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 photocollages. 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]
Saturday jaunts :
Title
Saturday jaunts one-day holidays spent near the city by the Ledger Monastery
Description
Volume composed of reprinted "Saturday Jaunts" columns (spring and summer 1891) and 25 photographs documenting the one-day excursions of the "Saturday Jaunters," employees of the Public Ledger in Philadelphia. Saturday Jaunters (identified with "monkish" pseudonyms) referenced in and authors of the columns include Bonifacius (William E. Meehan), Benedict (Addison B. Burk), Chrysostum (Joel Cook), Angelo (John J. Mckenna), Damon (Charles S. Spangler), Photius (Edmund Stirling), Friar Tuck (Edward Robinson), Constantius (Stephen J. Burke), Pius (Israel F. Sheppard), Sacristan (C. Johann), Fabian (Dr. William H. Burk), Medicus, Ananias (Collins W. Walton), Titian (John A. Johann), Cephas (Peter J. Heborn), and Brother Alban (Captain Robert C. Clipperton). Contains the columns: I. Marble Hall and Spring Mill. II. A Visit to the Coal Fields of Pottsville. III. A Trip along Cresheim Creek and the "Happy Valley." IV. A Roundabout Journey to Edge Hill. V. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir. VI. A Pilgrimage through the Gulf and to Belvoir (Continued). VII. A Pleasant Pilgrimage into New Jersey. VIII. A. Walk Up the Wissahickon Valley. IX. A Trip to Reading and Its Grand Environs. X. The Soapstone Quarries and Rockdale. XI. Villanova and Its Vicinity. XII. Glimpses from a Car window of a Picturesque Country. XIII. A Trip to Mount Gretna and the Cornwall Ore Banks., Columns, signed by the author, reference the attending jaunters; describe their routes taken by foot, train (Reading Railroad), elevated rail, and coal cars; and provide stories, myths, and histories of the botany, geology, fauna, and architecture of the locales and sites visited. Specific sites and landmarks described in detail include Marble Hall marble pit; Spring Mill (Schuylkill Valley); Reading Coal and Iron Company; Livezey's meadow and Devil's Glenn (Wissahickon Valley); the "Great Valley," i.e., Chester, Plymouth, and Whitemarsh valleys; George Bullock's former land and mill (Gulf Creek); Plymouth Quaker Meeting House; Belvoir Estate on the summit of Sandy Hill; "Crystal" and Cold springs (Laurel Springs, Camden County, N.J.); Norristown Railroad Bridge; John Kelpius's log cabin and caves (Germantown); Rittenhouse Mill on Monoshone Creek; McKinney’s Quarry (Wissahickon); Neversink Mountain; Bear Inn (Reading); Rockdale picnic grounds; Barren Hill; Augustinian College (i.e., Villanova University); monastery and church of the Augustinian Fathers at Villanova; Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Columbia, Northumberland and Union counties; Port Carbon; and Cornwall Ore Bank Company. Columns also report about the railroad and industrial officials who provided tours and served as guides; "Photius"'s photographs; jaunter's scientific, philosophical, and literary discussions, including the plant life, flora, and fauna of the Wissahickon, the geology and landscapes of the Schuylkill and Lebanon valleys, and Potsdam sandstone; and jaunter's activities including fishing, collecting arrowheads, and playing baseball. Columns also report about the jaunters more colloquial conversations, including the three different Indian Rock hotels and Joseph “Rooty” Smith root museum on the Wissahickon and the Mt. Gretna Farmer’s Encampment Association annual encampment (August 16-22, 1891)., Photographs taken by "Photius," (i.e., Edmund Stirling) a photographer by avocation, depict group portraits of the "jaunters" and their families during excursions; a summer home in Chestnut Hill; a Marble Hall pit; Pottsville coal mine; a tree in the Plymouth Meetinghouse yard; a Germantown cave where Johann Kelpius or his followers resided; cascades, creeks, and streams in "Happy Valley," Laurel Springs, and the Wissahickon; Mt. Gretna train station; and a portrait of "jaunter" Alban, i.e., Robert C. Clipperton, attired in walking gaiters, and a handkerchief under his hat during the Villanova jaunt., Tan leather binding stamped "Saturday Jaunts" on spine., Includes illustrated title page containing the figure of a plump monk, in his robes, and holding a pipe., Names of jaunters supplied from unillustrated edition in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Vd. 503)., Photographs annotated: H [number]., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Edmund Stirling, born September 13, 1861 in Philadelphia, began his career in the newspaper trade as a reporter in his later teens. By the 1890s, he started his avocation of photography and worked as an editor at the Public Ledger. Stirling was also active in the Photo-Secession Movement and a member of several other clubs in addition to the "jaunters," including the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, the Pen and Pencil Club, and Manufacturer's Club. He was married to Anne J. Biddle, who also practiced photography. The couple had one son, Charles Biddle, who died in infancy.
Date
[MDCCCXCVIII. [1898]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Saturday [79214.O]