COLLECTION GUIDES

ca. 1860-1964; bulk: ca. 1875-1898

Guide to the Photograph Collection

Restrictions on Access

There are restrictions on the use of this collection. Glass plate negatives and lantern slides of any size are not available for research use. Copy photographs or scans may be available for alternative viewing. Consult the Reference Librarian for more information.


Collection Summary

Abstract

This collection consists primarily of photographs taken by Francis Blake, ca. 1875-1898. These images are mainly portraits of the Blake family, various relatives, and friends; Francis Blake's family estate, Keewaydin, in Weston, Mass.; the Blakes' travels to the Glen House Hotel in Glen, N.H. and the Payson family farm in Peoria County, Ill.; and Blake's experimentations with instantaneous and high-speed photography.

Biographical Sketch

Francis Blake (1850-1913) was born in Needham, Mass., the son of Caroline Burling (Trumbull) and Francis Blake, Sr. Known widely as the inventor of the Blake Transmitter for telephone communications, Blake was a respected physicist who also worked on the United States Coast Survey from his teenage years through early adulthood (1866-1878); was responsible for the design of his elaborate family estate, Keewaydin, in Weston, Mass.; and was a serious amateur photographer. He married Elizabeth Livermore Hubbard (1849-1941) in 1874, and together they had two children: Agnes (Blake) Fitzgerald (b. 1876) and Benjamin Sewall Blake (b. 1877).

Francis Blake's interest in photography began in 1884, and that year, he built an extensive photographic laboratory on the grounds of Keewaydin. A member of the progressive Society of Amateur Photographers of New York and the Boston Camera Club, Blake's photographic interests included portraiture of family and friends, as well as landscape views of Keewaydin and other locations. However, he was most highly regarded for his work with high-speed photography. In the mid-1880s, Blake designed a distinctive focal-plane shutter that allowed him to take photographs with exposure times of 1/1000 to 1/2000 of a second. The resulting stop-action images of trains, birds, horses, bicyclists, and athletes were exhibited in Boston, Philadelphia, and London from 1891 to 1893, to critical acclaim, and his photos of tennis players in motion were included in the 1893 textbook Practical Lawn-Tennis, by former tennis champion James Dwight. Blake also published an article on his research in high-speed photography, "Photographic Shutters," which was printed in two respected photography journals, American Amateur Photographer and Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, in 1891.

Collection Description

The Francis Blake photographs contains 1004 photographs in 9 albums (in cases), 1 oversize album (in case), 3 regular boxes, 1 narrow box, and 3 oversize boxes; 1 album of unnumbered photographs; 1 daguerreotype; 283 lantern slides in 16 boxes; 154 small glass plate negatives in 9 boxes; 627 medium glass plate negatives in 30 boxes; 25 glass plate positives in 3 boxes; one box of camera filters belonging to Francis Blake; and one box containing three photo notebooks kept by Francis Blake from 1886-1898.

The bulk of this collection consists of photographs taken by Francis Blake from ca. 1884-1898. Subjects include portraits of various Blake family members and friends and views of Keewaydin from 1884-1893, the Glen House Hotel in Glen, N.H., ca. 1884-1886, and the Payson family farm in Mossville, Ill., 1885. The collection also includes loose duplicate prints and enlargements that Francis Blake made from some of the original prints in the albums, as well as one album composed of reprints of select photos from various earlier albums. The lantern slides and glass plate negatives contain images from Francis Blake's experimentations with high-speed photography, for which many do not have prints.

There are also a number of photographs in the collection taken by commercial photographers. These include portraits of the various Blake, Hubbard, Sewall, Jackson, Cobb, Payson, and Young family members; portraits of Francis Blake himself; and photographs of the Blake family ancestral home and gravesites in England. Photographers include William A. Webster (Waltham, Mass.); W. Notman (Boston, Mass.); Allen & Rowell (Boston, Mass.); A. Sonrel (Boston, Mass.); Ludovici's Photographic and Crayon Studios (New York, N.Y.); Sarony's (New York, N.Y.); and C. A. Gandy (London), among many others. Additionally, there are also a number of loose photographs taken by Blake family friend William deYoung Field of his family and home in Telluride, Colo.

This collection includes cartes de visite, cabinet cards, a daguerreotype, tintypes, stereographs, lantern slides, glass plate negatives, glass positives, and card photograph albums.

Acquisition Information

Albums 5-6 and 9-10 were donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society by the Mark Twain House in July 1997. Photos. #6.3.1086M-6.3.1090M and #57.833a were a gift of Ruth Oliver Joliffe in June 2004. The remaining material in this collection was removed from the Francis Blake papers, which were given to the MHS by the descendants of Francis Blake in May 1964.

Restrictions on Access

There are restrictions on the use of this collection. Glass plate negatives and lantern slides of any size are not available for research use. Copy photographs or scans may be available for alternative viewing. Consult the Reference Librarian for more information.

Box / Album List

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Album 1#57.1-52

Sewall-Hubbard family album, ca. 1860-1870

Album 2#57.53-91

Blake family album, ca. 1870-1880

Album 3#57.93-140

Blake family album, ca. 1876-1891

Album 4#57.141-220

Glen House, Glen, N.H., ca. 1884-1886

Album 5#57.222-336

Portraits, ca. 1884-1890

Stored in oversize.
Album 6#57.337-423

Keewaydin, ca. 1884-1885

Album 7#57.424-518

Payson Farm, 1885

Album 8#57.519-550

Keewaydin, 1893 (1)

Album 9#57.551-575

Keewaydin, 1893 (2)

Album 10#57.576-710

Compilation of photographs by Francis Blake, ca. 1893

Album 11

Portraits of family and friends

Box 1#57.711-725

Loose photographs removed from albums

Box 1#57.726-825

Loose photographs from the Francis Blake papers.

Box 2#57.827-912

Portraits: Individual portraits and group portraits, Blake

Box 3#57.913-925

Portraits: Group portraits, Blake-Schwab

Box 3#57.926-963

Views

Box 4

Duplicate photographs

Box 5

Francis Blake photo notebooks

Oversize 1#57.964-986

Oversize portraits and views: Large

Oversize 2#57.987-1000

Oversize portraits and views: Extra-large

Oversize 3#57.1001-1018

Oversize portraits and views: Extra-large

Restricted access photographs

These photographs are restricted. See the Detailed Description of the Collection for more information.

Lantern slide boxes 1-16#6.3.1S-283S#57.1019-1301

Lantern slides

Small glass plate negative boxes 1-9#6.3.284S-438S#57.1302-1455

Glass plate negatives: Small

Small filter box 1

Filters

Stored with small glass plate negatives in Photo. Coll. 6.3.
Medium glass plate negatives boxes 1-30#6.3.439M-1065M#57.1456-2082

Glass plate negatives: Medium

Medium glass plate positive boxes 1-3#6.3.1066M-1090M#57.2083-2107

Glass plate positives

Stored with medium glass plate negatives in Photo. Coll. 6.3.

Detailed Description of the Collection

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I. Photograph albums

11 albums (in cases).

The albums in this series are arranged chronologically. Albums 1-4 were removed from the Francis Blake papers in July 2002. Their volume numbers correspond to those given them in the arrangement of the Francis Blake papers. Volume 37 remains stored with the Francis Blake papers (Series. Photographs, ca. 1860-1900), as it does not contain photographic material.

Close I. Photograph albums

II. Loose photographs

3 regular boxes and 3 oversize boxes.

This series contains loose photographs by Francis Blake and other photographers. It is arranged into five sections: loose photographs removed from albums (A); loose photographs from the Francis Blake papers (B); portraits (C); views (D); and oversize portraits and views (E).

Close II. Loose photographs

Glass Plate Negative Index

This index matches some of the prints in this collection to their respective glass plate negatives. The "Blake negative #" indicates a number written by Blake on some of the prints in the albums to identify the corresponding negative. Some of these numbers and their subjects are recorded in the Francis Blake photo notebooks.

Photo. # Blake negative # Glass plate negative #
57.141 36 6.3.439M
57.142 37 6.3.440M
57.143 38 6.3.441M
57.144 39 6.3.442M
57.145 40 6.3.443M
57.146 41 6.3.444M
57.147 42 6.3.445M
57.148 43 6.3.446M
57.149 44 6.3.447M
57.150 45 6.3.448M
57.151 46 6.3.449M
57.152 47 6.3.450M
57.153 48 6.3.451M
57.154 49 6.3.452M
57.155 50 6.3.453M and 6.3.454M
57.156 51 6.3.455M
57.157 52 6.3.456M
57.158 53 6.3.457M
57.159 54 6.3.458M
57.160 55 6.3.459M
57.161 56 6.3.460M
57.162 57 6.3.461M
57.163 58 6.3.462M
57.165 59 6.3.463M
57.166 60 6.3.464M
57.167 61 6.3.465M
57.168 62 6.3.466M
57.169 63 6.3.467M
57.170 64 6.3.468M
57.171 65 6.3.469M
57.172 66 6.3.470M
57.173 67 6.3.471M
57.174 68 6.3.472M
57.175 69 6.3.473M
57.176 70 6.3.474M
57.177 71 6.3.475M
57.178 72 6.3.476M
57.179 73 6.3.477M
57.180 74 6.3.478M
57.181 75 6.3.479M
57.182 76 6.3.480M
57.183 77 6.3.481M
57.184 78 6.3.482M
57.185 79 6.3.483M
57.186 80 6.3.484M
57.188 82 6.3.485M
57.189 83 6.3.486M
57.191 85 6.3.487M
57.192 249 6.2.494M
57.193 250 6.3.495M
57.194 251 6.3.496M
57.195 244 6.3.489M
57.196 252 6.3.497M
57.197 253 6.3.498M
57.198 254 6.3.499M
57.199 255 6.3.500M
57.200 256 6.3.501M
57.201 257 6.3.502M
57.202 258 6.3.503M
57.203 259 6.3.504M
57.205 261 6.3.505M
57.206 262 6.3.506M
57.207 263 6.3.507M
57.208 264 6.3.508M
57.209 247 6.3.492M
57.210 248 6.3.493M
57.211 245 6.3.490M
57.212 246 6.3.491M
57.216 241 6.3.488M
57.217 268 6.3.509M
57.218 269 6.3.510M
57.219 270 6.3.511M
57.220 271 6.3.512M
57.341 5 6.3.527M
57.349 13 6.3.528M
57.355 20 6.3.529M
57.357 25 6.3.530M
57.359 27 6.3.531M
57.363 32 6.3.533M
57.364 33 6.3.534M
57.365 35 6.3.535M
57.367 103 6.3.536M
57.371 108 6.3.537M
57.372 109 6.3.538M
57.373 110 6.3.539M
57.378 115 6.3.540M
57.379 212 6.3.541M
57.380 233 6.3.542M
57.381 234 6.3.543M
57.382 235 6.3.544M
57.383 288 6.3.547M
57.384 289 6.3.548M
57.385 290 6.3.549M
57.386 294 6.3.550M
57.388 295 6.3.551M
57.389 333 6.3.553M
57.390 334 6.3.554M
57.391 335 6.3.555M
57.392 336 6.3.556M
57.393 337 6.3.557M
57.394 338 6.3.558M
57.395 339 6.3.559M
57.396 340 6.3.560M
57.397 341 6.3.561M
57.399 344 6.3.563M
57.400 345 6.3.564M
57.401 346 6.3.565M
57.402 347 6.3.566M
57.403 348 6.3.567M
57.404 349 6.3.568M
57.405 317 6.3.554M
57.406 351 6.3.569M
57.407 352 6.3.570M
57.408 353 6.3.571M
57.409 354 6.3.572M
57.417 369 6.3.574M
57.418 368 6.3.573M
57.424 116 6.3.666M
57.425 117 6.3.667M
57.426 118 6.3.668M
57.427 119 6.3.669M
57.428 120 6.3.670M
57.429 121 6.3.671M
57.430 122 6.3.672M
57.431 123 6.3.673M
57.432 124 6.3.674M
57.444 126 6.3.676M
57.445 127 6.3.677M
57.446 128 6.3.678M
57.447 129 6.3.679M
57.448 130 6.3.680M
57.449 131 6.3.681M
57.450 132 6.3.682M
57.451 133 6.3.683M
57.452 134 6.3.684M
57.453 135 6.3.685M
57.454 136 6.3.686M
57.455 137 6.3.687M
57.456 138 6.3.688M
57.457 139 6.3.689M
57.458 140 6.3.690M
57.459 141 6.3.691M
57.460 142 6.3.692M
57.461 143 6.3.693M
57.462 144 6.3.694M
57.463 145 6.3.695M
57.464 146 6.3.696M
57.465 147 6.3.697M
57.466 148 6.3.698M
57.467 149 6.3.699M
57.468 150 6.3.700M
57.469 151 6.3.701M
57.470 152 6.3.702M
57.471 153 6.3.703M
57.472 154 6.3.704M
57.473 155 6.3.705M
57.474 156 6.3.706M
57.475 157 6.3.707M
57.476 158 6.3.708M
57.477 159 6.3.709M
57.478 160 6.3.710M
57.479 161 6.3.711M
57.479a 162 6.3.712M
57.480 163 6.3.713M
57.481 164 6.3.714M
57.482 165 6.3.715M
57.483 166 6.3.716M
57.484 167 6.3.717M
57.485 168 6.3.718M
57.486 169 6.3.719M
57.487 170 6.3.720M
57.488 171 6.3.721M
57.489 172 6.3.722M
57.490 173 6.3.723M
57.491 174 6.3.724M
57.492 175 6.3.725M
57.493 176 6.3.726M
57.494 177 6.3.727M
57.495 178 6.3.728M
57.496 179 6.3.729M
57.497 180 6.3.730M
57.498 181 6.3.685M
57.499 182 6.3.686M
57.500 183 6.3.687M
57.501 184 6.3.688M
57.502 185 6.3.689M
57.503 186 6.3.690M
57.504 187 6.3.691M
57.505 188 6.3.692M
57.506 189 6.3.693M
57.506a 190 6.3.694M
57.507 191 6.3.695M
57.508 192 6.3.696M
57.509 193 6.3.697M
57.512 196 6.3.698M
57.513 197 6.3.699M

List of Francis Blake Photographs With Reproductions in the Massachusetts Historical Society

This list represents photographs and glass plate negatives from the Francis Blake photographs for which reproductions have been made by the Massachusetts Historical Society. These reproductions may include negatives and digital images. Consult the Reference Librarian to order reproductions of photographs.

Researchers may request to view reproductions in the place of glass photographs. Glass plate negatives, lantern slides, and glass plate positives are not available for use by researchers.

57.343
57.59
57.61
57.68
57.105
57.110
57.134
57.137
57.140
57.148
57.154
57.162
57.201
57.262
57.274
57.275
57.284
57.301-308
57.302
57.305
57.306
57.310
57.337
57.338
57.339
57.340
57.341
57.342
57.344
57.345
57.346
57.348
57.352
57.359
57.360
57.361
57.365
57.523
57.366
57.367
57.368
57.370
57.380
57.382
57.389
57.392
37.395
57.396
57.397
57.399-401
57.402
57.403
57.406
57.417-418
57.420
57.426
57.457
57.475
57.478
57.506a
57.507
57.513
57.518
57.519
57.521
57.527
57.528
57.529
57.532
57.533
57.540
57.544
57.545
57.546
6.3.326S
57.657
57.691
57.788
57.793
57.794
57.797
57.829
57.834-836
57.841
57.842
57.854
57.865
57.893
57.906-908
57.912
57.930
57.1004
57.1016
6.3.285S
6.3.304S
6.3.306S
6.3.308S
6.3.309S
6.3.313S
6.3.320S
6.3.325S
6.3.328S
6.3.331S
6.3.354S
6.3.355S
6.3.356S
6.3.364S
6.3.381S
6.3.384S
6.3.386S
6.3.389S
6.3.390S
6.3.392S
6.3.415S
6.3.417S
6.3.419S
6.3.983M
6.3.984M
6.3.986M
6.3.992
6.3.999M
6.3.1055M

Preferred Citation

Francis Blake photographs, Photo. Coll. 57, Massachusetts Historical Society Photo Archives.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Blake, Benjamin Sewall, b. 1877--Photographs.
Blake, Elizabeth Livermore Hubbard, 1849-1941--Photographs.
Blake, Francis, 1850-1913--Photographs.
Bush, Charles Green, 1842-1909--Photographs.
Bush, Frederick Thomas--Photographs.
Barnabee, Henry Clay, 1833-1917--Photographs.
Field, William deYoung--Photographs.
Fitzgerald, Agnes Blake, b. 1876--Photographs.
Howells, William Dean, 1837-1920--Photographs.
Lyman, John P.--Photographs.
Payson, Henry Silas--Photographs.
Sullivan, T.R. (Thomas Russell), 1849-1916--Photographs.
Whitwell, William A.--Photographs.
Blake family--Photograph collections.
Cobb family--Photograph collections.
Hubbard family--Photograph collections.
Jackson family--Photograph collections.
Payson family--Photograph collections.
Sewall family--Photograph collections.
Young family--Photograph collections.
Gandy, C. A., photographer.
Notman, William A., 1826-1891, photographer.
Sonrel, Antoine, d. 1879, photographer.
Webster, William A., photographer.

Organizations:

Allen & Rowell (Boston, Mass.), photographers.
Ludovici's Photographic and Crayon Studios (New York, N.Y.), photographers.

Subjects:

Chronophotography--Specimens.
Inventors--19th century--Photographs.
Photography, High-Speed--19th century--Specimens.
Photography, Instantaneous--19th century--Specimens.
Portrait photographers--United States.
England--19th century--Photographs.
Europe--19th century--Photographs.
Glen (N.H.)--Photographs.
Glen House Hotel (Glen, N.H.)--Photographs.
Keewaydin (Weston, Mass.)--Photographs.
Peoria County (Ill.)--Photographs.
Daguerreotypes.
Cabinet photographs.
Cartes de visite.
Collodion transparencies.
Glass negatives.
Lantern slides.
Tintypes.
Card photograph albums.
Photograph albums.

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