C0126Larkin family photograph collectionGuide to the Larkin family photograph collection C0126Larkin family photograph collectionEron Ackerman, Jordan Patty, Elizabeth BeckmanGeorge Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center

2006

Fenwick Library, MS2FL4400 University Dr.Fairfax, Virginia 22030Business Number: 703-993-2220Fax Number: 703-993-8911speccoll@gmu.eduURL:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-27 07:02:40 -0500.Description is written in: English, Latin script.Describing Archives: A Content Standard George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center Larkin family photograph collection Larkin family C0126 /repositories/2/resources/449 0.5 Linear Feet 2 boxes circa 1870s-1920s This collection contains dozens of family photographs from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, exhibiting a range of early photographic technology including albumen prints, tintypes and cyanotypes, as well as gelatin silver prints. English Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

 Use Restrictions

Public domain. There are no known restrictions.

 Preferred Citation

Larkin family photograph collection, C0126, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

 Acquisition Information

Collection donor unknown.

 Processing Information

Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in August 2009. Processing and EAD markup updated by Elizabeth Beckman in October 2017.

 Historical Information

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, photography was moving beyond experts and studios and becoming more widespread among non-specialists. Describing Kodak's invetion of Eastman gelatin film in 1886, Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler and Diane Vogt-O'Connor say, "This process, in combination with the dry gelatin emulsion and Kodak's complete developing and printing service, encouraged amateur photography to boom" (45). Earlier popular photographic varieties such as tintypes (images on laquered iron common in the United States in the mid-to-late 1800s) and albumen prints (created using an egg-white emulsion common in the later 1800s) were gradualy overtaken by gelatin silver prints as the main photographic medium in use by professionals and amateurs alike (Ritzenthaler and Vogt-O'Connor, 33-48). As the Victoria and Albert Museum's page on photographic processes notes, gelatin-silver prints "by 1895 had generally replaced albumen prints because they were more stable, did not turn yellow, and were simpler to produce." The cyanotype, created using the same process used to make blueprints, never quite achieved the popularity of any of these processes (see Ritzenthaler and Vogt-O'Connor, 33-34).

 Scope and Content

This collection contains dozens of family photographs from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, exhibiting a range of early photographic technology including albumen prints, tintypes and cyanotypes, as well as gelatin silver prints. A few of the photographs have been hand-tinted. Several photos contain inscriptions of photo studios--including G. W. Davis and Unique--with addresses indicating that many of them were taken in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, or Richmond, VA. The photographs range from professional studio portraits to informal group pictures, which appear to have been taken in more rural locales. Several of the photos show Victorian interiors and exteriors as well as horse carriages, row-boats and railroad tracks. Few of the subjects are identified, but photo-envelopes with the collection include the names Ceyton R. Larkin, Charles Rozier Larkin, Paul S. Williams, and Mrs. J. L. Johnson.

 Related Material

Special Collections Research Center also holds the .

 Arrangement

Organized largely by photograph type.

 Bibliography

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, and Diane O'Connor, with Helena Zinkham et al. "Photographs: Archival Care and Management." Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006.

Tintypes Photography -- Printing processes -- Albumen Portraits Blueprinting Domestic life Photographs Portrait photographs Photographic prints Gelatin silver prints Cyanotypes Albumen prints Contents list/repositories/2/archival_objects/113776circa 1870s-1920sScope and Contents note Photograph envelopes and receipts from developers/repositories/2/archival_objects/113777circa early 1900s11Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a girl at a piano/repositories/2/archival_objects/113778circa early 1900s117Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of man and boy/repositories/2/archival_objects/113779circa early 1900s12Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of man with horse and carriage/repositories/2/archival_objects/113780circa early 1900s13Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of child with bicycle/repositories/2/archival_objects/113781circa early 1900s14Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113782circa early 1900s15Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of woman and two children/repositories/2/archival_objects/113783circa early 1900s16Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of women in a field/repositories/2/archival_objects/113784circa early 1900s17Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of a child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113785circa early 1900s18Scope and Contents note Mounted silver gelatin print of child on a horse/repositories/2/archival_objects/113786circa early 1900s19Scope and Contents note Tintype of three men/repositories/2/archival_objects/113787circa 1870s-1880s110Scope and Contents note Tintype of a boy and a baby/repositories/2/archival_objects/113788circa 1870s-1880s111Scope and Contents note Tintype of a man and woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113789circa 1870s-1880s112Scope and Contents note Tintype of a man in glasses/repositories/2/archival_objects/113790circa 1870s-1880s113Scope and Contents note Two gelatin silver prints of a toddler/repositories/2/archival_objects/113791circa early 1900s114Scope and Contents note Two gelatin silver prints of children/repositories/2/archival_objects/113792circa early 1900s115Scope and Contents note Two gelatin silver prints of a girl and toddler/repositories/2/archival_objects/113793circa early 1900s116Scope and Contents note Three gelatin silver prints - a man on a horse and young men on a stoop/repositories/2/archival_objects/113794circa early 1900s118Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man, woman, and girl/repositories/2/archival_objects/113795circa early 1900s119Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a young man/repositories/2/archival_objects/113796circa early 1900s120Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man in a hat/repositories/2/archival_objects/113797circa early 1900s121Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print photographs of a woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113798circa 1910s-1920s122Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints - a woman and an outdoor structure/repositories/2/archival_objects/113799circa 1910s-1920s123Scope and Contents note Mounted prints of a young boy, possibly albumen/repositories/2/archival_objects/113800circa late 1800s-early 1900s124Scope and Contents note Two silver gelatin prints of three men on a stoop/repositories/2/archival_objects/113801early 1900s125Scope and Contents note Silver gelatin print of a man with a lawn mower/repositories/2/archival_objects/113802circa 1910-1920s126Scope and Contents note Albumen print of three children and article on King George of Greece's jubilee/repositories/2/archival_objects/113803circa 1888127Scope and Contents note Silver gelatin print of a man and woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113804circa 1910s-1920s128Scope and Contents note Albumen carte-de-visite of three children/repositories/2/archival_objects/113805circa 1888129Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin print of a group of people/repositories/2/archival_objects/113806circa 1890s-early 1900s130Scope and Contents note Tintype of a young man in a frame/repositories/2/archival_objects/113807circa 1970s-1980s131Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of three women, man and a child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113808circa 1910s-1920s132Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of two women/repositories/2/archival_objects/113809circa 1910s-1920s133Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print a man and a young child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113810circa 1910s134Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of women with boats/repositories/2/archival_objects/113811circa early 1900s-1910s135Scope and Contents note Albumen prints of infants/repositories/2/archival_objects/113812circa 1870s-1890s136Scope and Contents note Three mounted albumen prints of a boy and girl/repositories/2/archival_objects/113813circa 1870s-1890s137Scope and Contents note Two gelatin silver prints of a house/repositories/2/archival_objects/113814circa early 1900s138Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man with a horse and carriage/repositories/2/archival_objects/113815circa early 1900s139Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man riding a horse/repositories/2/archival_objects/113816circa 1910s-1920s140Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man sitting/repositories/2/archival_objects/113817circa 1910s-1920s141Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a woman and child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113818circa 1910s-1920s142Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man and woman laughing/repositories/2/archival_objects/113819circa 1910s-1920s143Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a house/repositories/2/archival_objects/113820circa 1910s-1920s144Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113821circa 1910s-1920s145Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a home after snowfall/repositories/2/archival_objects/113822circa early 1900s146Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a dining room/repositories/2/archival_objects/113823circa early 1900s147Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a river, possibly Great Falls of the Potomac/repositories/2/archival_objects/113824circa early 1900s148Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of four young women /repositories/2/archival_objects/113825circa 1910s-1920s149Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man in a suit/repositories/2/archival_objects/113826circa 1910s-1920s150Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of railroad tracks/repositories/2/archival_objects/113827circa early 1900s151Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a child/repositories/2/archival_objects/113828circa early 1900s152Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of women and an infant/repositories/2/archival_objects/113829circa early 1900s153Scope and Contents note Three gelatin silver prints of a man/repositories/2/archival_objects/113830circa early 1900s154Scope and Contents note Two gelatin silver prints of three men/repositories/2/archival_objects/113831circa early 1900s155Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a dock with boats/repositories/2/archival_objects/113832circa early 1900s156Scope and Contents note Cyanotypes of outdoor scenes/repositories/2/archival_objects/113833circa late 1800s-early 1900s157Scope and Contents note Cyanotypes of a man and woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113834circa late 1800s-early 1900s158Scope and Contents note Cyanotypes of men, women, and children/repositories/2/archival_objects/113835circa late 1800s-early 1900s159Scope and Contents note Cyanotypes of women and children /repositories/2/archival_objects/113836circa late 1800s-early 1900s160Scope and Contents note Cyanotypes of men and a woman/repositories/2/archival_objects/113837circa late 1800s-early 1900s161Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of buildings and a river in the snow/repositories/2/archival_objects/113838circa 1910s-1920s162Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a man in a suit/repositories/2/archival_objects/113839circa 1910s-1920s163Scope and Contents note Carte de visite of a young man in a uniform/repositories/2/archival_objects/113840circa 1870s-1890s164Scope and Contents note Carte de visite of a young man in a uniform/repositories/2/archival_objects/113841circa 1870s-1890s165Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of a woman and an infant/repositories/2/archival_objects/113842circa early 1900s166Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver prints of children and a woman in a wheelchair/repositories/2/archival_objects/113843circa 1910s-1920s167Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver portrait of a young girl/repositories/2/archival_objects/113844circa 1910s-1920s168Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a man in a suit/repositories/2/archival_objects/113845circa 1910s-1920s169Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of three women/repositories/2/archival_objects/113846circa 1910s-1920s170Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver print of a group of people outside/repositories/2/archival_objects/113847circa early 1900s-1910s171Scope and Contents note Report card, class photograph, and family photograph (mounted)/repositories/2/archival_objects/1138481900s21Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of a child outdoors/repositories/2/archival_objects/113849circa early 1900s22Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver print of a child on a horse/repositories/2/archival_objects/113850circa early 1900s23Scope and Contents note Mounted gelatin silver prints of a young child outdoors/repositories/2/archival_objects/113851circa early 1900s24Scope and Contents note Mounted print of an infant/repositories/2/archival_objects/113852circa early 1900s25Scope and Contents note Mounted prints of an infant/repositories/2/archival_objects/113853circa early 1900s26Scope and Contents note Gelatin silver and albumen prints of men, women, and children/repositories/2/archival_objects/113854circa 1880s-early 1900s27Scope and Contents note Albumen print of Francis Norville Larkin, photographic postcards, gelatin silver prints, hand-tinted gelatin silver prints, envelopes from photographic developers in Manassas and Charlottesville, VA/repositories/2/archival_objects/113855circa 1880s-191828Scope and Contents note Cartes de visite of various Larkin family members and others, other mounted photographs/repositories/2/archival_objects/113856circa 1870s-1890s29Scope and Contents note Cartes de visite, possibly a photogravure/repositories/2/archival_objects/113857circa 1870s-1890s210Scope and Contents note