Views of Ashwood, Gulph Mills, and other sites in Delaware County and surrounding counties in Pennsylvania
Title
Views of Ashwood, Gulph Mills, and other sites in Delaware County and surrounding counties in Pennsylvania
Description
Album containing 24 photographs showing landscape views of Delaware County and portraiture of family and acquaintances. Images include exterior and interior views of the Leaming family estate Ashwood near Villanova and views of Conshohocken, Darby Creek near Lewis Mill, Valley Forge, Gulph and Morris mills and dams, Hammer Hollow, and farmland in Cream and Pleasant valleys. Also contains an image of Radnor Meeting House and a photographic reproduction of a cloud filled sky captioned "Sic Itur ad Astra" (i.e., thus you shall go the stars). Many of the views include Leaming's wife and children and others posed in parlors; with animals; on bridges and dirt paths; at brooks, creeks, spring houses, and barns; and in modes of transportion, including canoes and horse-drawn vehicles. Other portrait sitters include Alice Bourda and children Ernie Law, Tommy Gaffney, Henny Lewis, and Og Hoffman., Wooden binding., Title supplied by cataloger., Captions by Robert Waln Leaming on the recto and verso of the album pages., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., See LCP AR [Annual Report] 1999, p. 45-46., Gift of Mrs. Clifford Lewis III., Housed in phase box., Robert Waln Leaming, grandson of China Trade merchant Robert Waln (1765-1836), was a merchant by trade who also painted and practiced photography. He was married to Julia Scott, descended from the royal Scotts of Ancrum, with whom he had four children Rebecca, i.e., Reb (1850-1911); Mary, i.e., Mame (1851-1911); Julia, i.e., Duly (1854-1913), and Thomas (1856-1911). Leaming was also an active member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. His residence Ashwood, not to be confused with the Penn-Gaskell/DeCosta property of the same name (208 Ashwood Road, Villanova), was razed in the late 19th century.
Creator
Leaming, Robert Waln, 1824-1884, photographer
Date
ca. 1873
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9759.2]
Scenery on the Pennsylvania Railroad
Title
Scenery on the Pennsylvania Railroad
Description
Album of photographs documenting the Philadelphia, Middle, and Pittsburgh divisions of the Pennsylvania Railroad, incorporated in 1846. The consolidated company sought to build a trunk route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh through the Allegheny mountains in order to compete with the Erie Canal for freight traffic. In 1854, rail passage through the Alleghenies via the "Horse Shoe Curve" was achieved and spurred the establishment and growth of the several towns depicted along the route., Photographs depict stations, sites, landmarks, and landscape and townscape views along the Pennsylvania Railroad. Titles include No. 1 Ardmore Station ; No. 2 Bryn Mawr Station; No. 3 Bridge at Conways at Conewago; No. 5 Mount Union; No. 6 Susquehanna Bridge at Rockville (i.e., first bridge replaced in 1877); No. 7 Track Tank; No. 8 Jack Narrows; No. 9 Triple Track; No. 12 Bryn Mawr Hotel; No. 13 Coatesville Bridge; No. 16 Powers Run Allegheny River; No. 21 Sample track near Harmersville; No. 25 East from Harmersville; No. 26 Butler; No. 29 On the Kiskimenitus below Leechburg; No. 36 Greensburg near Huffs; No. 39 Hawkins; No. 40 West of Derry; No. 41 East of Morgan; No. 42 West of Beattys Station; No. 43 Monastery West of Latrobe; No. 44 1 1/2 miles East of S. W. Penna.; No. 46 Westmoreland Coal Co.; No. 47 Braddocks, Port Perry and Steel Works; No. 48 Westmoreland Landscape; No. 49 Stewarts Sample Track; No. 50 Section of Y at Walls; No. 51 Greensburg Station ; No. 53 West of Pack Saddle; No. 55 Lockport; No. 56 Below Conemaugh Furnace; No. 58 Cresson (Panorama); No. 61 Allegheny Tunnel , Galitzen; No. 64 Soap Fat; No. 57 Cresson (Panorama); No. 59 Kittanning from McGarveys; No. 65 Pulpit Rock; No. 67 From McKees Gap; No. 76 Bellefonte; No. 78 Mill Hall; No. 79 Birmingham; No. 80 Union Furnace and Station ; No. 81 Spring Creek; No. 82 Allegheny Tunnel; No. 83 Tyrone and Clearfield; No. 84 Grade on the Tyrone and Clearfield; No. 85 Bellefonte Gap;, No. 86 Mule Shoe and Deep Fill; No. 88 Pack Saddle East; No. 90 Logan House, Altoona, Pa.; No. 96 Jack Narrows, Mapleton; No. 97 Entrance to Jack Narrows; No. 98 Reservoir; No. 99 Bedford Springs; No. 100 View from Bedford Springs; No. 101 Bedford from Wickershams; No. 102 Below Bedford, Devils Backbone; No. 103 Bedford; No. 104 McVeytown Station; No. 105 Mount Dallas; No. 106 Mapleton; No. 107 Huntington; No. 108 Tuscarora Valley; No. 109 Sentinel Rock; No. 110 Tyrone Forges; No. 113 Standard Track, Lewistown Narrows; No. 114 From Centre of Susquehanna Bridge; No. 115 Terrace Mountain, Mill Creek; No. 116 From West End of Susquehanna Bridge; No. 117 Upper Mann’s; No. 118 Lewistown Narrows; No. 119 Susquehanna Bridge; No. 121 Standard Track at Newport; No. 123 Across the Allegheny; No. 127 General View of Bryn Mawr; No. 124 Saltzburg; No. 130 Bryn Mawr; No. 131 Bryn Mawr; No. 138 Irwin Station; No. 139 Sample Track, Wynnewood Station ; No. 140 Haverford College; No. 142 Haverford College Station; No. 147 Bridge at Columbia [Wrightsburg?] Pa.; No. 148 Wayne Station; No. 151 Terminus at Delaware City; No. 154 Harrisburg from Fort Washington ; No. 150 Chiques (i.e., Chickie’s Rock); No. 153 Henry Clay, Chiques and Marietta; No. 158 Landenburg; No. 159 Columbia Tunnel; and No. 162 Louella Residence of J. Henry Askin., Photographs include railroad tracks, locomotives and railcars, railroad equipment, bridges, tunnels, rock formations, mountains, passes, mills, furnaces, coal and steel works, hotels, Victorian-style residences, wooden dwellings and sheds, canal houses and canals, telegraph poles, townscape, farmsteads, marshland, rivers, and wooden fences. Several images, particularly views of stations, also depict posed figures, including an African American man at the Haverford College Station (No. 142). Details in other photographs include rail tracks with a water trough (No. 7); amateurishly hand-painted advertising text on a wood fence (No. 36); the "Exchange Hotel" near the Allegheny Tunnel in Galitzen (No. 61); men seated on the cow catcher of a partially visible locomotive at the grade on the Tyrone and Clearfield (No. 84); a gazebo-style pavilion at Bedford Springs (No. 199); oil tanks and drums (No. 123); the Pennsylvania Gas Coal Co. Office, a pedestrian bridge crossing over a creek, and the “Tom Smith Peanut Man” shed near Irwin Station (No. 138); the “Columbia” barge (No. 147); a "Water-Line of Boston" sailing vessel at the terminus at Delaware City (No. 151); the Martin Landenburger mill in Landenburg (No. 158); and the greenhouse attached to the residence on the Louella estate in Wayne (No. 162)., Photographer’s imprint inscribed in negative of several of the photographs: F. Gutekunst, Philada. or F. Gutekunst, Photogr., Philada., Date inferred from publication date of stereographs with similar content by the photographer. See stereo - Gutekunst - Views [P.9058.1-.142]., Photograph No. 4, 10-11, 14-15, 17-20, 22-24, 27-28, 30-35, 37-38, 45, 52, 54, 60, 62-63, 66, 68-75, 77, 87, 89, 91-95, 112, 120, 122, 125-126, 128-129, 132-137, 141, 143-146, 149, 152, 155-157, 160-161 not included in album., Inscribed in pencil upper right corner on mount of photograph No. 1: 40 guards., Inscribed in pencil below image on mount of photograph No. 1: about 1876., Inscription in pencil below title on mount of photograph No. 147: Wrightsburg. “Columbia” in title circled., See Gutekunst (Pennsylvania Railroad) research file., Gift of the Greer family in memory of David St. John Greer who after starting as a co-op student at Drexel University spent his working life with the Pennsylvania Railroad with the exception of a period of service with the U.S. Navy during WWII., Lib. Company. Annual report, 2014, p. 49-50., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Gutekunst, a prominent Philadelphia photographer, published a series of Pennsylvania Railroad views stereographs in 1875.
Creator
Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831-1917, photographer
Date
[ca. 1875]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.2014.74]
Photograph album
Title
Photograph album
Description
Photograph album belonging to Philadelphia amateur photographer John C. Browne. Contains landscape and architectural views of the Delaware Valley and Central Pennsylvania, informal portraits of family and friends, and canal boat excursions of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, including over the Pennsylvania Canal to Harrisburg (1879) and Morris Canal (1880). Images depict "Bartram's house, Gray's Ferry"; Cobbs Creek, including the Old Powder House; Wissahickon; Jay Cooke's Ogontz estate; Mill Creek (Lower Merion Township); the Philadelphia Zoo monkey house; Chelten Hills; Laurel Hill; Delaware Water Gap, including G. W. Childs arbor, Kittany House, Promontory, Lovers Leap, Young's Peak, and Mt. Minsi; falls, creeks, and Dingman's Ferry in Pike County, Pa.; sites along the Juniata Division of Pennsylvania Canal, including mill races, iron furnaces, Pennsylvania Rail Road bridges, and canal locks at or near Bridgeport, Dauphin, and Rockville; and sites along the Morris Canal, including canal boat planes and hoisting tower, Hopatcong Lake, Little Falls, and Passaic Falls., Other images show the English Cottage on the Centennial grounds (1877); strung hunted game and fish; landscape views of Sea Bright and Belvidere, N.J. and the Delaware near Torresdale; a posed "sweethearts" scene "On the Pennypack" (1878); and a group portrait of the Photographic Society (Samuel F. Corlies, Charles Pancoast, Charles Barrington, Samuel Sartain, Joseph William Bates, W. S. Vaux, Dr. Carl Seiler, Thomas H. McCollin, Thomas B. Craig) with cameras and fishing equipment during the Morris Canal excursion. Other portrait views include Mr. and Mrs. S. Fisher Corlies, Mamie Lloyd, Sallie Bacon, Jesse S. Graves, Alice E. Browne, Susie Hacker, Samuel Fox, and Charles Palmer. Some photographs show a photographer using his camera and several of the canal excursion views include the canal boats "Zuleika" (Pennsylvania Canal) and "Katie Kellogg" and her mule team "Tom & Baby" (Morris Canal)., Front free end paper signed John C. Browne., Photographs identified by inscriptions below images. Majority are date and some annotated "Washed Emulsion.", Red cloth binding, with gilt, and stamped on cover: Album., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., An article by Browne, "The Waterfalls of Pike County, Pa.," describing a trip to photograph natural scenery in Pike County appears in Philadelphia Photographer, Vol. XIII, no. 151 (July 1876), pages 208-211., LCP AR [Annual Reports] 1989 p. 33-34., Browne was a founder of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia.
Creator
Browne, John C. (John Coates), 1838-1918, photographer
Date
1877-1880
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9317]
Photographs taken by Robert Waln Leaming 1865-1875 at Ashwood, Villa Nova, Delaware County, Penna. Lancaster Pike and Spring Mill Road
Title
Photographs taken by Robert Waln Leaming 1865-1875 at Ashwood, Villa Nova, Delaware County, Penna. Lancaster Pike and Spring Mill Road
Description
Album containing 67 photographs showing the grounds and residence of the Ashwood estate near Villanova during different seasons; neighboring properties in Delaware and Montgomery counties; and formally posed family portraiture. Images include the front and rear facade of the Ashwood residence and landscape views of the grounds; Paxson's Mill and Dam in Radnor; J. Howard Lewis's paper mill at Darby Creek; 'Hammer Hollow," including the mill dam; Gulph Mill (Montgomery County); Leaming's other family estate Waln Grove near Frankford; old spring houses near Gulph Mill and Paxson's Mill; and Ancrum, "Seat of the Scotts Baronets of Ancrum Scotland." Many of the estate views include Leaming's wife and children (attired in clothing appropriate to the season) posed at the residence and on the grounds, including near fences, the barn, woods, and creek and in characters, as tableaux, and with farm and domesticated pets. Also contains photographic reproductions and photo-collages. Reproductions depict the the "Scott of Ancrum" family tree and Leaming's painting "Where the Sea Mew roams" and the collages show Leaming's daughters in a parlor setting (possibly Ashwood) and painted works by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, James Reid Lambdin, and Edwin Henry Landseer including the visage of Robert Waln Leaming. Other portrait sitters include Alice Burda, Tom Stewart, "Our Truck-man" in his horse-drawn buggy; the "Coachman" with horse "'Nelly'"and Mrs. Scott, i.e., probably, Leaming's mother-in-law Mary Emlen Scott, Blue morocco binding, plate on front cover: R. W. Leaming and stamped: Photographs., Title from inscription on front free end paper. Also includes family tree of descendants of Robert Waln Leaming and his wife Julia Scott (1821-1914)., Insert: Portrait print of Robert Waln engraved by Samuel Sartain after 1825 painting by Jacob Eicholtz. Verso inscribed with biographical information., Captions by Robert Waln Leaming below the images., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., LCP AR [Annual Report] 1999, p. 45-46., Gift of Mrs. Clifford Lewis III., Housed in phase box., Robert Waln Leaming, grandson of China Trade merchant Robert Waln, was a merchant by trade who also painted and practiced photography. He was married to Julia Scott, descended from the royal Scotts of Ancrum, with whom he had four children Rebecca, i.e., Reb (1850-1911); Mary, i.e., Mame (1851-1911); Julia, i.e., Duly (1854-1913), and Thomas (1856-1911). Leaming was also an active member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. His residence Ashwood, not to be confused with the Penn-Gaskell/DeCosta property of the same name (208 Ashwood Road, Villanova), was razed in the late 19th century.
Creator
Leaming, Robert Waln, 1824-1884, photographer
Date
1865-1875
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums [P.9759.1]
Bits of nature and some art products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna.
Title
Bits of nature and some art products, in Fairmount Park, at Philadelphia, Penna
Description
Volume of compiled prints and drawings by lithographer, etcher, and artist Augustus Kollner primarily depicting landscapes of Fairmount Park and originally published in his "Bits of Nature ...," one of four volumes in his 1878 series of small folio pictures. Also contains views of Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties. Several of the prints also show park and riverscape; residences and estates; animals, including canal mules, horses, cows, and dogs; park visitors, including an African American family, children, and persons on foot and on horseback; steamboats, rowboats, and other vessels on the Schuylkill River; and rock formations. Other views show wharf workers at lunch and a cliff-side residence at North Twenty-Seventh Street near the park., Mount Pleasant Mansion was built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Titles include Thos. Moore’s Cottage, Phila. Park; Schuylkill River, Fairmount Park, Phila. (Columbia Bridge); Prospect from Ridgeland and Fairmount Park, Phila.; (In Fairmount Park) Sweet Briar Mansion, in 1843; In Ravine near Sweet Briar Fairmount Park, Phila.; Schuylkill River below the Falls, Fairmount Pk. Phila.; Belmont and Waterworks. Mount Pleasant, Fairmount Park, Philada.; In Wissahickon Valley, Fairmount Park, Philada.; Peters Island, Fairmount Park, Philada.; Schuylkill Riv. above Fairmount Dam, Philada. in 1843; Phila. 1842; Schuylkill River Pa.; Pt. Pleasant, Pa.; Near Willow Grove Penna.; Life Scenes in Fairmount Park; Near East Park, Phila./ "S.E. corner 27th & [Arben?]"; Schuylkill Valley Pa (dated 1893).; Delaware Riv. [Easton?]; Life Scenes in Park; City Wharf Scene (dated 1894); and West Phila [illegible] near Sweet [Briar?] West Phila., Title from title page., Maroon leather binding, stamped in gilt on cover: Bits of Nature. A. Kollner., Spine stamped: Bits of Nature. Kollner., Prints variably signed AK; A. Kollner; A. Kollner fc.; From nate. and etchd by A. Kollner; and Kollner, fect., Titles on the stone or plate. Some annotated with inscribed titles., Two of prints [*Am 1878 Kol, 2086.F.15 and 16] printed on recto of proofs. Proofs depict "Life Scenes in Park" and "The Christian Soldier.", Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Kollner advertised four volumes of small folio pictures, including "Bits of Nature and Some Art Products, in Fairmount Park ..." in 1878. Several of the lithographs from this volume were based on sketches he executed in the 1840s.
Creator
Kollner, Augustus, 1813-1906
Date
[1878-1894]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Kollner [*Am 1878 Kol, 2086.F]