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Blanche Hungerford Latimer Collection - PP69
Collection finding aids of Photograph Collections in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Maryland Historical Society Library
BLANCHE HUNGERFORD LATIMER COLLECTION
ca. 1881-1930 (bulk ca. 1913-1918)
PP69
Prints and Photographs Division, Maryland Historical Society
201 W. Monument St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
Finding aid created by Katherine Cowan with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, December 1999
History
Blanche Hungerford Latimore (ca. 1889-1944) was born in Baltimore, the daughter of Blanche A. Crowther Hungerford and Dr. Robert Arthur Hungerford. After attending Western High School, Blanche studied at the Maryland Institute, on her way to becoming a portrait photographer. She studied with pictorialist Clarence H. White at his School of Photography in New York City in ca. 1914. She was also affiliated with Columbia University at around this time. It may have been in New York that she met her husband Walter Roland Latimer, Sr. (ca. 1878-1924), who was from High Bridge, N.J., also a student of Clarence H. White. They married in 1918.
At one point, Blanche Hungerford Latimer had a studio on Hamilton St. in Baltimore. Her photographs were exhibited in the United States, England, and Russia.
Collection Origin
Gift of Walter R. Latimer, Jr., 1976 (72251); and gift of Mrs. F.H. Icaza, 1976 (72542) and 1981 (76488).
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of 2 boxes with a total of ca. 115 photoprints from ca. 1881-1930. Most of the photographs were created in ca. 1913-1918 by Blanche Hungerford Latimer, with some made by Walter R. Latimer, Sr., Paul Anderson, Clarence White, and others. Many of the photoprints are signed, and some contain notations regarding particular exhibitions where they were shown.
Box 1 contains 2 cased photographs and 15 photoprints mounted in 11 mats. The cased photographs are portraits of Blanche Alice Crowther, later Mrs. R. Arthur Hungerford: #282, an unmounted tintype ca. 1885, and #283, a hand-colored image on milk glass in a velvet case ca. 1881. Subjects are not identified on the matted photographs, although some correspond to identified images contained in Box 2. 10 of the mats contain individual images, and are numbered 1-10. The 11th mat contains 4 photoprints of the same negative demonstrating different printing processes, including platinum, carbon, and gum/platinum.
Box 2 contains ca. 95 photoprints, many of which are captioned. Included are early color photographs (the Hess-Ives process). Subjects here include portraits of Blanche Hungerford Latimer and others, scenes of New York including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Woolworth Building. There is a group portrait of the students of Clarence H. White, and several other identified individual portraits, including Marie deFord Keller. In addition to the New York subjects, there are some Maryland subjects, including Baltimores Old York Road and Grace and St. Peters Church.
The box contains many acid-free divider sheets with image descriptions attached, but many of these had become separated from the image to which they refer.
Note: The collection also contains one folder of printed ephemera, including an issue of the Saturday Evening Post from 1913 with photographs by Blanche C. Hungerford, several publications of the St. Pauls Church in Baltimore, and a certificate of Blanche Hungerfords registration in a photography course at Columbia University in New York, 1913.
Note: Related materials are found in the Manuscripts Department of the Maryland Historical Society: MS. 2540, the Dr. R. Arthur Hungerford Papers.
Arrangement
The collection is only partially processed, and requires further arrangement and description. Only portions of the collection are identified or sorted into meaningful units, and no overall inventory exists, except for what can be compiled from accession documents (see below).
Note: The portion of this collection that is Accession 72251 was formerly known as B22.
Container List
2 Boxes
Box 1
15 photoprints mounted in 10 mats.
Box 2
Ca. 95 photoprints, some of which are matted and some sorted by subject into folders.
Inventory assembled from accession records
Accession 72251
Group of 29 photographs (1914-1917) taken by Blanche Hungerford and Walter Roland Latimer, Sr. Mostly New York City views, taken with Graphlex (?) camera, glass negatives (?), and printed on platinum paper. Included are several early color photographs (Hess-Ives process), 1917.
Accession 72542
"The Wayside Blacksmith", before Oct. 1915.
"The Village" (or "The Phantom Coupe", a night street scene), n.d.
Grants Tomb, n.d.
City Street (with baby carriage), 1914. 2 items(?).
Wayside Blacksmith at Forge, before Oct. 1915.
Wheat Field, n.d.
Still Life, n.d. 2 items.
Jar with Flowered Hat (?) and Tassels, n.d.
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1913.
New York City from Park, 1913.
Interior of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, ca. 1915. 2 items.
"Through the Cables of Brooklyn Bridge", probably 1916-1918. Photogram.
Gateway (St. John the Divine), n.d.
Statue of Woman (at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine?), n.d.
"On the Old York Road, Maryland" (old house of stone and wood), probably 1916-1917.
"On the East Side, New York City" (child on steps, 3 men standing), probably 1915-1916. 2 items.
Still Life (old woman on frog or turtle with fan behind), n.d. 12 items.
Man and Boys in Park, New York City, n.d.
Park with Winding Path and Apartment Buildings in Background, New York City, n.d.
Stairs in Park, New York City, n.d.
House in Woods, n.d. Cyanotype.
Six People on Porch Steps, n.d. Cyanotype.
View of New York City, Park in Foreground, n.d. Cyanotype.
Woods with Large House in Background, n.d. (may be by Blanche Hungerford).
Portrait of Marie deFord Keller, n.d. (after 1918, probably 1920s?).
Portraits of Blanche Rodney Crowther Hungerford, ca. 1915-1918. By Paul Anderson, H.R. Neeson (1916), Walter R. Latimer, Sr., and self-portrait by Blanche Hungerford Latimer. 29 items.
Accession 76488
Photograph of Mrs. Icazas grandmother (Blanche Alice Crowther Hungerford) on milk glass, ca. 1881. Cased photograph #282.
Interior of Grace and St. Peters Church, negative, n.d. Neg. ZN15.32.PP69.
Mrs. Icaza as a baby, glass negative and print. Neg Z8.1598.PP69.
Blanche Hungerford, glass negative, ca. 1930. Neg Z8.1597.PP69.
Blanche Alice Crowther, tintype, ca. 1885. Cased photograph #283.
Unidentified man, ca. 1911 and n.d. 2 items.
Mr. and Mrs. Walter R. Latimer, Sr. and the Rev. Wm. Lindsay Glenn, 1918.
Blanche Hungerford Latimer on wedding day, 1918.
St. Davids Church, Cresswell, Md., n.d. © 2001 Maryland Historical Society - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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