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Charles Gilbert Hine Photograph Collection

Call Number

PR 82

Date

1883-1908, inclusive

Creator

Extent

9.92 Linear feet (10 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Platinum, cyanotype, and albumen prints of various Manhattan locations dating from 1883-1908. Views of streets, buildings, businesses, monuments, theaters, billboards, posters, celebrations, and scenes of everyday life are included. The collection also contains a three volume set of photograph albums which portrays Broadway from north to south and includes historical essays and clippings.

Biographical Note

Charles Gilbert Hine was an accomplished insurance publisher, editor, local historian and amateur photographer. Born in 1859 in New Albany, Indiana, he moved with his family to the New York area in 1868 where Hine's father, Charles Cole Hine, became owner and editor of the Insurance Monitor. Hine spent most of his youth living in Woodside, New Jersey, a rural suburb of Newark. The family had a love of sailing and spent summers at their house on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Hine and his brothers, Thomas and Edward Hine, learned photography from their father at an early age; their house on Martha's Vineyard had been specifically designed to include a darkroom. Charles and Thomas Hine used their skills to write and privately publish their first book in 1883, Chronicles of Our White Mountain Trip, July 1883, which was heavily illustrated with the brothers' photographs. In 1888 the Hine brothers and their father became founding members of the Newark Camera Club. Charles and Thomas Hine exhibited 157 photographs in the club's First Annual Exhibit in 1891.

Charles Hine and his two brothers joined their father in the family business, the Hine Insurance Publishing Company. After Charles Cole Hine's death in 1897, the brothers incorporated the company. Charles Gilbert Hine succeeded his father as head of the company, editor of the Insurance Monitor, and head of the Underwriters & Credit Bureau, Inc.

Hine pursued his interest in local history throughout the rest of his life. He traveled primarily by foot and bicycle, taking photographs and collecting historical anecdotes. He focused his work on New York and New Jersey, especially along the Hudson River and on Staten Island where he lived for six years. Hine continued to travel to and document the history of Martha's Vineyard where he had spent his childhood summers. He published much of his historical work and accompanying photography in a limited edition series under the title Hine's Annuals between 1905 and 1915. He published historical books and pamphlets separately as well; his dated works span the years from 1883 to 1928. Like other Pictorialist photographers of his era, Charles Gilbert Hine favored the platinum print, known for its delicate gradation of grays and its varied tonal scale. The majority of his published histories included his platinum prints. His accompanying writings are opinionated and express a deep appreciation for the natural landscape and historical architecture portrayed in his photographs. Hine made particular efforts to photograph buildings that were threatened with demolition. He took a special interest in historic thoroughfares; among his published writings were histories of Broadway, the Albany Post Road, Old King's Highway, and the Serpentine Road on Staten Island.

Hine moved to Staten Island with his brother Thomas in 1909. There he served as a member of both the Staten Island Antiquarian Society and the Staten Island Historical Society. In 1915 Hine married his first cousin Sarah Tilden. They immediately moved from Staten Island to East Orange, New Jersey, where he resided until his death in 1931.

Arrangement

Materials have been arranged into two series based on format:

Missing Title

  1. Series I: Photographic Prints
  2. Series II: Photograph Albums

Scope and Content Note

The Charles Gilbert Hine Photograph Collection spans the period from 1883 to 1908 and contains platinum prints, cyanotypes, albumen prints, silver prints, and a series of three photograph albums containing an historical essay and clippings which document Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century. The collection is divided into two series: Photographic Prints and Photograph Albums. The collection contains views of streets, buildings, businesses, monuments, major events, and scenes of everyday life in Manhattan.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 photocopies per day per person. Suitability of the original for photocopying is at the discretion of the staff. Neither blueprints nor tracings can be copied under any circumstances. Duplication of large-format items will be done by the house photographer. See Print Room guidelines for details.

Use Restrictions

Permission to reproduce any Print Room holdings through publication must be obtained from

Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
Two West 77th Street
New York, NY 10024

Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282
Fax: (212) 579-8794

The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as Charles Gilbert Hine Photograph Collection, PR 082, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.

Provenance

Gift of Charles Gilbert Hine in 1910, 1917, and 1922.

Related Material at The New-York Historical Society

Additional views of Manhattan by other photographers and publishers can be found in the Geographic File (PR 020), the Postcard File (PR 054), and the Stereograph File (PR 065). The New-York Historical Society Library owns several of Charles Gilbert Hine's privately published local history books which feature his photographs. For further information on Hine, see the Charles Gilbert Hine Papers at the Staten Island Historical Society.

Collection processed by

Processed by Jennifer Lewis

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:48:49 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Hine.xml

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024