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James Reuel Smith springs and wells photographs and papers

Call Number

PR 62

Date

1897-1930s, inclusive

Creator

Smith, James Reuel, 1852-1935

Extent

11.84 Linear feet (16 archival boxes, 7 boxes of negatives)

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The collection holds 23 boxes (seven of glass and acetate negatives) of visual and written material pertaining to James Reuel Smith's book Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, at the End of the Nineteenth Century, published by the New-York Historical Society in 1938.

The photographs are digitized and available in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Digital Library.

Historical Note

James Reuel Smith was born in 1852 in Skaneateles, New York. After the early death of his mother, his father having remarried, Smith went to live in the household of a cousin. In 1882 Smith married Elizabeth Thompson; they had no children. Family money enabled Smith to actively pursue his hobby of photographing and investigating springs and wells. This interest led him to travel around Europe, looking for springs and wells mentioned in literature. In 1922, he published Springs and Wells in Greek and Roman Literature, Their Legends and Locations.

Smith's interest was also local: He spent much of the years 1897 to 1901 bicycling around northern Manhattan and the Bronx looking for and photographing springs and wells. Smith's enthusiasm for springs and wells was well-matched with his photographic eye and his meticulous note-taking on the locations and conditions of the springs and wells he saw. James Reuel Smith died in 1935. In his will he left a bequest to the New-York Historical Society to publish his manuscript notes and photographs of springs and wells of northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Librarian Dorothy Barck worked with Smith's research papers and notes, and edited his manuscript material, leading to N-YHS's publication of Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, at the End of the Nineteenth Century, in 1938. In the introduction to the volume, Smith wrote: "A city spring frequently possesses all the beautiful surroundings of a rural one, and besides exciting that pathetic interest aroused by something pleasureable which will shortly cease to exist, it is, for the meditative, a link which connects the thoughts with the past."

Arrangement

The collection is organized in five series:

Series I. Manhattan Photographs

Series II. Bronx Photographs

Series III. Brooklyn Photographs

Series IV. Springs and Wells Manuscript Material

Series V. Glass Negatives

Scope and Content Note

The collection holds the original photographic prints and glass plate negatives; manuscript drafts; indexes, classifications, and other descriptions; and research files and notes underlying James Reuel Smith's Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, at the End of the Nineteenth Century.

The photographs date from 1897-1901 and are primarily of springs and wells in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx. There are about 350 prints, organized into 10 boxes. In addition, 260 glass negatives (247 4x5s; 13 5x7s) and 38 acetate negatives are housed in 7 boxes. Though Smith did take photographs of pumps and cisterns, the natural springs he found during his travels seemed to pique his interest the most, and these views are what make up most of the photos.

Manuscript material in the collection relates to both New York springs and wells and to Smith's research for his book on springs and wells in Greek and Roman literature. This material extends into the 1930s, reflecting Smith's research and writing subsequent to his photographing, and to some uncertain degree, N-YHS's interventions during the editing and publication process.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

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. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: James Reuel Smith springs and wells photographs and papers, PR 62, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Bequest of James Reuel Smith, 1937.

Related Material at the Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections

The Geographic File (PR 020) contains photographs of Central Park, as well as many of the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx streets that Smith photographed. The George E. Stonebridge Photograph Collection (PR 066) has photographs of Fordham and Tremont, as well as some Bronx parks, from the same time period. The Eugene L. Armbruster Collection (PR 081) includes images of rural Brooklyn by amateur photographer Eugene L. Armbruster; though the majority of the collection dates from the 1910s and 1920s, Armbruster began taking photographs in the late 19th century.

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital copies of the photographs are available in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Digital Library.

Collection processed by

Miranda Schwartz (2000s); Larry Weimer (2021)

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:40 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: The finding aid is written in English

Processing Information

The photographs in the collection and some manuscript material was processed in the early 2000s by Miranda Schwartz. Either at that time or earlier, much of the manuscript and research material in the original collection was separated and not included in the processing and collection description. This additional material, which now comprises much of subseries IV.A, was returned to the collection and processed by Larry Weimer in December 2021.

Repository

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