Scope and Contents

11 8" x 10" and 10 4" x 5" glass photonegatives, some marked "1885", one marked "1865" and "Libby Prison"), but most seem from ca. 1885; silver gelatin except two silver collodion plates, one of which bears the "1865." The large plates were stored in a nineteenth-century wooden, grooved plate box (now stored separately). Images depict buildings and sites in Washington, D.C., including: aerial or bird's-eye views possibly taken from the (unfinished?) Washington Monument; the Manassas Panorama building with the completed (capped) Monument visible in the background; Washington street scenes, especially Pennsylvania Avenue; the Smithsonian castle; the U.S. Capitol; the White House; and dredging operations to create Hains Point.

Biographical / Historical

Photographer(s) and circumstances of creation unknown.

Custodial History

The donor was given the plates by Frank Minor [Miner?], the uncle of a friend, Mrs. Whitney Aitchen of Laurel, Md. Minor had obtained the plates from an unidentified friend who knew of his photographic interests; apparently they had been in his possession for some years before he gave them to Mrs. Armstrong, for she noted that he was unable to print them "by that time" due to failing eyesight.