Friends of the Virginia Beach Public Library Photograph Collection, PHC.237
Abstract
Collection of twenty-eight cartes de visite and one tintype, portrait photographs c.1860-1900. Donated to the State Archives of North Carolina by the Friends of Virginia Beach Public Library. Represented in the collection are work by the Alderman Studio (Raleigh, NC), Andrews' Gallery (Raleigh, NC), Hunt's Southern Temple of the Photographic Arts (Raleigh, NC), Harrell and Grimes (Murfreesboro, NC), Walter's Art Gallery (Norfolk, VA), Maneely's Photo Studio (Norfolk, VA), Parker and Harrell (Suffolk, VA), and Richmond Photograph Company (Richmond, VA).
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Friends of the Virginia Beach Public Library Photograph Collection
- Call Number
- PHC.237
- Creator
- Friends of the Virginia Beach Public Library
- Date
- 1860-1900
- Repository
- State Archives of North Carolina
Collection Overview
This collection is comprised of portrait photographs dating c.1860-1900 - twenty-eight
cartes de visite, one tintype, and the beautiful tooled leather photo album in which
the photos were originally housed. Subjects are largely unidentified; however, three
are partially labeled - "Mrs. B," "Riddick" and "R.J.W." - and six have more complete
descriptions - "E. E. Hilliard" (Eli E. Hilliard, editor of the Scotland Neck Commonwealth
newspaper 1882-1912), "W. J. Ferrell," "Maggie Capehart," "Sam D. Quinn" (or "Goinn"
or "Vionn" - print is very faint and partially illegible), "Willie T. Walters," and
"H. G. Holding, my sweetheart." Represented in the collection are work by the Alderman
Studio (Raleigh, NC), Andrews' Gallery (Raleigh, NC), Hunt's Southern Temple of the
Photographic Arts (Raleigh, NC), Harrell and Grimes (Murfreesboro, NC), Walter's Art
Gallery (Norfolk, VA), Maneely's Photo Studio (Norfolk, VA), Parker and Harrell (Suffolk,
VA), and Richmond Photograph Company (Richmond, VA).
Because this collection was donated with no accompanying provenence or historical
information, it has been necessary to speculate about the collection's origins based
on clues found within the contents of the album. Unfortunately, no identifying writing
has been found in or on the album itself but research into the identities of the subjects
of the few identified photographs has yielded some informative data. Four of the identified
men were students at Wake Forest College between 1879 and 1882, and three of them
graduated from there in 1882. One of the identified Wake Forest College students,
H. G. Holding, is further labeled as "my sweetheart," suggesting there is a high probability
that the photo belonged to a woman - a woman who had some connection to these Wake
Forest College men and may have assembled the photo album. The identified photos,
too, depict people that have roots in eastern North Carolina and/or ties to tidewater
Virginia, and this geographic area is also the location of the photography studios
that produced both the identified and unidentified photos in the collection.
Based on these findings it can be assumed that this collection was probably assembled
by a young woman from eastern North Carolina or Virginia who knew some Wake Forest
College students in the early 1880s.
Arrangement Note
The photographs in this collection are arranged in the order that they appeared in the album in which they were donated. The original album, now empty, is filed at the end of the collection.
Contents of the Collection
Oval portrait photograph of a young woman showing head and upper torso. Subject is depicted sitting straight with arms crossed and resting on a table or cushion. She is wearing a dark bodice with long sleeves and plaid cuffs and a high neckline featuring a flat bow secured with a small brooch. Unknown photographer.
Portrait photograph of a young man showing head and shoulders. Subject is depicted looking slightly to his right and wearing a suit coat, spread collar, and cravat. Photograph by Alderman Studio, Raleigh, NC.
Portrait photograph of a young woman showing head and upper torso. Subject is depicted sitting leaning slightly forward with arms crossed and resting on a table. She is wearing a dark bodice with long sleeves and a high neckline featuring a lace stand-up collar and is wearing several pieces of jewelry including a distinctive cross pin, cross necklace, large brooch, and earrings. Unknown photographer.
Portrait photograph of a young woman showing head and upper torso. Subject is wearing a two-toned bodice with buttons up the front and a high neckline featuring a large bow and is wearing several pieces of jewelry including a chain necklace, a brooch, and earrings. Photograph by Walter's Art Gallery, Norfolk, VA.
Portrait photograph of a baby about a year old seated in a reclining pose wearing what could be a christening gown. Unknown photographer.
Photograph of four young women in very similar dark dresses holding various sports equipment. The women are posed in a group, two seated in front and two standing behind. The one seated on the left is holding barbells and the one seated on the right is holding two small hoops in her hands. The women standing each hold what looks like a wooden pole similar to a pool cue. The pieces of apparatus were common during the later 19th century as part of the wellness trend that began in the Victorian era and swept the country and western world in general, making calesthenics and gymnastics fashionable and accessible to women. Unknown photographer.
Oval portrait photograph showing head and upper torso of a young woman identified only as "Mrs. B" in a tiny pencilled inscription in the upper left corner. She is wearing a dark dress with a high lace collar featuring a large lace bow and brooch and chain necklace. Photograph by Walter's Art gallery, Norfolk, VA.
Oval portrait photograph of a young woman, head and shoulders view. She is wearing large drop earrings and what appears to probably be a two piece dress, the top made to look like a jacket with velvet lapels over a buttoned to the neck bodice with a velvet stand-up collar surrounded at the neck with a tiny lace border. Unknown photographer.
Portrait photograph of a woman who appears to be in her early 20s wearing a dark dress featuring a high neckline, an embroidered fabric placket down the front, front buttons, a wide lace portrait collar in a dark color presumably matching the dress, and a long chain with brooch necklace and a collar pin. Photograph by Maneely's Photographic Studio, Norfolk, VA.
Oval portrait photograph of a little girl who appears to be about ten years old, wearing a necklace and with hair in ringlet curls. This carte de visit appears to be copy work perhaps of an older photo. Photo studio is Harrell and Grimes, Murfreesboro, NC.
Oval portrait photograph of Eli E. Hilliard, born 18 November 1856, died 2 February 1912, from Harnett County; attended Wake Forest College 1879-1882, graduated in 1882; editor of the Scotland Neck 'Commonwealth' newspaper in Scotland Neck, NC, in Halifax County; married to Mary Montague of Wake Forest, NC. He is wearing a white shirt, dark tie, and dark suit as well as a distinctive pin on his coat that apperas to be a letter "T" or "Y" connected to a small heart by a short chain. Photograph by Andrews' Gallery, Raleigh, NC, S. L. Alderman, Operator. (General information from US Census records and Find-a-Grave; education information from the General Catalogue of Wake Forest College [1834-1892], Special Collections and University Archives, Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University)
Oval portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of young woman wearing a dress featuring a plain bodice embellished only with two verticle stripes and a high white collar. Subject wears a cross necklace and brooch on a heavy chain, drop earrings, and a small collar pin. Photograph by Richmond Photograph Company, Richmond, VA.
Oval portrait photograph showing the head and upper torso of a young woman wearing a dark dress constructed of shiny fabric and featuring a high lace collar and an elaborate double breasted buttoned front placket with tiny pleats and a brocade inset. Subject wears a flower brooch at the front top of her collar as her only accessory. Unknown photographer.
Oval portrait photograph showing head and upper torso of a young boy who appears to be about twelve years old. He is wearing a light shirt with a spread collar, no tie, and a heavy woven coat with notched lapels, buttoned at top with one button, the tails hanging open the rest of the way down the front. Unknown photographer.
Oval portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of a young man wearing a light colored spread collar shirt, dark tie, plaid overcoat, and distinctive pin on his coat. Pin appears to be a letter "T" or "Y" linked by a chain to a small heart. Unknown photographer. Inscription on back of photo saus "Riddick" and this could be Ivey Goodman Riddick of Wake County, who attended Wake Forest College, graduated in 1884; went to New York to Bellvue Medical College, graduated in 1889, and returned to Youngsville, NC. (Education information from the General Catalogue of Wake Forest College [1834-1892], Special Collections and University Archives, Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University)
Portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of a young man wearing a white shirt with a standing collar, loose tie and dark coat. Photograph by Walter's Art Gallery, Norfolk, VA.
Oval portrait photograph showing the head and shouldres of a young woman wearing a dark dress or jacket featuring a small spread collar, covered buttons close together up the front, and a small collar pin. Photograph by Parker and Harrell, Suffolk, VA.
Oval portrait photograph depicting W. J. Ferrell wearing a white shirt, spread collar, dark tie, dark suit coat and vest, and a pin that appears to look like a letter "T" or "Y" attached with a chain to a small lyre. Photograph by Andrews' Gallery, Raleigh, NC, S. L. Alderman, Operator. Inscription on back of photograph reads "W. J. Ferrell." This man is probably William Jasper Ferrell of Wake Count; attended Wake Forest College 1877-1882, graduated 1882, and was a teacher first in Granville County and later in Wakefield. (Education information from the General Catalogue of Wake Forest College [1834-1892], Special Collections and University Archives, Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University)
Portrait photograph (tintype) showing head and torso of Maggie Capehart. She is wearing a dark lace bodice featuring a light lace stand-up ruffled collar, and plaid sleeves with white cuffs, drop earrings, several necklaces including a cross, and a large brooch shaped like a seashell. Photographer unknown. The name "Maggie L. Capehart" is inscribed in pencil in several places on the paper frame surrounding the tintype and on the paper backing. This Maggie L. Capehart is probably Margaret Lula Capehart, born c.1860 in Bertie County, died 15 May 1935 in Norfolk, VA; mother was Eliza Mason Capehart, father was William Jonothan Capehart. Married to Colonel Walter Preston Burrus until he died in 1912. Then married Patrick Murphy Pearsall, a New Bern lawyer, in 1915. (Information from US Census Records, Find-a-Grave, and Death Certificates)
Three-quarter length portrait photograph showing a seated man wearing a suit. Photographer unknown. Inscription in pencil on back of photograph reads "Sam D. [illegible]." The surname cound be Quinn, Voinn, Goinn, or something else.
Oval portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of Willie T. Walters. He is wearing a light colored shirt with a standing collar, a light patterned tie, and a dark pinstriped coat. Photograph by Richmond Photograph Company, Richmond, VA. Inscription in pencil on the bottom of the front of the carte de visite reads "Willie T. Walters." This could be William Thomas Walters, Jr., of Wake County who attended Wake Forest College 1881-1882 before moving to Florida and was the son of William Thomas Walters, Sr., from Virginia who taught mathmatics at Wake Forest College. (Education information from the General Catalogue of Wake Forest College [1834-1892], Special Collections and University Archives, Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University)
Oval portrait photograph of a bearded man who appears to be about 50 years old. Man is wearing a light shirt, dark tie, vest, and coat. Photographer unknown.
Oval portrait photograph of H. G. Holding showing head and shoulders. He is wearing a light shirt with spread collar, dark tie, and dark double breasted coat on which he is wearing a pin that appears to look like a letter "T" or "Y" attached with a chain to a small lyre. Photograph by Andrews' Gallery, Raleigh, NC, S. L. Alderman, Operator. Inscription in pen on back of photograph reads "H. G. Holding" and another in pencil reads "my sweetheart." This is most likely Henry Graham Holding of Wake Forest, NC, born 6 October 1859, died 15 September 1942; attended Wake Forest College 1876-1882, earned an MA in 1882; worked for a time in Tennessee for Royal Coal Company; then in Wake County first as an insurance agent and then as a Wake County Auditor for the rest of his life. (Education information from the General Catalogue of Wake Forest College [1834-1892], Special Collections and University Archives, Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University; other information from US Census Records and The News & Observer)
Oval portrait photograph showing head and upper torso of a young woman wearing a
Full length portrait photograph of a bearded man seated in a chair in a studio setting. He is wearing a dark suit with a long overcoat, light shirt, dark tie, watch chain visible in his vest, and he is pictured with a walking stick in his left hand. Photographer unknown.
Portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of a bearded man wearing a dark suit. He appears to be about thirty years old. Photograph by Hunt's Southern Temple of the Photographic Art, Raleigh, NC.
Oval portrait photograph showing head and shoulders of a man wearing a dark suit, dark tie, and standing collared light shirt. Photographer unknown.
Full length portrait photograph of a child, appears to be a little girl, sitting in a chair. She is wearing a fancy dress featuring a lace collar, pleated skirt, lace underskirt, and plaid embellishments on the bodice. Hightop shoes buttoning up the sides and knit tights and a chain necklace complete her ensemble. Photographer unknown.
Portrait photograph showing head and upper torso of a young man wearing a light or white shirt, patterned tie, a dark windowpane plaid suit, and pocket square. Photograph by Alderman, Raleigh, NC. Inscription in pencil on the bottom front of the photograph reads "R J. W."
Subject Headings
Acquisitions Information
This collection was acquired by the Friends of the Virginia Beach Public Library from an anonymous donor. Assessment of the collection indicated that the majority of the photos in the collection that bear an inscription of a photography studio list a North Carolina studio and also showed a connection to the Capehart family of North Carolina. Because of these factors, the collection was determined to be outside the Virginia Beach Public Library's collecting purview and was donated to the State Archives of North Carolina.