Howe Family Photograph Collection
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Abstract
This collection consists of approximately 150 photographs (gelatin silver prints and cyanotypes) of members of the Howe family and their residences in the Bronx and in Hazleton, PA.
Biographical / Historical
Edward Howe appears to have settled in the Bronx in the early to mid-19th century. Born in Maine in 1820, he married Nannie (also given as Narrie) Mack, and they had three sons, all born in New York: Edward E. (1864), Frederick (1865) and Alfred (1872).
The Howes were a musical family. The elder Edward listed his occupation in census reports as "music teacher," and two of his three sons (Edward E. and Alfred) also became professional musicians. By 1900, Edward E. was married, had four children, and was living in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where he taught music. Alfred, who also married, remained in the Bronx, and apparently worked as a musician in the theater and aboard ships. Alfred and his wife had one daughter and lived in what seems to have been the original Howe home at 575 Trinity Avenue.
Although Frederick Howe was also musically trained, he was employed as an architect and draughtsman in the Topographical Bureau of the Borough of the Bronx. Never married, Frederick lived with his mother at 565 Trinity Avenue in the Bronx, next door to Alfred. Described as "rather eccentric," Frederick engineered and built a series of small railroads on the Bronx property that the family used to haul coal. Frederick is also credited with originating the idea of a parkway linking the three boroughs, although his plan was never realized. He committed suicide in 1911.
The Howe family members were apparently all vegetarians and in 1887, Edward E. Howe published a vegetarian cookbook.
Alfred Howe sold the two Trinity Avenue homes in 1925.
The photographs in this collection were most likely taken by Alfred Howe, and were donated to the New-York Historical Society by Edmund Bramhall Child III, a collector and long-time Bronx resident. Child was himself a musician and amateur actor and may well have been a friend of the family.
Special thanks to N-YHS librarian Joseph Ditta for his invaluable assistance in researching the Howe family.
Arrangement
This collection has been organized by subject matter into ten folders.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of approximately 150 photographs (gelatin silver prints and cyanotypes) relating to the Howe family of the Bronx and Hazelton, PA. Most likely taken by Alfred Howe in the 1890's and 1900's, the photographs show family members, their residences and neighborhoods, and some machinery designed and manufactured by Frederick Howe.
Photographs of the Bronx residences, located on Trinity Avenue, show the area before the streets were graded. The Howe property apparently encompassed 15 city lots, and was perched on a rocky precipice opposite Lebanon Hospital. In addition to photographs, the collection includes an application to reduce property taxes filed in 1907, which asserts that there was no wagon road to the property, and that in winter coal had to be hoisted up the hill by a steam derrick and then moved across the property by hand on a small railway (built and engineered by Frederick Howe). The application also describes the damage resulting to an old frame house that was moved 170 feet across the property. Photographs, including some that were filed with the application, show the houses, the steam derrick and the railway.
Other Bronx images include a large cyanotype of the elevated train station at East 145th Street, and photographs of damage to Frederick Howe and his house following a fire in May, 1909.
Photographs of Hazleton, PA, include street views, shots of the homes where Alfred Howe's children were born, and interior shots of a local grocer. Also included are photographs of coal mining equipment, some of it designed and built by Frederick T. Howe.
Subjects
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Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers. Appointments to view the collection must be made in advance. To schedule an appointment, contact the Reference Librarian for the Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections at printroom@nyhistory.org.
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. (Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days.)
Use Restrictions
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to:
Department of Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194
rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
212-485-9228
Permission to reproduce or quote text from this collection in a publication must be requested from and granted in writing by the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194.
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: Howe Family Photograph Collection, PR 291, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Provenance
Gift of Edmund Bramhall Child, 1946.