantern slide featuring a photo taken by F.S. Lincoln in 1935 of a costumed hostess posing in the Governor's Palace garden. It is the forty-fourth slide in a set produced by the Pacific Stereopticon Co. of Los Angeles, California, now defunct, to illustrate the story of Dr. W.A. R. Goodwin's dream to restore a portion of Williamsburg, Virginia to its 18th-century appearance as a shrine to early American ideals.
The slide features a rear elevation view of the north and west facades from the pleached hornbeam arbor behind the Palace. In the foreground stands a female costumed interpreter, dressed in a gown and holding a bouquet of flowers. In the background stands the ballroom wing, an addition during the 1750s, and the royal arms are featured in its pedimented gable. The Palace's gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Pacific Stereopticon Co.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PSC-044
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Arbors
Ballroom Wing
Costumed Interpreters
F.S. Lincoln
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Hostesses
Lantern Slides
Pacific Stereopticon Company
Pleached Hornbeams
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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e4f393bcf809b9a497939ab6f0f907ac
Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Bit Depth
8
Channels
3
Height
768
Width
505
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
An Architect of the Restoration: The Pencil Sketches of Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A.
Description
An account of the resource
BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS MOTT SHAW, F.A.I.A.
Thomas Mott Shaw is best known as one of the founding partners and principal architects of the prominent Boston architectural firm Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, which John D. Rockefeller Jr. hired in 1928 to design, plan, and supervise the groundbreaking historical restoration of Williamsburg, the former eighteenth-century capitol of Virginia.
Born in 1878 in Newport, Rhode Island, Thomas Mott Shaw received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1900 and continued his education at the atelier (workshop) of Jean-Louis Pascal at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1900 to 1905.[1] After graduation in 1905, he began working in Boston as a draftsman in the office of Guy Lowell, a prominent American architect and landscape architect who designed the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as numerous other public, commercial, academic, and private buildings and spaces, including many distinguished estates and gardens.[2] Shaw’s connections to Lowell were presumably academic in nature, as Lowell was a former Harvard alumnus who also studied under Pascal at the Ècole, where he graduated just one year before Shaw.[3] In 1908, Shaw left Lowell’s employ and opened his own architectural practice, which he pursued until 1916.[4] During the First World War, he served as a first lieutenant in the 489th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).[5] He was stationed at the U.S. Army’s Air Service Production center at Romorantin, France, where he worked with the Air Service Construction Division #2. During this time, he helped design and build air fields, assembly plants for the fabrication of American aircraft, and barracks for military personnel.[6]
After the war, Shaw returned to the United States and partnered with Andrew H. Hepburn, an MIT graduate and practicing architect who had also worked under Guy Lowell.[7] The two men founded an architectural firm under the name of Shaw and Hepburn, which they managed together from 1918 to 1923.[8] When architect William G. Perry (another alumnus of Harvard, MIT, and the Ècole, as well as a former WWI Army Air Corps captain[9]) joined the partnership in 1923, the firm’s name changed to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[10]
In January 1927, William Perry (representing his partners Shaw and Hepburn) was invited by Reverend William A. R. Goodwin (the rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg) to produce drawings of Williamsburg as it may have looked in the eighteenth century.[11] Goodwin planned to submit the renderings to an unnamed donor who was interested in restoring the town to its former eighteenth-century appearance.[12] Shaw noted: “I worked on those drawings. We all did. We all worked on them (just like a projet in the Ècole des Beaux-Arts) to get them out.” [13] In late November 1927, after spending eleven months working pro bono[14] on a series of illustrations detailing the prospective restoration of the town and the College of William and Mary’s Wren Building, Perry submitted the firm’s drawings to Reverend Goodwin to deliver to his anonymous benefactor for consideration.[15] Soon after reviewing the architects’ work, Goodwin’s patron decided to begin funding the restoration of Williamsburg, and by early December 1927, the firm of Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn was approved “'to proceed with work on [the] Wren Building’ and reconstruction of the colonial Capitol and Governor’s Palace.”[16] It was not until April 1928, however, that the architects finally learned the identity of the secretive individual funding the endeavor.[17] The three men were summoned to New York for a meeting, where Goodwin introduced them to the wealthy businessman and philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller Jr.[18] After meeting the architects in person and discussing the project with them over lunch, Rockefeller decided that he liked what he had seen and heard. On 1 April 1928,[19] he “assigned overall ‘authority and responsibility’” of Williamsburg’s building and restoration to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[20] Soon thereafter, the architects set up a small office in Williamsburg near Bruton Parish Church to manage the project.[21]
The architects “soon found that drawing plans was only a minor part of the [project]. The hard part was finding out what kind of plans should be drawn.”[22] Consequently, they organized a staff of historical researchers to assist them in their efforts to restore and rebuild Williamsburg’s eighteenth-century structures as authentically as possible. “Very early in the project, [the architects] decided to establish the highest possible standards for the job. ‘Nothing was ever done without a good reason,’ Shaw once stated. ‘If there were no documented reasons for doing a particular thing, we didn’t do it.’”[23]
Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn’s dedication to the ideals of historic preservation at Williamsburg also paralleled a larger “preservation fever” that was sweeping the nation in the 1920s, called the Colonial Revival.[24] “Historic preservation formed the core of the Colonial Revival, a social and stylistic mindset that peaked during the 1920s [25]…fueled by the usual turmoil – a world war, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Red Scare, and another spike in immigration, all of which increased the nostalgia for the good old colonial days.[26] ….Creating museums from historic buildings became a preferred philanthropy for the wealthy…and John D. Rockefeller Jr. launched the single largest preservation project the country had seen: Colonial Williamsburg.” [27]
In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent national economic collapse of the Great Depression, the fervor of the movement waned, as “only the wealthiest could afford to indulge in antiques, art, and architectural restoration.”[28] As one of the wealthiest men in the country, however, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was one of the few people who could indeed afford to finance his interests in the Colonial Revival. Despite the economic strife of the times, Rockefeller’s infusion of funds into Williamsburg not only helped support the research and restoration of this sleepy southern town back to its former eighteenth-century appearance as the colonial capitol of Virginia, but also provided Williamsburg with much-needed jobs during the worst years of the Depression. By the late 1930s, Rockefeller’s restoration had positioned the town as an architectural and cultural cornerstone of the Colonial Revival movement, fueled Colonial Revival sentiments in spite of the nation’s social and economic woes, and established Williamsburg as a pioneering example of historical preservation relating to the nation’s colonial and revolutionary past.
In time, Thomas Mott Shaw was eventually “placed on [a] consulting basis” with Williamsburg’s Restoration “when an architectural department was established by Colonial Williamsburg” on 1 October 1934.[29] In 1938, Shaw was recognized by the American Institute of Architects for his work on the Williamsburg Inn, “chosen for its excellency of design wedded to the sensitive appreciation of location.”[30] He was awarded the Institute’s Bronze Medal of Honor, the highest award given to a practicing architect in the country.[31] In 1939, Shaw was placed on an annual retainer with the Restoration, though he continued working as a consultant for Colonial Williamsburg on various design and restoration projects.
After a long and accomplished career, Thomas Mott Shaw died on 17 February 1965.[32]
THE THOMAS MOTT SHAW COLLECTION
This collection consists of thirty-four graphite and mixed media sketches drawn by architect Thomas Mott Shaw during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg from the late 1920s through 1930s, depicting various architectural exteriors and interiors of historic buildings in and around Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. It is not known precisely why these drawings were created – whether for in-house or external purposes by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, for Colonial Williamsburg’s staff or other interested parties, or perhaps even for Shaw’s own personal use – but they have since become historically important artifacts and images of Williamsburg’s Restoration period. These illustrations take us back in time to the early days of Williamsburg as a reconstructed historic site and living history museum, capturing views that offer interesting opportunities for insight and reflection into the early research, planning, design, building, and restoration of the town’s landscape, architecture, and character as Virginia’s eighteenth-century colonial capitol.
The earliest sketch in this collection, drawn in 1928, features the Bracken Tenement (also known as the Bracken House) on Francis Street, which was one of the first buildings to be restored in Williamsburg by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn[33] in 1928.[34] The latest sketch, drawn in 1938, depicts a proposed addition to the Williamsburg Inn which was never built. Otherwise, the majority of the drawings – thirty-two in number – were completed in 1933.
In the fall of 1944, Shaw offered this collection of thirty-four sketches to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation “for use in connection with publicity or any other purpose you would like to use them for.”[35] Upon review of the sketches, Colonial Williamsburg’s staff accepted them, stating: “These sketches are something which we definitely should have in our archives….Mr. Shaw has done them from photographs and that in this respect they are not such creative work as might be done on location without the use of photographs….We have not undertaken to determine how best they can be utilized but there are several possibilities which we should like to explore further.”[36]
Though the sketches were thought to be “very good” and might be used in various ways,[37] Colonial Williamsburg’s staff chiefly appreciated the drawings for their “sentimental appeal by virtue of Mr. Shaw’s connection with Colonial Williamsburg”[38] and “the fact that they are the handiwork of Mr. Shaw, which…will make them quite valuable to Colonial Williamsburg in the future.”[39]
Shaw’s sketches were purchased and accepted into the research archives of Colonial Williamsburg’s Architectural Department between November 1945 and January 1946. These drawings are now part of the Architectural Drawings Collection in the Special Collections wing of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. While a separate collection of Shaw’s personal papers and drawings also reside within the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C.,[40] the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is proud to possess the majority of Mr. Shaw’s drawings and correspondence associated with his meticulous and pioneering work on Williamsburg’s restoration.
ENDNOTES
[1] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965” unpublished biography, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects [Deceased] (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970), 381-382.
[4] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[5] George H. Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers (in Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Sarah Quinan Shaw Johnson, Concord, Ma., 1975), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[6] Ibid.; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet on Thomas Mott Shaw, dated 15 March 1947, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[7] George H. Yetter, “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 58.
[8] Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[9] Will Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Autumn 2004), 61.
[10] “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[11] Fred Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun,’” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), 21 May 1956, page number unknown, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[12] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[13] Ibid. (T.M. Shaw quote excerpted from “Reminiscences of Thomas Mott Shaw,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives, Oral History Collection, 11), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[14] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[15] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[16] Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg,” 63.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[20] Molineux, 63; see also Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[21] Molineux, 63.
[22] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[23] Ibid.
[24] Mary Miley Theobald, “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002), 81.
[25] Ibid., 81.
[26] Ibid., 84.
[27] Ibid., 81.
[28] Ibid., 84.
[29] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[30] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[31] Ibid.
[32] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[33] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[34]Carl Lounsbury, “Bracken Tenement: Block 2, Building 52,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation website, n.d., http://research.history.org/Architectural_Research/Research_Articles/ThemeBldgs/Bracken.cfm (accessed 5 May 2014).
[35] Letter from Thomas Mott Shaw to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 25 October 1944, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[36] Staff memo from B.W. Norton to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 1 November 1945, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[37] Staff memo from J.A. Upshur to Kenneth Chorley of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 12 January 1946, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Letter from Michael A. Grimes (archivist, Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art) to George H. Yetter (Associate Curator of Architectural Drawings, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), 2 August 1989, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Chappell, Edward A. “Architects of Colonial Williamsburg” in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, ed. by Charles
Reagan Wilson, William R. Ferris, and Ann J. Adadie. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989, 59-61.
Greenspan, Anders. Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia’s Eighteenth-Century Capitol. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Hosmer, Charles Bridgham, and National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949, Vol. 1. Charlottesville: Published for the Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by the University Press of Virginia, 1981.
Kimball, Fiske, et al. The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. New York: F.W. Dodge
Corporation, 1935.
Molineux, Will. “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (August 2004): 58-65.
Theobald, Mary Miley. “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002): 81-85.
Yetter, George Humphrey. “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 54-60.
Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capital. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.
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32.5 x 47 cm
Dublin Core
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Title
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Governor's Palace North Facade Through Clairvoyee
Subject
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Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Exterior view of the Governor's Palace Ballroom Wing and formal gardens, north facade, as seen through an elaborate clairvoyée (wrought-iron gate) behind the Palace, 1933. The Ballroom Wing of the Palace, featured in the background, was built as an addition during the 1750s by Governor Robert Dinwiddie. Above its rear doors, a painted carving of the royal coat of arms is mounted within a pedimented gable. The Palace's gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature which often appeared in eighteenth-century English gardens.
Creator
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Shaw, Thomas Mott
Date
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1933
Date Created
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1933
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This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
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D2008-COPY-1014-1033
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Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
Boxwood
Chimneys
Clairvoyées
Colonial Architecture
Cupolas
Dormer Windows
Dormers
Exteriors
Fences
Gardens
Gates
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Hostesses
Lead Vases
Pediments
Public Buildings
Round-headed Windows
Royal Coats of Arms
Stairs
Thomas Mott Shaw
Virginia
Weather Vanes
Williamsburg
Wrought Iron
-
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Title
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An Architect of the Restoration: The Pencil Sketches of Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A.
Description
An account of the resource
BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS MOTT SHAW, F.A.I.A.
Thomas Mott Shaw is best known as one of the founding partners and principal architects of the prominent Boston architectural firm Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, which John D. Rockefeller Jr. hired in 1928 to design, plan, and supervise the groundbreaking historical restoration of Williamsburg, the former eighteenth-century capitol of Virginia.
Born in 1878 in Newport, Rhode Island, Thomas Mott Shaw received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1900 and continued his education at the atelier (workshop) of Jean-Louis Pascal at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1900 to 1905.[1] After graduation in 1905, he began working in Boston as a draftsman in the office of Guy Lowell, a prominent American architect and landscape architect who designed the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as numerous other public, commercial, academic, and private buildings and spaces, including many distinguished estates and gardens.[2] Shaw’s connections to Lowell were presumably academic in nature, as Lowell was a former Harvard alumnus who also studied under Pascal at the Ècole, where he graduated just one year before Shaw.[3] In 1908, Shaw left Lowell’s employ and opened his own architectural practice, which he pursued until 1916.[4] During the First World War, he served as a first lieutenant in the 489th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).[5] He was stationed at the U.S. Army’s Air Service Production center at Romorantin, France, where he worked with the Air Service Construction Division #2. During this time, he helped design and build air fields, assembly plants for the fabrication of American aircraft, and barracks for military personnel.[6]
After the war, Shaw returned to the United States and partnered with Andrew H. Hepburn, an MIT graduate and practicing architect who had also worked under Guy Lowell.[7] The two men founded an architectural firm under the name of Shaw and Hepburn, which they managed together from 1918 to 1923.[8] When architect William G. Perry (another alumnus of Harvard, MIT, and the Ècole, as well as a former WWI Army Air Corps captain[9]) joined the partnership in 1923, the firm’s name changed to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[10]
In January 1927, William Perry (representing his partners Shaw and Hepburn) was invited by Reverend William A. R. Goodwin (the rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg) to produce drawings of Williamsburg as it may have looked in the eighteenth century.[11] Goodwin planned to submit the renderings to an unnamed donor who was interested in restoring the town to its former eighteenth-century appearance.[12] Shaw noted: “I worked on those drawings. We all did. We all worked on them (just like a projet in the Ècole des Beaux-Arts) to get them out.” [13] In late November 1927, after spending eleven months working pro bono[14] on a series of illustrations detailing the prospective restoration of the town and the College of William and Mary’s Wren Building, Perry submitted the firm’s drawings to Reverend Goodwin to deliver to his anonymous benefactor for consideration.[15] Soon after reviewing the architects’ work, Goodwin’s patron decided to begin funding the restoration of Williamsburg, and by early December 1927, the firm of Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn was approved “'to proceed with work on [the] Wren Building’ and reconstruction of the colonial Capitol and Governor’s Palace.”[16] It was not until April 1928, however, that the architects finally learned the identity of the secretive individual funding the endeavor.[17] The three men were summoned to New York for a meeting, where Goodwin introduced them to the wealthy businessman and philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller Jr.[18] After meeting the architects in person and discussing the project with them over lunch, Rockefeller decided that he liked what he had seen and heard. On 1 April 1928,[19] he “assigned overall ‘authority and responsibility’” of Williamsburg’s building and restoration to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[20] Soon thereafter, the architects set up a small office in Williamsburg near Bruton Parish Church to manage the project.[21]
The architects “soon found that drawing plans was only a minor part of the [project]. The hard part was finding out what kind of plans should be drawn.”[22] Consequently, they organized a staff of historical researchers to assist them in their efforts to restore and rebuild Williamsburg’s eighteenth-century structures as authentically as possible. “Very early in the project, [the architects] decided to establish the highest possible standards for the job. ‘Nothing was ever done without a good reason,’ Shaw once stated. ‘If there were no documented reasons for doing a particular thing, we didn’t do it.’”[23]
Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn’s dedication to the ideals of historic preservation at Williamsburg also paralleled a larger “preservation fever” that was sweeping the nation in the 1920s, called the Colonial Revival.[24] “Historic preservation formed the core of the Colonial Revival, a social and stylistic mindset that peaked during the 1920s [25]…fueled by the usual turmoil – a world war, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Red Scare, and another spike in immigration, all of which increased the nostalgia for the good old colonial days.[26] ….Creating museums from historic buildings became a preferred philanthropy for the wealthy…and John D. Rockefeller Jr. launched the single largest preservation project the country had seen: Colonial Williamsburg.” [27]
In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent national economic collapse of the Great Depression, the fervor of the movement waned, as “only the wealthiest could afford to indulge in antiques, art, and architectural restoration.”[28] As one of the wealthiest men in the country, however, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was one of the few people who could indeed afford to finance his interests in the Colonial Revival. Despite the economic strife of the times, Rockefeller’s infusion of funds into Williamsburg not only helped support the research and restoration of this sleepy southern town back to its former eighteenth-century appearance as the colonial capitol of Virginia, but also provided Williamsburg with much-needed jobs during the worst years of the Depression. By the late 1930s, Rockefeller’s restoration had positioned the town as an architectural and cultural cornerstone of the Colonial Revival movement, fueled Colonial Revival sentiments in spite of the nation’s social and economic woes, and established Williamsburg as a pioneering example of historical preservation relating to the nation’s colonial and revolutionary past.
In time, Thomas Mott Shaw was eventually “placed on [a] consulting basis” with Williamsburg’s Restoration “when an architectural department was established by Colonial Williamsburg” on 1 October 1934.[29] In 1938, Shaw was recognized by the American Institute of Architects for his work on the Williamsburg Inn, “chosen for its excellency of design wedded to the sensitive appreciation of location.”[30] He was awarded the Institute’s Bronze Medal of Honor, the highest award given to a practicing architect in the country.[31] In 1939, Shaw was placed on an annual retainer with the Restoration, though he continued working as a consultant for Colonial Williamsburg on various design and restoration projects.
After a long and accomplished career, Thomas Mott Shaw died on 17 February 1965.[32]
THE THOMAS MOTT SHAW COLLECTION
This collection consists of thirty-four graphite and mixed media sketches drawn by architect Thomas Mott Shaw during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg from the late 1920s through 1930s, depicting various architectural exteriors and interiors of historic buildings in and around Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. It is not known precisely why these drawings were created – whether for in-house or external purposes by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, for Colonial Williamsburg’s staff or other interested parties, or perhaps even for Shaw’s own personal use – but they have since become historically important artifacts and images of Williamsburg’s Restoration period. These illustrations take us back in time to the early days of Williamsburg as a reconstructed historic site and living history museum, capturing views that offer interesting opportunities for insight and reflection into the early research, planning, design, building, and restoration of the town’s landscape, architecture, and character as Virginia’s eighteenth-century colonial capitol.
The earliest sketch in this collection, drawn in 1928, features the Bracken Tenement (also known as the Bracken House) on Francis Street, which was one of the first buildings to be restored in Williamsburg by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn[33] in 1928.[34] The latest sketch, drawn in 1938, depicts a proposed addition to the Williamsburg Inn which was never built. Otherwise, the majority of the drawings – thirty-two in number – were completed in 1933.
In the fall of 1944, Shaw offered this collection of thirty-four sketches to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation “for use in connection with publicity or any other purpose you would like to use them for.”[35] Upon review of the sketches, Colonial Williamsburg’s staff accepted them, stating: “These sketches are something which we definitely should have in our archives….Mr. Shaw has done them from photographs and that in this respect they are not such creative work as might be done on location without the use of photographs….We have not undertaken to determine how best they can be utilized but there are several possibilities which we should like to explore further.”[36]
Though the sketches were thought to be “very good” and might be used in various ways,[37] Colonial Williamsburg’s staff chiefly appreciated the drawings for their “sentimental appeal by virtue of Mr. Shaw’s connection with Colonial Williamsburg”[38] and “the fact that they are the handiwork of Mr. Shaw, which…will make them quite valuable to Colonial Williamsburg in the future.”[39]
Shaw’s sketches were purchased and accepted into the research archives of Colonial Williamsburg’s Architectural Department between November 1945 and January 1946. These drawings are now part of the Architectural Drawings Collection in the Special Collections wing of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. While a separate collection of Shaw’s personal papers and drawings also reside within the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C.,[40] the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is proud to possess the majority of Mr. Shaw’s drawings and correspondence associated with his meticulous and pioneering work on Williamsburg’s restoration.
ENDNOTES
[1] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965” unpublished biography, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects [Deceased] (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970), 381-382.
[4] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[5] George H. Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers (in Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Sarah Quinan Shaw Johnson, Concord, Ma., 1975), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[6] Ibid.; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet on Thomas Mott Shaw, dated 15 March 1947, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[7] George H. Yetter, “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 58.
[8] Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[9] Will Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Autumn 2004), 61.
[10] “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[11] Fred Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun,’” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), 21 May 1956, page number unknown, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[12] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[13] Ibid. (T.M. Shaw quote excerpted from “Reminiscences of Thomas Mott Shaw,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives, Oral History Collection, 11), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[14] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[15] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[16] Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg,” 63.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[20] Molineux, 63; see also Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[21] Molineux, 63.
[22] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[23] Ibid.
[24] Mary Miley Theobald, “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002), 81.
[25] Ibid., 81.
[26] Ibid., 84.
[27] Ibid., 81.
[28] Ibid., 84.
[29] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[30] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[31] Ibid.
[32] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[33] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[34]Carl Lounsbury, “Bracken Tenement: Block 2, Building 52,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation website, n.d., http://research.history.org/Architectural_Research/Research_Articles/ThemeBldgs/Bracken.cfm (accessed 5 May 2014).
[35] Letter from Thomas Mott Shaw to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 25 October 1944, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[36] Staff memo from B.W. Norton to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 1 November 1945, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[37] Staff memo from J.A. Upshur to Kenneth Chorley of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 12 January 1946, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Letter from Michael A. Grimes (archivist, Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art) to George H. Yetter (Associate Curator of Architectural Drawings, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), 2 August 1989, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Chappell, Edward A. “Architects of Colonial Williamsburg” in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, ed. by Charles
Reagan Wilson, William R. Ferris, and Ann J. Adadie. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989, 59-61.
Greenspan, Anders. Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia’s Eighteenth-Century Capitol. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Hosmer, Charles Bridgham, and National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949, Vol. 1. Charlottesville: Published for the Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by the University Press of Virginia, 1981.
Kimball, Fiske, et al. The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. New York: F.W. Dodge
Corporation, 1935.
Molineux, Will. “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (August 2004): 58-65.
Theobald, Mary Miley. “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002): 81-85.
Yetter, George Humphrey. “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 54-60.
Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capital. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.
Still Image
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29 x 43.5 cm
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Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace Gardens With Ballroom Entrance
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Exterior view through a wrought-iron gate of the north facade of the Governor's Palace Ballroom Wing and formal gardens, 1933. In the background stands the Ballroom Wing, an addition constructed during the early 1750s by Governor Robert Dinwiddie, and the royal arms are visible in the pedimented gable above the wing's rear entrance. The Palace's gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens.
Creator
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Shaw, Thomas Mott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1933
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1933
Rights
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This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
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jpeg
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Image
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D2008-COPY-1014-1030
Rights Holder
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Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
Boxwood
Colonial Architecture
Dentils
Exteriors
Fences
Gardens
Gates
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Pediments
Public Buildings
Royal Coats of Arms
Thomas Mott Shaw
Virginia
Williamsburg
Wrought Iron
-
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3
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Title
A name given to the resource
An Architect of the Restoration: The Pencil Sketches of Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A.
Description
An account of the resource
BIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS MOTT SHAW, F.A.I.A.
Thomas Mott Shaw is best known as one of the founding partners and principal architects of the prominent Boston architectural firm Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, which John D. Rockefeller Jr. hired in 1928 to design, plan, and supervise the groundbreaking historical restoration of Williamsburg, the former eighteenth-century capitol of Virginia.
Born in 1878 in Newport, Rhode Island, Thomas Mott Shaw received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1900 and continued his education at the atelier (workshop) of Jean-Louis Pascal at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1900 to 1905.[1] After graduation in 1905, he began working in Boston as a draftsman in the office of Guy Lowell, a prominent American architect and landscape architect who designed the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as numerous other public, commercial, academic, and private buildings and spaces, including many distinguished estates and gardens.[2] Shaw’s connections to Lowell were presumably academic in nature, as Lowell was a former Harvard alumnus who also studied under Pascal at the Ècole, where he graduated just one year before Shaw.[3] In 1908, Shaw left Lowell’s employ and opened his own architectural practice, which he pursued until 1916.[4] During the First World War, he served as a first lieutenant in the 489th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).[5] He was stationed at the U.S. Army’s Air Service Production center at Romorantin, France, where he worked with the Air Service Construction Division #2. During this time, he helped design and build air fields, assembly plants for the fabrication of American aircraft, and barracks for military personnel.[6]
After the war, Shaw returned to the United States and partnered with Andrew H. Hepburn, an MIT graduate and practicing architect who had also worked under Guy Lowell.[7] The two men founded an architectural firm under the name of Shaw and Hepburn, which they managed together from 1918 to 1923.[8] When architect William G. Perry (another alumnus of Harvard, MIT, and the Ècole, as well as a former WWI Army Air Corps captain[9]) joined the partnership in 1923, the firm’s name changed to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[10]
In January 1927, William Perry (representing his partners Shaw and Hepburn) was invited by Reverend William A. R. Goodwin (the rector of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg) to produce drawings of Williamsburg as it may have looked in the eighteenth century.[11] Goodwin planned to submit the renderings to an unnamed donor who was interested in restoring the town to its former eighteenth-century appearance.[12] Shaw noted: “I worked on those drawings. We all did. We all worked on them (just like a projet in the Ècole des Beaux-Arts) to get them out.” [13] In late November 1927, after spending eleven months working pro bono[14] on a series of illustrations detailing the prospective restoration of the town and the College of William and Mary’s Wren Building, Perry submitted the firm’s drawings to Reverend Goodwin to deliver to his anonymous benefactor for consideration.[15] Soon after reviewing the architects’ work, Goodwin’s patron decided to begin funding the restoration of Williamsburg, and by early December 1927, the firm of Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn was approved “'to proceed with work on [the] Wren Building’ and reconstruction of the colonial Capitol and Governor’s Palace.”[16] It was not until April 1928, however, that the architects finally learned the identity of the secretive individual funding the endeavor.[17] The three men were summoned to New York for a meeting, where Goodwin introduced them to the wealthy businessman and philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller Jr.[18] After meeting the architects in person and discussing the project with them over lunch, Rockefeller decided that he liked what he had seen and heard. On 1 April 1928,[19] he “assigned overall ‘authority and responsibility’” of Williamsburg’s building and restoration to Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn.[20] Soon thereafter, the architects set up a small office in Williamsburg near Bruton Parish Church to manage the project.[21]
The architects “soon found that drawing plans was only a minor part of the [project]. The hard part was finding out what kind of plans should be drawn.”[22] Consequently, they organized a staff of historical researchers to assist them in their efforts to restore and rebuild Williamsburg’s eighteenth-century structures as authentically as possible. “Very early in the project, [the architects] decided to establish the highest possible standards for the job. ‘Nothing was ever done without a good reason,’ Shaw once stated. ‘If there were no documented reasons for doing a particular thing, we didn’t do it.’”[23]
Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn’s dedication to the ideals of historic preservation at Williamsburg also paralleled a larger “preservation fever” that was sweeping the nation in the 1920s, called the Colonial Revival.[24] “Historic preservation formed the core of the Colonial Revival, a social and stylistic mindset that peaked during the 1920s [25]…fueled by the usual turmoil – a world war, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Red Scare, and another spike in immigration, all of which increased the nostalgia for the good old colonial days.[26] ….Creating museums from historic buildings became a preferred philanthropy for the wealthy…and John D. Rockefeller Jr. launched the single largest preservation project the country had seen: Colonial Williamsburg.” [27]
In the wake of the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent national economic collapse of the Great Depression, the fervor of the movement waned, as “only the wealthiest could afford to indulge in antiques, art, and architectural restoration.”[28] As one of the wealthiest men in the country, however, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was one of the few people who could indeed afford to finance his interests in the Colonial Revival. Despite the economic strife of the times, Rockefeller’s infusion of funds into Williamsburg not only helped support the research and restoration of this sleepy southern town back to its former eighteenth-century appearance as the colonial capitol of Virginia, but also provided Williamsburg with much-needed jobs during the worst years of the Depression. By the late 1930s, Rockefeller’s restoration had positioned the town as an architectural and cultural cornerstone of the Colonial Revival movement, fueled Colonial Revival sentiments in spite of the nation’s social and economic woes, and established Williamsburg as a pioneering example of historical preservation relating to the nation’s colonial and revolutionary past.
In time, Thomas Mott Shaw was eventually “placed on [a] consulting basis” with Williamsburg’s Restoration “when an architectural department was established by Colonial Williamsburg” on 1 October 1934.[29] In 1938, Shaw was recognized by the American Institute of Architects for his work on the Williamsburg Inn, “chosen for its excellency of design wedded to the sensitive appreciation of location.”[30] He was awarded the Institute’s Bronze Medal of Honor, the highest award given to a practicing architect in the country.[31] In 1939, Shaw was placed on an annual retainer with the Restoration, though he continued working as a consultant for Colonial Williamsburg on various design and restoration projects.
After a long and accomplished career, Thomas Mott Shaw died on 17 February 1965.[32]
THE THOMAS MOTT SHAW COLLECTION
This collection consists of thirty-four graphite and mixed media sketches drawn by architect Thomas Mott Shaw during the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg from the late 1920s through 1930s, depicting various architectural exteriors and interiors of historic buildings in and around Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. It is not known precisely why these drawings were created – whether for in-house or external purposes by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn, for Colonial Williamsburg’s staff or other interested parties, or perhaps even for Shaw’s own personal use – but they have since become historically important artifacts and images of Williamsburg’s Restoration period. These illustrations take us back in time to the early days of Williamsburg as a reconstructed historic site and living history museum, capturing views that offer interesting opportunities for insight and reflection into the early research, planning, design, building, and restoration of the town’s landscape, architecture, and character as Virginia’s eighteenth-century colonial capitol.
The earliest sketch in this collection, drawn in 1928, features the Bracken Tenement (also known as the Bracken House) on Francis Street, which was one of the first buildings to be restored in Williamsburg by Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn[33] in 1928.[34] The latest sketch, drawn in 1938, depicts a proposed addition to the Williamsburg Inn which was never built. Otherwise, the majority of the drawings – thirty-two in number – were completed in 1933.
In the fall of 1944, Shaw offered this collection of thirty-four sketches to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation “for use in connection with publicity or any other purpose you would like to use them for.”[35] Upon review of the sketches, Colonial Williamsburg’s staff accepted them, stating: “These sketches are something which we definitely should have in our archives….Mr. Shaw has done them from photographs and that in this respect they are not such creative work as might be done on location without the use of photographs….We have not undertaken to determine how best they can be utilized but there are several possibilities which we should like to explore further.”[36]
Though the sketches were thought to be “very good” and might be used in various ways,[37] Colonial Williamsburg’s staff chiefly appreciated the drawings for their “sentimental appeal by virtue of Mr. Shaw’s connection with Colonial Williamsburg”[38] and “the fact that they are the handiwork of Mr. Shaw, which…will make them quite valuable to Colonial Williamsburg in the future.”[39]
Shaw’s sketches were purchased and accepted into the research archives of Colonial Williamsburg’s Architectural Department between November 1945 and January 1946. These drawings are now part of the Architectural Drawings Collection in the Special Collections wing of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. While a separate collection of Shaw’s personal papers and drawings also reside within the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art in Washington, D.C.,[40] the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is proud to possess the majority of Mr. Shaw’s drawings and correspondence associated with his meticulous and pioneering work on Williamsburg’s restoration.
ENDNOTES
[1] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965” unpublished biography, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects [Deceased] (Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970), 381-382.
[4] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[5] George H. Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers (in Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Sarah Quinan Shaw Johnson, Concord, Ma., 1975), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[6] Ibid.; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet on Thomas Mott Shaw, dated 15 March 1947, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[7] George H. Yetter, “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 58.
[8] Yetter, handwritten notes compiled from Thomas Mott Shaw Papers; see also “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[9] Will Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Autumn 2004), 61.
[10] “Colonial Williamsburg Logbook” biographical sheet.
[11] Fred Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun,’” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Va.), 21 May 1956, page number unknown, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[12] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[13] Ibid. (T.M. Shaw quote excerpted from “Reminiscences of Thomas Mott Shaw,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives, Oral History Collection, 11), Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[14] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[15] George H. Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
[16] Molineux, “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg,” 63.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[20] Molineux, 63; see also Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[21] Molineux, 63.
[22] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[23] Ibid.
[24] Mary Miley Theobald, “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002), 81.
[25] Ibid., 81.
[26] Ibid., 84.
[27] Ibid., 81.
[28] Ibid., 84.
[29] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw” typewritten research notes.
[30] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[31] Ibid.
[32] Yetter, “Thomas Mott Shaw, F.A.I.A., 1878-1965.”
[33] Frechette, “Work on Restoration Started as ‘Bit of Fun.’”
[34]Carl Lounsbury, “Bracken Tenement: Block 2, Building 52,” Colonial Williamsburg Foundation website, n.d., http://research.history.org/Architectural_Research/Research_Articles/ThemeBldgs/Bracken.cfm (accessed 5 May 2014).
[35] Letter from Thomas Mott Shaw to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 25 October 1944, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[36] Staff memo from B.W. Norton to Vernon Geddy of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 1 November 1945, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[37] Staff memo from J.A. Upshur to Kenneth Chorley of Williamsburg Restoration, Inc., 12 January 1946, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Letter from Michael A. Grimes (archivist, Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art) to George H. Yetter (Associate Curator of Architectural Drawings, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation), 2 August 1989, Thomas Mott Shaw research folder, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Chappell, Edward A. “Architects of Colonial Williamsburg” in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, ed. by Charles
Reagan Wilson, William R. Ferris, and Ann J. Adadie. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989, 59-61.
Greenspan, Anders. Creating Colonial Williamsburg: The Restoration of Virginia’s Eighteenth-Century Capitol. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Hosmer, Charles Bridgham, and National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949, Vol. 1. Charlottesville: Published for the Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by the University Press of Virginia, 1981.
Kimball, Fiske, et al. The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. New York: F.W. Dodge
Corporation, 1935.
Molineux, Will. “The Architect of Colonial Williamsburg: William Graves Perry,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (August 2004): 58-65.
Theobald, Mary Miley. “The Colonial Revival: The Past that Never Dies,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Summer 2002): 81-85.
Yetter, George Humphrey. “Designers of Beauty: Academic Training and Williamsburg’s Architectural Restoration,” Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Winter 2012): 54-60.
Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia's Colonial Capital. Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Graphite on paper
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
45 x 31 cm
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace and Gardens, View Looking Southeast
Subject
The topic of the resource
Governor's Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Block 20. Building 03.
Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
Gardens - Virginia - Williamsburg
Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Exterior view of the north and west facades of the Governor's Palace and formal gardens, looking southeast from the pleached hornbeam arbor behind the Palace, 1933. In the background stands the ballroom wing, an addition constructed during the 1750s, and the royal arms are featured in its pedimented gable. The Palace's gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Shaw, Thomas Mott
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1933
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1933
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
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jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
D2008-COPY-1014-1028
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Arbors
Ballroom Wing
Boxwood
Chimneys
Colonial Architecture
Cupolas
Dentils
Dormer Windows
Dormers
Exteriors
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Lead Vases
Pediments
Public Buildings
Royal Coats of Arms
Stairs
Thomas Mott Shaw
Virginia
Weather Vanes
Williamsburg
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Omeka Image File
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Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
F.S. Lincoln Photography Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The FS Lincoln Collection
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Fay S. Lincoln (known professionally as F.S. Lincoln) operated a photography studio in New York City from the 1930s until the mid 1960s. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1894 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he received training as an engineer, Mr. Lincoln chose to become a professional photographer in 1929, when he opened the firm of Nyholm & Lincoln in conjunction with another photographer, Peter Nyholm, in New York City. A few years later, he opened his own studio at 114 East 32nd St.1
In 1932, Lincoln began corresponding with Kenneth Chorley, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, about the possibility of contracting with the Foundation to photograph the completed restoration work at Williamsburg. Lincoln had learned that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was looking for someone to create a master collection of photos of Williamsburg through Arthur S. Vernay, an acquaintance of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In his correspondence, Lincoln noted he had completed photographic assignments for many of the top architects and designers in New York, including Arthur S. Vernay, Joseph Urban, James Gamble Rogers, Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, McKim, Mead, & White, Robert Locher, and Eugene Schoen. He also pointed out that he had sold architectural photos to many prominent magazines, including "Architectural Record," "National Geographic," "Country Life," "Architectural Forum," and "Spur."2
Lincoln's credentials, along with sample photographs and recommendations from magazine editors, enabled him to secure a contract with Colonial Williamsburg on April 22, 1935. According to the terms of the contract, Lincoln was hired to prepare a master collection of photographs and negatives that Colonial Williamsburg could sell to tourists and residents of Williamsburg, as well as use for promotional purposes. Lincoln retained the right to sell copies of his photographs at his New York studio, provided he consulted with the Foundation regarding the proposed use of the photographs. He also retained title to all negatives and copyright for all photos until the termination of his business. Plans for a traveling exhibition of Lincoln's photographs of Williamsburg were also mentioned in the contract.3
During 1935, F.S. Lincoln traveled to Williamsburg at seasonal intervals to photograph views requested by the Foundation. A panel of Colonial Williamsburg employees reviewed each series of photos and selected a group to be added to the master collection. F.S. Lincoln photos illustrated two portfolios about Colonial Williamsburg published in the "Architectural Record" in December 1935 and November 1936. Full-page black and white photos of restored buildings and gardens accompanied articles on the restoration written by Kenneth Chorley, Fiske Kimball, William G. Perry, and Arthur Shurcliff. Thus, Lincoln's photos gave the American public their first introduction to the completed restoration.
Lincoln had also been hired by Colonial Williamsburg to create a group of photographs of Williamsburg that could be exhibited. Correspondence between staff members indicates that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hoped to mount a traveling exhibit of Williamsburg photographs. An exhibit of a selection of Lincoln's views of Williamsburg, along with photos he took for "Harper's Bazaar," "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," and "Town and Country," was held at the Rabinovitch Gallery in New York City from October 4-17, 1935.
Although Foundation employees were satisfied with the quality of Lincoln's photographs, they were dismayed by the cost of individual prints and enlargements. Memos exchanged between members of the marketing staff indicate that employees were having a hard time convincing distributors to purchase enlargements of the Lincoln photos for display in shop windows. As a result, the Foundation's agreement with F.S. Lincoln was terminated on April 21, 1936.4
Despite this setback, F.S. Lincoln secured contracts for many other architectural photography projects in the 1930s. He received numerous commissions to photograph buildings in New York City and also traveled abroad on several assignments. In 1934, he completed a portfolio of photos of Mont St. Michel and in 1938 he toured the deep South and photographed examples of antebellum architecture. Lincoln's photos were widely published in the 1930s and 1940s in such magazines as "Architectural Record," "House Beautiful," "National Geographic," "Country Life," and "Architectural Forum." In addition, he published a book of his photographs in 1946 entitled "Charleston: Photographic Studies by F.S. Lincoln."5
F.S. Lincoln continued to operate a photography studio in New York City until 1965, when he retired and moved to Center Hall, Pennsylvania to live with his sister. He forwarded all of his negatives of Williamsburg buildings to the Foundation in 1972, along with a letter stating that “the copyright of the photographs has run out, so you are free to use them as desired.”6 Upon his death in 1976, the remainder of Lincoln's archive of prints and negatives, as well as some business papers, were donated to the Pennsylvania State University Archives.
Scope and Contents
The F.S. Lincoln collection consists of black and white negatives and prints taken by Mr. Lincoln in preparation for the publication of "The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia," a series of articles appearing in the December 1935 and November 1936 issues of "The Architectural Record." Both issues featured a portfolio of buildings and gardens in the newly restored historic area of Williamsburg.
In order to produce a large pool of photos for use in these portfolios, Mr. Lincoln created comprehensive visual documentation of the work completed during the initial phases of the restoration (1927-1935.) He photographed the exteriors and interiors of thirty restored buildings, including the exhibition buildings open to the public, such as the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the Wren Building, and the Powder Magazine. In addition, he captured exterior views of some of the shops open on Merchant's Square and restored buildings adapted for public use, such as the Public Library. He also photographed many of the gardens and garden ornaments throughout the restored area.
The collection is organized into series by format. Series included in the collection are negatives; bound matted and signed prints; unbound matted and signed prints; and small albums. Within each format, items are organized according to the numbering system assigned by Mr. Lincoln. The first three digits of numbers assigned to the images correspond to a particular building or subject category. For example, all images of the Capitol have numbers beginning with 325 and all miscellaneous views have numbers beginning with 365. After these first three digits, Lincoln added a P for print and then a successive number for each view. For example, the first view of the Capitol is number 325P1. An “LC” prefix has been added to all image numbers by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to identify the images as coming from the Lincoln Collection.
Endnotes
1 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17, (Spring 1993): 127-128.
2 F.S. Lincoln to B.W. Norton, October 18, 1933. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
3 Agreement dated April 22, 1935 between Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and F.S. Lincoln, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
4 Mr. Norton to Mr. Darling, February 22, 1937; Kenneth Chorley to F.S. Lincoln, April 6, 1937, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
5 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17 (Spring 1993): 128.
6 F.S. Lincoln to James R. Short, May 15, 1972, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin or collodian printing out paper with platinum toning, mounted on board
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8x10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Detail of Ballroom and Door
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor’s Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Furniture -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Interior detail of a pediment above a door in the Ballroom of the Governor's Palace, 1935. The pediment exhibits richly carved neo-classical ornamentation and the royal coat of arms of the kingdom of Great Britain. Among the room's furnishings, a beautiful <strong><a href="http://emuseum.history.org/view/objects/asitem/items$0040:18697#.UxeTi_-BluA.gmail">harpsichord 2M (accession # 1934-38,A&B)</a></strong>, made of walnut, oak, spruce, holly, ebony, ivory, and other softwoods, is pictured to the right. Interior furnishings and decor reflect curators' views in the 1930s as to how Williamsburg's historic interiors may have looked in the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, with new research advancements over the years, the interiors of the Governor’s Palace have changed to reflect a more authentic and accurate view of the building’s likely contents and room arrangements.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1935
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LC327P67
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Acanthus Leaves
Ballroom
Ballroom Wing
Chandeliers
Cove Ceilings
Dentils
Doors
F.S. Lincoln
Governor's Palace
Harpsichords
Historic Buildings
Moldings
Musical Instruments
Pediments
Public Buildings
Royal Coats of Arms
Sconces
Side Chairs
Virginia
Volutes
Williamsburg
-
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Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Bit Depth
8
Channels
1
Height
768
Width
602
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
F.S. Lincoln Photography Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The FS Lincoln Collection
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Fay S. Lincoln (known professionally as F.S. Lincoln) operated a photography studio in New York City from the 1930s until the mid 1960s. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1894 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he received training as an engineer, Mr. Lincoln chose to become a professional photographer in 1929, when he opened the firm of Nyholm & Lincoln in conjunction with another photographer, Peter Nyholm, in New York City. A few years later, he opened his own studio at 114 East 32nd St.1
In 1932, Lincoln began corresponding with Kenneth Chorley, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, about the possibility of contracting with the Foundation to photograph the completed restoration work at Williamsburg. Lincoln had learned that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was looking for someone to create a master collection of photos of Williamsburg through Arthur S. Vernay, an acquaintance of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In his correspondence, Lincoln noted he had completed photographic assignments for many of the top architects and designers in New York, including Arthur S. Vernay, Joseph Urban, James Gamble Rogers, Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, McKim, Mead, & White, Robert Locher, and Eugene Schoen. He also pointed out that he had sold architectural photos to many prominent magazines, including "Architectural Record," "National Geographic," "Country Life," "Architectural Forum," and "Spur."2
Lincoln's credentials, along with sample photographs and recommendations from magazine editors, enabled him to secure a contract with Colonial Williamsburg on April 22, 1935. According to the terms of the contract, Lincoln was hired to prepare a master collection of photographs and negatives that Colonial Williamsburg could sell to tourists and residents of Williamsburg, as well as use for promotional purposes. Lincoln retained the right to sell copies of his photographs at his New York studio, provided he consulted with the Foundation regarding the proposed use of the photographs. He also retained title to all negatives and copyright for all photos until the termination of his business. Plans for a traveling exhibition of Lincoln's photographs of Williamsburg were also mentioned in the contract.3
During 1935, F.S. Lincoln traveled to Williamsburg at seasonal intervals to photograph views requested by the Foundation. A panel of Colonial Williamsburg employees reviewed each series of photos and selected a group to be added to the master collection. F.S. Lincoln photos illustrated two portfolios about Colonial Williamsburg published in the "Architectural Record" in December 1935 and November 1936. Full-page black and white photos of restored buildings and gardens accompanied articles on the restoration written by Kenneth Chorley, Fiske Kimball, William G. Perry, and Arthur Shurcliff. Thus, Lincoln's photos gave the American public their first introduction to the completed restoration.
Lincoln had also been hired by Colonial Williamsburg to create a group of photographs of Williamsburg that could be exhibited. Correspondence between staff members indicates that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hoped to mount a traveling exhibit of Williamsburg photographs. An exhibit of a selection of Lincoln's views of Williamsburg, along with photos he took for "Harper's Bazaar," "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," and "Town and Country," was held at the Rabinovitch Gallery in New York City from October 4-17, 1935.
Although Foundation employees were satisfied with the quality of Lincoln's photographs, they were dismayed by the cost of individual prints and enlargements. Memos exchanged between members of the marketing staff indicate that employees were having a hard time convincing distributors to purchase enlargements of the Lincoln photos for display in shop windows. As a result, the Foundation's agreement with F.S. Lincoln was terminated on April 21, 1936.4
Despite this setback, F.S. Lincoln secured contracts for many other architectural photography projects in the 1930s. He received numerous commissions to photograph buildings in New York City and also traveled abroad on several assignments. In 1934, he completed a portfolio of photos of Mont St. Michel and in 1938 he toured the deep South and photographed examples of antebellum architecture. Lincoln's photos were widely published in the 1930s and 1940s in such magazines as "Architectural Record," "House Beautiful," "National Geographic," "Country Life," and "Architectural Forum." In addition, he published a book of his photographs in 1946 entitled "Charleston: Photographic Studies by F.S. Lincoln."5
F.S. Lincoln continued to operate a photography studio in New York City until 1965, when he retired and moved to Center Hall, Pennsylvania to live with his sister. He forwarded all of his negatives of Williamsburg buildings to the Foundation in 1972, along with a letter stating that “the copyright of the photographs has run out, so you are free to use them as desired.”6 Upon his death in 1976, the remainder of Lincoln's archive of prints and negatives, as well as some business papers, were donated to the Pennsylvania State University Archives.
Scope and Contents
The F.S. Lincoln collection consists of black and white negatives and prints taken by Mr. Lincoln in preparation for the publication of "The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia," a series of articles appearing in the December 1935 and November 1936 issues of "The Architectural Record." Both issues featured a portfolio of buildings and gardens in the newly restored historic area of Williamsburg.
In order to produce a large pool of photos for use in these portfolios, Mr. Lincoln created comprehensive visual documentation of the work completed during the initial phases of the restoration (1927-1935.) He photographed the exteriors and interiors of thirty restored buildings, including the exhibition buildings open to the public, such as the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the Wren Building, and the Powder Magazine. In addition, he captured exterior views of some of the shops open on Merchant's Square and restored buildings adapted for public use, such as the Public Library. He also photographed many of the gardens and garden ornaments throughout the restored area.
The collection is organized into series by format. Series included in the collection are negatives; bound matted and signed prints; unbound matted and signed prints; and small albums. Within each format, items are organized according to the numbering system assigned by Mr. Lincoln. The first three digits of numbers assigned to the images correspond to a particular building or subject category. For example, all images of the Capitol have numbers beginning with 325 and all miscellaneous views have numbers beginning with 365. After these first three digits, Lincoln added a P for print and then a successive number for each view. For example, the first view of the Capitol is number 325P1. An “LC” prefix has been added to all image numbers by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to identify the images as coming from the Lincoln Collection.
Endnotes
1 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17, (Spring 1993): 127-128.
2 F.S. Lincoln to B.W. Norton, October 18, 1933. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
3 Agreement dated April 22, 1935 between Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and F.S. Lincoln, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
4 Mr. Norton to Mr. Darling, February 22, 1937; Kenneth Chorley to F.S. Lincoln, April 6, 1937, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
5 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17 (Spring 1993): 128.
6 F.S. Lincoln to James R. Short, May 15, 1972, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin or collodian printing out paper with platinum toning, mounted on board
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8x10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Detail of Wallpaper in Supper Room
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor’s Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Interior detail of the Chinese Wallpaper and moldings of the Supper Room in the Governor's Palace, 1935. The moldings exhibit richly carved Chinese and neo-classical ornamentation. A Chinese wallpaper pattern is visible on the walls, though it has since been removed.
Interior furnishings and decor reflect curators' views in the 1930s as to how Williamsburg's historic interiors may have looked in the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, with the advance of new research findings over the years, the interiors of the Governor’s Palace have changed to reflect a more authentic and accurate view of the building’s likely contents and room arrangements.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1935
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LC327P64
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
Chinese Wallpaper
F.S. Lincoln
Fretwork
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Moldings
Public Buildings
Rosettes
Supper Room
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Bit Depth
8
Channels
3
Height
768
Width
973
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
F.S. Lincoln Photography Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The FS Lincoln Collection
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Fay S. Lincoln (known professionally as F.S. Lincoln) operated a photography studio in New York City from the 1930s until the mid 1960s. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1894 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he received training as an engineer, Mr. Lincoln chose to become a professional photographer in 1929, when he opened the firm of Nyholm & Lincoln in conjunction with another photographer, Peter Nyholm, in New York City. A few years later, he opened his own studio at 114 East 32nd St.1
In 1932, Lincoln began corresponding with Kenneth Chorley, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, about the possibility of contracting with the Foundation to photograph the completed restoration work at Williamsburg. Lincoln had learned that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was looking for someone to create a master collection of photos of Williamsburg through Arthur S. Vernay, an acquaintance of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In his correspondence, Lincoln noted he had completed photographic assignments for many of the top architects and designers in New York, including Arthur S. Vernay, Joseph Urban, James Gamble Rogers, Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, McKim, Mead, & White, Robert Locher, and Eugene Schoen. He also pointed out that he had sold architectural photos to many prominent magazines, including "Architectural Record," "National Geographic," "Country Life," "Architectural Forum," and "Spur."2
Lincoln's credentials, along with sample photographs and recommendations from magazine editors, enabled him to secure a contract with Colonial Williamsburg on April 22, 1935. According to the terms of the contract, Lincoln was hired to prepare a master collection of photographs and negatives that Colonial Williamsburg could sell to tourists and residents of Williamsburg, as well as use for promotional purposes. Lincoln retained the right to sell copies of his photographs at his New York studio, provided he consulted with the Foundation regarding the proposed use of the photographs. He also retained title to all negatives and copyright for all photos until the termination of his business. Plans for a traveling exhibition of Lincoln's photographs of Williamsburg were also mentioned in the contract.3
During 1935, F.S. Lincoln traveled to Williamsburg at seasonal intervals to photograph views requested by the Foundation. A panel of Colonial Williamsburg employees reviewed each series of photos and selected a group to be added to the master collection. F.S. Lincoln photos illustrated two portfolios about Colonial Williamsburg published in the "Architectural Record" in December 1935 and November 1936. Full-page black and white photos of restored buildings and gardens accompanied articles on the restoration written by Kenneth Chorley, Fiske Kimball, William G. Perry, and Arthur Shurcliff. Thus, Lincoln's photos gave the American public their first introduction to the completed restoration.
Lincoln had also been hired by Colonial Williamsburg to create a group of photographs of Williamsburg that could be exhibited. Correspondence between staff members indicates that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hoped to mount a traveling exhibit of Williamsburg photographs. An exhibit of a selection of Lincoln's views of Williamsburg, along with photos he took for "Harper's Bazaar," "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," and "Town and Country," was held at the Rabinovitch Gallery in New York City from October 4-17, 1935.
Although Foundation employees were satisfied with the quality of Lincoln's photographs, they were dismayed by the cost of individual prints and enlargements. Memos exchanged between members of the marketing staff indicate that employees were having a hard time convincing distributors to purchase enlargements of the Lincoln photos for display in shop windows. As a result, the Foundation's agreement with F.S. Lincoln was terminated on April 21, 1936.4
Despite this setback, F.S. Lincoln secured contracts for many other architectural photography projects in the 1930s. He received numerous commissions to photograph buildings in New York City and also traveled abroad on several assignments. In 1934, he completed a portfolio of photos of Mont St. Michel and in 1938 he toured the deep South and photographed examples of antebellum architecture. Lincoln's photos were widely published in the 1930s and 1940s in such magazines as "Architectural Record," "House Beautiful," "National Geographic," "Country Life," and "Architectural Forum." In addition, he published a book of his photographs in 1946 entitled "Charleston: Photographic Studies by F.S. Lincoln."5
F.S. Lincoln continued to operate a photography studio in New York City until 1965, when he retired and moved to Center Hall, Pennsylvania to live with his sister. He forwarded all of his negatives of Williamsburg buildings to the Foundation in 1972, along with a letter stating that “the copyright of the photographs has run out, so you are free to use them as desired.”6 Upon his death in 1976, the remainder of Lincoln's archive of prints and negatives, as well as some business papers, were donated to the Pennsylvania State University Archives.
Scope and Contents
The F.S. Lincoln collection consists of black and white negatives and prints taken by Mr. Lincoln in preparation for the publication of "The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia," a series of articles appearing in the December 1935 and November 1936 issues of "The Architectural Record." Both issues featured a portfolio of buildings and gardens in the newly restored historic area of Williamsburg.
In order to produce a large pool of photos for use in these portfolios, Mr. Lincoln created comprehensive visual documentation of the work completed during the initial phases of the restoration (1927-1935.) He photographed the exteriors and interiors of thirty restored buildings, including the exhibition buildings open to the public, such as the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the Wren Building, and the Powder Magazine. In addition, he captured exterior views of some of the shops open on Merchant's Square and restored buildings adapted for public use, such as the Public Library. He also photographed many of the gardens and garden ornaments throughout the restored area.
The collection is organized into series by format. Series included in the collection are negatives; bound matted and signed prints; unbound matted and signed prints; and small albums. Within each format, items are organized according to the numbering system assigned by Mr. Lincoln. The first three digits of numbers assigned to the images correspond to a particular building or subject category. For example, all images of the Capitol have numbers beginning with 325 and all miscellaneous views have numbers beginning with 365. After these first three digits, Lincoln added a P for print and then a successive number for each view. For example, the first view of the Capitol is number 325P1. An “LC” prefix has been added to all image numbers by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to identify the images as coming from the Lincoln Collection.
Endnotes
1 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17, (Spring 1993): 127-128.
2 F.S. Lincoln to B.W. Norton, October 18, 1933. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
3 Agreement dated April 22, 1935 between Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and F.S. Lincoln, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
4 Mr. Norton to Mr. Darling, February 22, 1937; Kenneth Chorley to F.S. Lincoln, April 6, 1937, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
5 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17 (Spring 1993): 128.
6 F.S. Lincoln to James R. Short, May 15, 1972, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin or collodian printing out paper with platinum toning, mounted on board
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8x10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Detail Of Pediment In Ballroom
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor’s Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Interior detail of a pediment above a door in the Supper Room of the Governor's Palace, 1935. The pagoda pediment exhibits richly carved Chinese and neo-classical ornamentation. A Chinese wallpaper pattern is visible on the walls, though it has since been removed.
Interior furnishings and decor reflect curators' views in the 1930s as to how Williamsburg's historic interiors may have looked in the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, with the advance of new research findings over the years, the interiors of the Governor’s Palace have changed to reflect a more authentic and accurate view of the building’s likely contents and room arrangements.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1935
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LC327P63
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Acanthus Leaves
Ballroom Wing
Chinese Wallpaper
Dentils
Doors
Egg and Dart Patterns
F.S. Lincoln
Fretwork
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Pagodas
Pediments
Public Buildings
Rosettes
Supper Room
Virginia
Williamsburg
-
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Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Bit Depth
8
Channels
3
Height
768
Width
969
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
F.S. Lincoln Photography Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The FS Lincoln Collection
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Fay S. Lincoln (known professionally as F.S. Lincoln) operated a photography studio in New York City from the 1930s until the mid 1960s. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1894 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he received training as an engineer, Mr. Lincoln chose to become a professional photographer in 1929, when he opened the firm of Nyholm & Lincoln in conjunction with another photographer, Peter Nyholm, in New York City. A few years later, he opened his own studio at 114 East 32nd St.1
In 1932, Lincoln began corresponding with Kenneth Chorley, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, about the possibility of contracting with the Foundation to photograph the completed restoration work at Williamsburg. Lincoln had learned that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was looking for someone to create a master collection of photos of Williamsburg through Arthur S. Vernay, an acquaintance of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In his correspondence, Lincoln noted he had completed photographic assignments for many of the top architects and designers in New York, including Arthur S. Vernay, Joseph Urban, James Gamble Rogers, Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, McKim, Mead, & White, Robert Locher, and Eugene Schoen. He also pointed out that he had sold architectural photos to many prominent magazines, including "Architectural Record," "National Geographic," "Country Life," "Architectural Forum," and "Spur."2
Lincoln's credentials, along with sample photographs and recommendations from magazine editors, enabled him to secure a contract with Colonial Williamsburg on April 22, 1935. According to the terms of the contract, Lincoln was hired to prepare a master collection of photographs and negatives that Colonial Williamsburg could sell to tourists and residents of Williamsburg, as well as use for promotional purposes. Lincoln retained the right to sell copies of his photographs at his New York studio, provided he consulted with the Foundation regarding the proposed use of the photographs. He also retained title to all negatives and copyright for all photos until the termination of his business. Plans for a traveling exhibition of Lincoln's photographs of Williamsburg were also mentioned in the contract.3
During 1935, F.S. Lincoln traveled to Williamsburg at seasonal intervals to photograph views requested by the Foundation. A panel of Colonial Williamsburg employees reviewed each series of photos and selected a group to be added to the master collection. F.S. Lincoln photos illustrated two portfolios about Colonial Williamsburg published in the "Architectural Record" in December 1935 and November 1936. Full-page black and white photos of restored buildings and gardens accompanied articles on the restoration written by Kenneth Chorley, Fiske Kimball, William G. Perry, and Arthur Shurcliff. Thus, Lincoln's photos gave the American public their first introduction to the completed restoration.
Lincoln had also been hired by Colonial Williamsburg to create a group of photographs of Williamsburg that could be exhibited. Correspondence between staff members indicates that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hoped to mount a traveling exhibit of Williamsburg photographs. An exhibit of a selection of Lincoln's views of Williamsburg, along with photos he took for "Harper's Bazaar," "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," and "Town and Country," was held at the Rabinovitch Gallery in New York City from October 4-17, 1935.
Although Foundation employees were satisfied with the quality of Lincoln's photographs, they were dismayed by the cost of individual prints and enlargements. Memos exchanged between members of the marketing staff indicate that employees were having a hard time convincing distributors to purchase enlargements of the Lincoln photos for display in shop windows. As a result, the Foundation's agreement with F.S. Lincoln was terminated on April 21, 1936.4
Despite this setback, F.S. Lincoln secured contracts for many other architectural photography projects in the 1930s. He received numerous commissions to photograph buildings in New York City and also traveled abroad on several assignments. In 1934, he completed a portfolio of photos of Mont St. Michel and in 1938 he toured the deep South and photographed examples of antebellum architecture. Lincoln's photos were widely published in the 1930s and 1940s in such magazines as "Architectural Record," "House Beautiful," "National Geographic," "Country Life," and "Architectural Forum." In addition, he published a book of his photographs in 1946 entitled "Charleston: Photographic Studies by F.S. Lincoln."5
F.S. Lincoln continued to operate a photography studio in New York City until 1965, when he retired and moved to Center Hall, Pennsylvania to live with his sister. He forwarded all of his negatives of Williamsburg buildings to the Foundation in 1972, along with a letter stating that “the copyright of the photographs has run out, so you are free to use them as desired.”6 Upon his death in 1976, the remainder of Lincoln's archive of prints and negatives, as well as some business papers, were donated to the Pennsylvania State University Archives.
Scope and Contents
The F.S. Lincoln collection consists of black and white negatives and prints taken by Mr. Lincoln in preparation for the publication of "The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia," a series of articles appearing in the December 1935 and November 1936 issues of "The Architectural Record." Both issues featured a portfolio of buildings and gardens in the newly restored historic area of Williamsburg.
In order to produce a large pool of photos for use in these portfolios, Mr. Lincoln created comprehensive visual documentation of the work completed during the initial phases of the restoration (1927-1935.) He photographed the exteriors and interiors of thirty restored buildings, including the exhibition buildings open to the public, such as the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the Wren Building, and the Powder Magazine. In addition, he captured exterior views of some of the shops open on Merchant's Square and restored buildings adapted for public use, such as the Public Library. He also photographed many of the gardens and garden ornaments throughout the restored area.
The collection is organized into series by format. Series included in the collection are negatives; bound matted and signed prints; unbound matted and signed prints; and small albums. Within each format, items are organized according to the numbering system assigned by Mr. Lincoln. The first three digits of numbers assigned to the images correspond to a particular building or subject category. For example, all images of the Capitol have numbers beginning with 325 and all miscellaneous views have numbers beginning with 365. After these first three digits, Lincoln added a P for print and then a successive number for each view. For example, the first view of the Capitol is number 325P1. An “LC” prefix has been added to all image numbers by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to identify the images as coming from the Lincoln Collection.
Endnotes
1 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17, (Spring 1993): 127-128.
2 F.S. Lincoln to B.W. Norton, October 18, 1933. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
3 Agreement dated April 22, 1935 between Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and F.S. Lincoln, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
4 Mr. Norton to Mr. Darling, February 22, 1937; Kenneth Chorley to F.S. Lincoln, April 6, 1937, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
5 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17 (Spring 1993): 128.
6 F.S. Lincoln to James R. Short, May 15, 1972, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin or collodian printing out paper with platinum toning, mounted on board
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8x10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Ballroom and Pediment
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor’s Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Furniture -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Interior detail of a pediment above a door in the Ballroom of the Governor's Palace, 1935. The pediment exhibits richly carved neo-classical ornamentation and the initials "GR" below a crown, representing "Georgius Rex" (King George II), as the Ballroom Wing was added to the Palace during his reign.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1935
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LC327P61
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Acanthus Leaves
Ballroom
Ballroom Wing
Crowns
Dentils
Doors
F.S. Lincoln
Georgius Rex
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
King George II
Pediments
Public Buildings
Virginia
Volutes
Williamsburg
-
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Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Bit Depth
8
Channels
3
Height
768
Width
966
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
F.S. Lincoln Photography Collection
Description
An account of the resource
The FS Lincoln Collection
Biographical Sketch
Mr. Fay S. Lincoln (known professionally as F.S. Lincoln) operated a photography studio in New York City from the 1930s until the mid 1960s. He was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1894 and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Although he received training as an engineer, Mr. Lincoln chose to become a professional photographer in 1929, when he opened the firm of Nyholm & Lincoln in conjunction with another photographer, Peter Nyholm, in New York City. A few years later, he opened his own studio at 114 East 32nd St.1
In 1932, Lincoln began corresponding with Kenneth Chorley, President of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, about the possibility of contracting with the Foundation to photograph the completed restoration work at Williamsburg. Lincoln had learned that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was looking for someone to create a master collection of photos of Williamsburg through Arthur S. Vernay, an acquaintance of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. In his correspondence, Lincoln noted he had completed photographic assignments for many of the top architects and designers in New York, including Arthur S. Vernay, Joseph Urban, James Gamble Rogers, Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, McKim, Mead, & White, Robert Locher, and Eugene Schoen. He also pointed out that he had sold architectural photos to many prominent magazines, including "Architectural Record," "National Geographic," "Country Life," "Architectural Forum," and "Spur."2
Lincoln's credentials, along with sample photographs and recommendations from magazine editors, enabled him to secure a contract with Colonial Williamsburg on April 22, 1935. According to the terms of the contract, Lincoln was hired to prepare a master collection of photographs and negatives that Colonial Williamsburg could sell to tourists and residents of Williamsburg, as well as use for promotional purposes. Lincoln retained the right to sell copies of his photographs at his New York studio, provided he consulted with the Foundation regarding the proposed use of the photographs. He also retained title to all negatives and copyright for all photos until the termination of his business. Plans for a traveling exhibition of Lincoln's photographs of Williamsburg were also mentioned in the contract.3
During 1935, F.S. Lincoln traveled to Williamsburg at seasonal intervals to photograph views requested by the Foundation. A panel of Colonial Williamsburg employees reviewed each series of photos and selected a group to be added to the master collection. F.S. Lincoln photos illustrated two portfolios about Colonial Williamsburg published in the "Architectural Record" in December 1935 and November 1936. Full-page black and white photos of restored buildings and gardens accompanied articles on the restoration written by Kenneth Chorley, Fiske Kimball, William G. Perry, and Arthur Shurcliff. Thus, Lincoln's photos gave the American public their first introduction to the completed restoration.
Lincoln had also been hired by Colonial Williamsburg to create a group of photographs of Williamsburg that could be exhibited. Correspondence between staff members indicates that John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hoped to mount a traveling exhibit of Williamsburg photographs. An exhibit of a selection of Lincoln's views of Williamsburg, along with photos he took for "Harper's Bazaar," "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," and "Town and Country," was held at the Rabinovitch Gallery in New York City from October 4-17, 1935.
Although Foundation employees were satisfied with the quality of Lincoln's photographs, they were dismayed by the cost of individual prints and enlargements. Memos exchanged between members of the marketing staff indicate that employees were having a hard time convincing distributors to purchase enlargements of the Lincoln photos for display in shop windows. As a result, the Foundation's agreement with F.S. Lincoln was terminated on April 21, 1936.4
Despite this setback, F.S. Lincoln secured contracts for many other architectural photography projects in the 1930s. He received numerous commissions to photograph buildings in New York City and also traveled abroad on several assignments. In 1934, he completed a portfolio of photos of Mont St. Michel and in 1938 he toured the deep South and photographed examples of antebellum architecture. Lincoln's photos were widely published in the 1930s and 1940s in such magazines as "Architectural Record," "House Beautiful," "National Geographic," "Country Life," and "Architectural Forum." In addition, he published a book of his photographs in 1946 entitled "Charleston: Photographic Studies by F.S. Lincoln."5
F.S. Lincoln continued to operate a photography studio in New York City until 1965, when he retired and moved to Center Hall, Pennsylvania to live with his sister. He forwarded all of his negatives of Williamsburg buildings to the Foundation in 1972, along with a letter stating that “the copyright of the photographs has run out, so you are free to use them as desired.”6 Upon his death in 1976, the remainder of Lincoln's archive of prints and negatives, as well as some business papers, were donated to the Pennsylvania State University Archives.
Scope and Contents
The F.S. Lincoln collection consists of black and white negatives and prints taken by Mr. Lincoln in preparation for the publication of "The Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia," a series of articles appearing in the December 1935 and November 1936 issues of "The Architectural Record." Both issues featured a portfolio of buildings and gardens in the newly restored historic area of Williamsburg.
In order to produce a large pool of photos for use in these portfolios, Mr. Lincoln created comprehensive visual documentation of the work completed during the initial phases of the restoration (1927-1935.) He photographed the exteriors and interiors of thirty restored buildings, including the exhibition buildings open to the public, such as the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the Wren Building, and the Powder Magazine. In addition, he captured exterior views of some of the shops open on Merchant's Square and restored buildings adapted for public use, such as the Public Library. He also photographed many of the gardens and garden ornaments throughout the restored area.
The collection is organized into series by format. Series included in the collection are negatives; bound matted and signed prints; unbound matted and signed prints; and small albums. Within each format, items are organized according to the numbering system assigned by Mr. Lincoln. The first three digits of numbers assigned to the images correspond to a particular building or subject category. For example, all images of the Capitol have numbers beginning with 325 and all miscellaneous views have numbers beginning with 365. After these first three digits, Lincoln added a P for print and then a successive number for each view. For example, the first view of the Capitol is number 325P1. An “LC” prefix has been added to all image numbers by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to identify the images as coming from the Lincoln Collection.
Endnotes
1 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17, (Spring 1993): 127-128.
2 F.S. Lincoln to B.W. Norton, October 18, 1933. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
3 Agreement dated April 22, 1935 between Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. and F.S. Lincoln, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
4 Mr. Norton to Mr. Darling, February 22, 1937; Kenneth Chorley to F.S. Lincoln, April 6, 1937, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
5 Champagne, Anne, “Fay S. Lincoln Collection,” History of Photography 17 (Spring 1993): 128.
6 F.S. Lincoln to James R. Short, May 15, 1972, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Archives.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Gelatin or collodian printing out paper with platinum toning, mounted on board
Physical Dimensions
The actual physical size of the original image.
8x10 inches
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Governor's Palace, Rear Elevation and Garden
Subject
The topic of the resource
Block 20. Building 03.
Governor’s Palace (Williamsburg, Va.)
Historic buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Public buildings -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Gardens -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
Description
An account of the resource
Exterior of the Governor's Palace, northwest facade, 1935. In the foreground, the rear entrance and ballroom wing of the building is visible, while the main wing of the Governor's Palace stands in the background. The ballroom wing was built as an addition during the 1750s. Above its doors, a painted carving of the royal coat of arms is mounted within a pedimented gable. The gardens, designed by Arthur Shurcliff, include boxwood parterres and one dozen large cylindrical shrubs known as the Twelve Apostles, a feature often appearing in eighteenth-century English gardens.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lincoln, F.S.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1935
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1935
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: <a href="http://research.history.org/JDRLibrary/Visual_Resources/VisualResourcePermission.cfm">Rights and reproductions</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
jpeg
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
LC327P49
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Ballroom Wing
Belt Courses
Boxwood
Chimneys
Cupolas
Dentils
Dormer Windows
Dormers
Exteriors
F.S. Lincoln
Gables
Gardens
Governor's Palace
Historic Buildings
Pediments
Public Buildings
Royal Coats of Arms
Stringcourses
Virginia
Weather Vanes
Williamsburg