Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Dallas Finn Slide Collection of Meiji Architecture

Summary

Collection ID:
FSA.A2010.03
Creators:
Finn, Dallas, 1919-2012
Dates:
1975-1990
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
5,500 Color slides
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This Collection contains in 24 albums over 5,500 color 35mm slides of Western-style architecture created during Japan's modernization, primarily druing Meiji Period (1868-1912). Taken throughout Japan between 1975-1990 by Dallas Finn, they were research materials in prepration for her book, Meiji Revisited: the Sites of Victorian Japan (New York, Weatherhill, 1995). Though the bulk of the slides are by Dallas Finn, the collection also contains copies of historic black and white photos showing lost buildings, Meiji personalities, and contemporary life. Also includes period photographs of foreighers in Japan and views of the foreign treaty ports Kobe, Yokahama, and Nagasaki. In addition to architectural sites, the collection covers industrial equipment and transportation like railroads, locomotives, bridges, canals, blast furnaces, and textile factories.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The slides are generally organized by prefecture and cities and town therein.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Dallas Finn was an historian educated at Radcliffe and Harvard. After living many years in Japan, she became fluent in the language and taught at universities in Tokyo. She became an authority on Japanese design, with a specialty in how Western architecture was adapted by the Japanese. In 1995, Ms. Finn published "Meiji Revisited," a book about how Victorian architectural styles were modified and adopted in 19th-century Japan. She lectured widely on this subject and published magazine articles about Japanese design and historical encounters between Japan and the West.

Administration

Custodial History
Gift of Dallas Finn, 2010.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Citation
Dallas Finn Slide Collection of Meiji Architecture. FSA.A2010.03. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Dallas Finn, 2010.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
FSA A2010.03


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Architecture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art, Asian Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Japan Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Slides (photographs) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Asia -- Japan Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Finn, Dallas, 1919-2012 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
National Museum of Asian Art Archives
Washington, D.C. 20013
Business Number: 202-633-0533
AVRreference@si.edu