Photographic prints, 1867-1963, bulk 1892-1919
Scope and Contents
This series consists of matted and loose black and white photographic prints, photographic postcards, and photographs mounted in albums, the bulk of which were taken by W. E. Culver. There are also some prints of images by photographers other than W. E. Culver.
Many of the photographs are of Culver family members, particularly W. E. Culver's three children Louise, Elizabeth, and Wellington ("Duke"). Other major themes present in the images are agricultural scenes, pastoral outdoor scenes, and exterior views of homes, both in Topeka, Kansas and upstate New York. There are also several photographs from trips the Culver family took to Missouri, other parts of Kansas, Colorado, and elsewhere.
Interior shots, mostly with the Culver family, provide details about furnishings for a middle-class home in Topeka around the turn of the 20th century.
There are images taken after the 1903 flood in Topeka, illustrating the damage done by the flooding mostly to residences and downtown building.
Several images feature African American Topeka residents or Native American visitors to Topeka.
Some of the images are neither identified nor dated.
Dates
- Creation: 1867-1963, bulk 1892-1919
Extent
11.5 linear foot (24 boxes) : Some of the images are cyanotypes or salted paper photographs, however, they are not differentiated in the finding aid.
Arrangement
Arrangement of the photographic prints reflects the arrangement of the glass plate negatives in the collection. The glass plate negatives were arranged by Kansas subjects (A), portraits (B), and subjects in other states/miscellaneous (C). The prints that matched the negatives were given a folder number corresponding to the number given to the negative. For example, a glass plate negative of the ruins of the Copeland Hotel in Topeka--a Kansas subject--is given the number A:39. The corresponding photographic print can be found in box 1, folder A:39. Not all negatives have a corresponding print, so folder numbers are not consecutive in the prints series.
However, because of the large quantity of the negatives and prints it is difficult to match all of them. Many of the images are very similar to others (for example, farm field or stream scenes) or, perhaps, missing. Hence, not all of the prints were matched to the original negative. In this instance, the prints not matching a negative were placed in a separate sub-series, "Prints not matched to negative collection," and described separately.
Processing Information
The title written on the folder during processing may not exactly match the title in the finding aid. The title in the finding aid matches the title of the corresponding glass plate negative in the "Topeka, Kansas and vicinity," "Portraits," and "New York, Colorado, unidentified locations, and miscellaneous" sub-series. The titles in the finding aid were developed by the original processor, and may have come from inscribed information on the original enclosures of the glass plate negatives, which were discarded. The titles in quotations are presumably W. E. Culver's titles for the images. It is possible that some of Culver's original titles have been mistaken with the original processor's titles and are not in quotations.
Occasionally, clarification of the title or an identification of the subject was added in brackets in 2021 by Spencer staff.
Many prints from the "Prints not matched to negative collection" sub-series were indeed matched and moved to the correct print sub-series in 2021.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository