ca. 1850s-1962
Guide to the Photograph Collection
Abstract
Photographs of family and friends of Arthur Sherman Phillips of Fall River, Massachusetts. Also includes three albums of travel photographs compiled by his daughter Kathleen in 1921 and 1922.
Biographical Sketches
Arthur Sherman Phillips (1865-1941) was born in East Bridgewater, Mass., the son of Mark and Susan S. Pratt Phillips. In 1872 the family moved to Fall River, where Phillips attended Fall River High School, going on to become a member of the Class of 1887 at Williams College. Following graduation from Williams, Phillips began the study of law. He was admitted to the Bristol County Bar in 1891 and graduated with honors from Boston University Law School in 1892. The following year, he was the youngest member of the legal team that successfully defended Lizzie Borden in Fall River’s most notorious trial.
Phillips married Elizabeth Lurena Cheney (1870-1905) of Waltham, on September 13, 1893. They had three daughters together: Lurena in 1894, Kathleen in 1895, and Elizabeth in 1899. In 1908, he married May Churchill Wiggin of Haverhill, with whom he had one daughter, Margery May Phillips.
Kathleen Phillips (b. 1895) was the second daughter of Arthur S. Phillips and Elizabeth Lurena Cheney. In 1921-1922 she traveled around the world with three female companions and documented many of her experiences in her photograph albums.
Collection Description
The Arthur S. Phillips photographs comprise cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, tintypes, snapshots, and studio photographs of Arthur Sherman Phillips of Bridgewater and Fall River, Massachusetts, and his family including his wives Elizabeth Lurena (Cheney) Phillips and May Churchill (Wiggin) Phillips, and three daughters, Lurena, Kathleen, and Elizabeth. The collection also includes cartes de visite of members of earlier generations of the Phillips and Pratt families, maternal and paternal ancestors of Arthur Sherman Phillips. In addition to family photographs are carte de visite portraits of students and faculty from the Fall River High School Class of 1883 and cabinet photographs of members of the Williams College Class of 1887, of which Arthur Sherman Phillips was a member. Most photographs are identified. Identified photographers include Pach Brothers of New York, Gay Studios and A. L. Ward of Fall River, William A. Webster of Waltham, George H. Hastings of Boston, H. C. Oak of Merrimac, and C. F. Richardson and D. T. Burrell of Bridgewater, among many others.
The collection also contains photographs of the Phillips family home in Portsmouth, R.I. and gravestones of early Phillips ancestors, as well as three albums of snapshots collected by Kathleen Phillips during her travels to Egypt, Japan, India, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong in 1921 and 1922.
Acquisition Information
Deposit of John Wood Sweet, December 2006; gift, November 2009.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Portraits
Phillips family portraits
Arranged alphabetically.
Photographs, including tintypes, cartes de visite, and cabinet photographs of members of the family of Arthur S. Phillips.
Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), ca. 1866
Unknown photographer.Tintypes.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), ca. 1866
Taken by D. T. Burrell, Bridgewater, Mass.Carte de visite.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), 1883
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Carte de visite.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), 1887
Taken by Stiff, Fall River, Mass.Cabinet photograph.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), 1887
Taken by Marion, Lowell, Mass.Cabinet photograph.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), 1887
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Cabinet photograph.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), [1883-1887]
Unknown Photographer.Sherman, far right, with unidentified Williams College classmates.Phillips, Arthur Sherman (1865-1941), [1900-1941]
Unknown photographers.Photographs of Arthur Sherman Phillips as an adult.
Phillips, Elizabeth Lurena Cheney (1870-1905), 1880s-1900s
First wife of Arthur Sherman Phillips.
Tintype, carte de visite, and cabinet photographs of Elizabeth Lurena Cheney Phillips as a young woman. Photos. 252.33 and 252.34 depict her with Arthur Sherman Phillips. Most photographers identified.
Phillips, Kathleen (1895- ) , 1895-ca. 1930.
Photographs of Kathleen Phillips from babyhood to adulthood, including photographs with her mother, nurses, and dogs.
Phillips, Lurena (1894- ), ca. 1912
Unknown photographer.Phillips, Lurena, Kathleen and Elizabeth, ca. 1898-ca. 1905
Group photographs of the three Phillips daughters, Elizabeth, Kathleen, and Lurena, as children.
Phillips, Mark (1835-1911), 1860s-1880s
Carte de visite, cabinet photograph, and copy photograph of Mark Phillips. Identified photographers are C. F. Richardson of North Bridgewater and J. P. Stiff of Fall River.
Phillips, May Churchill Wiggin (-1943), ca. 1935.
Black and white photograph of May Churchill Phillips and husband Arthur Sherman Phillips.
Phillips, Susan Sherman Pratt (1841-1928), 1913.
Taken by Gay Studios, Fall River.Phillips ancestors, 19th century.
Tintypes, cartes de visite, and copy photographs of paternal ancestors of Arthur Sherman Phillips. Subjects include Sarah Ann Phillips Thrasher, Lucy Phillips, Elisha Phillips, Wadsworth Phillips, Lot Phillips and Eli Phillips.
Pratt ancestors, 19th century.
Cartes de visite and copy photographs of maternal ancestors of Arthur Sherman Phillips. Subjects include members of the Pratt, Porter, and Alden families and all photographs are identified.
Fall River High School portraits
Arranged alphabetically.
Carte de visite photographs of members of Fall River High School, Class of 1883.
Case, Charles L.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Clarke, Henry Wilson.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Arthur Irving Connell.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Dwelly, William H.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Leonard, Willard Thomas.
Taken by Gay's Gallery of Art, Fall River, Mass.Principal.
Mackenzie, John Milne.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Sub-master.
Milne, Abbie G. and her husband Charles [Carr].
Milne taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Carr taken by L. Wright, Providence, R.I.Neill, Jessie Lilian
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Pope, George Frederic
Milne taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Math instructor.
Smith, Iram Nelson.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Latin instructor.
Thompson, Edward French.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Thurston, Cora B.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Trafford, Perry Davis.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Unidentified woman.
Taken by Gay's Gallery of Art, Fall River, Mass.Member of class of 1887.
Wood, Levi Elmer.
Taken by Ward, Fall River, Mass.Williams College Class of 1887 and miscellaneous portraits
Arranged alphabetically.
Cabinet photographs of Phillips's classmates (Williams College Class of 1887), as well as other acquaintances.
Carnochan, William Eglin (1867-1931), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Carter, Franklin (1837-1919), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Fessenden, Frederick James (1862-1943), 1887.
Taken by Smith's, Lockport, N.Y.Hopkins, Mark (1802-1887), 1880s.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Miner, Dwight Maxwell (1864-1947), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Peck, Frank Lester, (1864-1943), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Perry, Arthur Latham (1830-1905), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Smith, Edwin Ray (1865-1915), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Taft, Calvin R. (-1886), 1880s.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York."Pa Taft, Postmaster until 1886."
Unidentified young man, 1880s.
Taken by Gay's Gallery of Art, Fall River.Vahey, James H. (1871-1929), 1892.
Taken by Davis & Dow, Boston.Class of 1892, Boston University Law School
Wentworth, George Edmund (1866-), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Wentworth, George Edmund (1866-), 1887.
Taken by Pach Bro's, New York.Views
Miscellaneous views
Gravestones of Mark and Mercy Phillips, 1948
Unknown photographerGravestones of Wadworth and Sarah Phillips, 1962
Taken by Frank R. Sweet, Jr.Proof sheet of 11 Phillips gravestones,1962
Taken by Frank R. Sweet, Jr.Waterwheel in Chilmark, Mass., 1932.
Taken by Lurena Phillips Whidden.Note on verso describes the building of waterwheels by Wadsworth Phillips.
Home of Arthur Sherman Phillips at Bristol Ferry, Portsmouth, R.I.
Unknown photographers.Black and white photographs, probably taken at various times, of the house and garden owned by Arthur Sherman Phillips at Bristol Ferry, R.I..
Kathleen Phillips travel albums, 1921-1922
Albums of black and white snapshots taken by Kathleen Phillips and others during Phillips's travels to the Mediterranean and Asia in 1921 and 1922.
Mediterranean, Egypt, Japan, Honolulu, June 1921-June 1922.
India, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nov. 1921-May 1922.
Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, March-May 1922.
Preferred Citation
Arthur Sherman Phillips family photographs, 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.