Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University
Descriptive Summary
George Mason University. Special Collections Research Center.
Larkin family
Larkin family photograph collection
circa 1870s-1920s
C0126
0.5 linear ft.
(2 boxes)
English
This collection contains dozens of family photographs from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, exhibiting a range of early photographic technology including albumen prints, tintypes and cyanotypes, as well as gelatin silver prints.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Larkin family photograph collection must be obtained from Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Preferred Citation
Larkin family photograph collection, C0126, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
Collection donor unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in August 2009. Processing and EAD markup updated by Elizabeth Beckman in October 2017.
Historical Information
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, photography was moving beyond experts and studios and becoming more widespread among non-specialists. Describing Kodak's invetion of Eastman gelatin film in 1886, Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O'Connor say, "This process, in combination with the dry gelatin emulsion and Kodak's complete developing and printing service, encouraged amateur photography to boom" (45). Earlier popular photographic varieties such as tintypes (images on laquered iron common in the United States in the mid-to-late 1800s) and albumen prints (created using an egg-white emulsion common in the later 1800s) were gradualy overtaken by gelatin silver prints as the main photographic medium in use by professionals and amateurs alike (Ritzenthaler and Vogt-O'Connor, 33-48). As the Victoria and Albert Museum's page on photographic processes notes, gelatin-silver prints "by 1895 had generally replaced albumen prints because they were more stable, did not turn yellow, and were simpler to produce" ('Photographic Processes'). The cyanotype, created using the same process used to make blueprints, never quite achieved the popularity of any of these processes (see Ritzenthaler and Vogt-O'Connor, 33-34).
Scope and Content
This collection contains dozens of family photographs from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, exhibiting a range of early photographic technology including albumen prints, tintypes and cyanotypes, as well as gelatin silver prints. A few of the photographs have been hand-tinted. Several photos contain inscriptions of photo studios--including G. W. Davis and Unique--with addresses indicating that many of them were taken in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, or Richmond, VA. The photographs range from professional studio portraits to informal group pictures, which appear to have been taken in more rural locales. Several of the photos show Victorian interiors and exteriors as well as horse carriages, row-boats and railroad tracks. Few of the subjects are identified, but photo-envelopes with the collection include the names Ceyton R. Larkin, Charles Rozier Larkin, Paul S. Williams, and Mrs. J. L. Johnson.
Arrangement
Organized largely by photograph type.
Adjunct Descriptive Data
Related Material
Special Collections Research Center also holds the .
Bibliography
Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, and Diane O'Connor, with Helena Zinkham et al. "Photographs: Archival Care and Management." Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006.
Index Terms
Subjects:
Domestic life. Washington (D.C.)
Document Types:
Albumen prints.
Cyanotypes.
Portraits.
Tintypes.
Contents List
1
1
Photograph envelopes and receipts from developers,
circa early 1900s
1
2
Mounted gelatin silver print of man and boy,
circa early 1900s
1
3
Mounted gelatin silver print of man with horse and carriage,
circa early 1900s
1
4
Mounted gelatin silver print of child with bicycle,
circa early 1900s
1
5
Mounted gelatin silver print of child,
circa early 1900s
1
6
Mounted gelatin silver print of woman and two children,
circa early 1900s
1
7
Mounted gelatin silver print of women in a field,
circa early 1900s
1
8
Mounted gelatin silver print of a child,
circa early 1900s
1
9
Mounted silver gelatin print of child on a horse,
circa early 1900s
1
10
Tintype of three men,
circa 1870s-1880s
1
11
Tintype of a boy and a baby,
circa 1870s-1880s
1
12
Tintype of a man and woman,
circa 1870s-1880s
1
13
Tintype of a man in glasses,
circa 1870s-1880s
1
14
Two gelatin silver prints of a toddler,
circa early 1900s
1
15
Two gelatin silver prints of children,
circa early 1900s
1
16
Two gelatin silver prints of a girl and toddler,
circa early 1900s
1
17
Gelatin silver print of a girl at a piano,
circa early 1900s
1
18
Three gelatin silver prints - a man on a horse and young men on a stoop,
circa early 1900s
1
19
Gelatin silver print of a man, woman, and girl,
circa early 1900s
1
20
Gelatin silver prints of a young man,
circa early 1900s
1
21
Gelatin silver print of a man in a hat,
circa early 1900s
1
22
Gelatin silver print photographs of a woman,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
23
Gelatin silver prints - a woman and an outdoor structure,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
24
Mounted prints of a young boy, possibly albumen,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
25
Two silver gelatin prints of three men on a stoop,
early 1900s
1
26
Silver gelatin print of a man with a lawn mower,
circa 1910-1920s
1
27
Albumen print of three children and article on King George of Greece's jubilee,
circa 1888
1
28
Silver gelatin print of a man and woman,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
29
Albumen carte-de-visite of three children,
circa 1888
1
30
Mounted gelatin print of a group of people,
circa 1890s-early 1900s
1
31
Tintype of a young man in a frame,
circa 1970s-1980s
1
32
Gelatin silver print of three women, man and a child,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
33
Gelatin silver print of two women,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
34
Gelatin silver print a man and a young child,
circa 1910s
1
35
Gelatin silver prints of women with boats,
circa early 1900s-1910s
1
36
Albumen prints of infants,
circa 1870s-1890s
1
37
Three mounted albumen prints of a boy and girl,
circa 1870s-1890s
1
38
Two gelatin silver prints of a house,
circa early 1900s
1
39
Gelatin silver print of a man with a horse and carriage,
circa early 1900s
1
40
Gelatin silver print of a man riding a horse,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
41
Gelatin silver print of a man sitting,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
42
Gelatin silver prints of a woman and child,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
43
Gelatin silver print of a man and woman laughing,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
44
Gelatin silver prints of a house,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
45
Gelatin silver print of a woman,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
46
Gelatin silver print of a home after snowfall,
circa early 1900s
1
47
Gelatin silver print of a dining room,
circa early 1900s
1
48
Gelatin silver print of a river, possibly Great Falls of the Potomac,
circa early 1900s
1
49
Gelatin silver print of four young women ,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
50
Gelatin silver print of a man in a suit,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
51
Gelatin silver print of railroad tracks,
circa early 1900s
1
52
Gelatin silver print of a child,
circa early 1900s
1
53
Gelatin silver prints of women and an infant,
circa early 1900s
1
54
Three gelatin silver prints of a man,
circa early 1900s
1
55
Two gelatin silver prints of three men,
circa early 1900s
1
56
Gelatin silver prints of a dock with boats,
circa early 1900s
1
57
Cyanotypes of outdoor scenes,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
58
Cyanotypes of a man and woman,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
59
Cyanotypes of men, women, and children,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
60
Cyanotypes of women and children ,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
61
Cyanotypes of men and a woman,
circa late 1800s-early 1900s
1
62
Gelatin silver prints of buildings and a river in the snow,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
63
Gelatin silver prints of a man in a suit,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
64
Carte de visite of a young man in a uniform,
circa 1870s-1890s
1
65
Carte de visite of a young man in a uniform,
circa 1870s-1890s
1
66
Gelatin silver prints of a woman and an infant,
circa early 1900s
1
67
Gelatin silver prints of children and a woman in a wheelchair,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
68
Gelatin silver portrait of a young girl,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
69
Gelatin silver print of a man in a suit,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
70
Mounted gelatin silver print of three women,
circa 1910s-1920s
1
71
Gelatin silver print of a group of people outside,
circa early 1900s-1910s
2
1
Report card, class photograph, and family photograph (mounted),
1900s
2
2
Mounted gelatin silver print of a child outdoors,
circa early 1900s
2
3
Mounted gelatin silver print of a child on a horse,
circa early 1900s
2
4
Mounted gelatin silver prints of a young child outdoors,
circa early 1900s
2
5
Mounted print of an infant,
circa early 1900s
2
6
Mounted prints of an infant,
circa early 1900s
2
7
Gelatin silver and albumen prints of men, women, and children,
circa 1880s-early 1900s
2
8
Albumen print of Francis Norville Larkin, photographic postcards, gelatin silver prints, hand-tinted gelatin silver prints, envelopes from photographic developers in Manassas and Charlottesville, VA,
circa 1880s-1918
2
9
Cartes de visite of various Larkin family members and others, other mounted photographs,
circa 1870s-1890s
2
10
Cartes de visite, possibly a photogravure,
circa 1870s-1890s