Cheever glass negative collection, ca. 1910-1920

 

Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at Chicago Historical Society, Research Center.

by Diane M. Ryan, 1989, rev. 2014

 

 

Please address questions to:

Chicago History Museum, Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038

Web-site: http://www.chicagohistory.org/Research

 

© Copyright 2014, Chicago Historical Society, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614-6038

 

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Title: Cheever glass negative collection, ca. 1910-1920

 

Storage:  Glass negatives (6 4 x 5 in. boxes; 10 5 x 7 in. boxes--GN0093-GN0108)

Accession number:  1989.0403

 

Restriction: To consult this collection in the Research Center it is necessary to make an advance appointment (email: Research@chicagohistory.org ).

 

Description of the Collection

Includes a mixed selection of ninety 4 x 5 in. and 174 5 x 7 in. images from an

unknown but probably single photographer.  The collection may have had some

connection with a news publication as there are a number of copy negatives with

images taken from news clippings and also what appears to be European military

news. 

 

The strength of the collection lies in the numerous images of an air meet at

Grant Park (probably 1911 or 1912).  There are also several photographs of

Chicago beaches and people in swimming costume.  A smaller group shows a parade

down Michigan Avenue with what appears to be women's groups and women's rights

advocates.  Another small group shows racetrack scenes (probably Washington Park

racetrack) and jockeys.

 

The collection also includes two scenes at a swimming pool (in a Chicago park?),

children with buckets and wagons on residential streets, and assorted portraits

of men and women.

 

Probably one-third of the plates have some emulsion damage, usually

characterized

by crazing or bubbling which has caused the emulsion to chip away.  It is

estimated that approximately twenty plates are beyond restoration.  In some

cases

two plates are stuck together.  The glass plates need cleaning and some are

chipped--the pieces may or may not be present.  There are some white stains and

very few brown stains on the plates.

 

Container List

 

4 x 5 in.

 

Box 1  GN0093

 

Art--Painting of people

Buildings--Rooming house

             309-315 ________ St. (Painters District Council, No. 14)

             Unidentified building complex and grounds

Construction (3)

Copy negatives (mostly from halftone clippings)

            Aerial view with airplanes

            Convict?

            European royalty?/Military man

            Group portrait/Cartoon soldier on horse

            Group or queue of people with military men

            Ladies' personals column

            Man with (fencing?) sword

            Military men

            Police or military group at ease

 

Box 2  GN0094

 

Copy negatives (cont.)

            Portrait of a man (3)

            Portrait of a women (full-length)

            People on mountain/soldiers by doorway

            "Society girl with noble aim"--Mildred Armour

            World War I military men?

Events--Parades & processions

            Military group on parade ground

            2 people on horseback during parade?

            Parade (2)

            Parade in front of C.D. Peacock store

            Parade float for civil liberties

 

 

Box 3  GN0095

 

People--[Group portraits]

            People with dog and monkey

            People in horse drawn carriage

            People in park?

            Seated group (emulsion turned brown)

            Portrait of seated couple

            Portrait of standing couple

People--Children

            Boy standing on chair

            Boy sliding down bannister

            Boy with three men

            Girl with hat

            Two girls with hand carried boxes

            Kindergarten?

People--Men

      Portrait of a man in military uniform

      Portrait of a young man (2)

      Two men looking at vehicle or motorized equipment

      Crowd of men

 

Box 4  GN0096

 

Sports

      Ball game in gymnasium

      Ice hockey game

      Ice skating (6)

      Ice skating scenes?--Group with horse cart (2)

                               Man with horse cart

                               Woman with horse cart

Streets

      City sidewalk (2)

      Residential street (2)

 

Box 5  GN0097

 

Women

      Portrait of a woman (12)

      Woman in party hat at a vehicle decorated with flowers

      Woman at window of a vehicle decorated with flowers

      Woman in theatrical costume

      Two women

      Three women on vehicle (trolley?)

      Group of 5 women posed (2)

Women's rights group

 

Box 6  GN0098

 

Miscellaneous

      Vehicles--Funeral hearse

      Hands and fabric

      Manuscript note by J. Hackett to police confessing to murder

Need treatment

      2 negatives stuck together; images undefinable (3)

 

5 x 7in.

 

Box 7  GN0099

 

Art

      Framed painting on wall (image almost gone)

      Framed painting of woman at piano

      Painting of women in dance hall or theater

Buildings

      Franklin Park State Bank (2)

      Lodge or dining room interior

Events

      Air meet (11) [unless stated otherwise, all air meet photographs are of

            flying airplanes]

 

Box 8  GN0100

 

      Air meet (18)

 

Box 9  GN0101

 

      Air meet--Retouched to show flight maneuver (2)

      Air meet or airport

      Air meet--Aerial view

                  Birds' eye view of crowd and airplanes on ground

                  Birds' eye view of airplane wreckage with bystanders

                  Airplane wreckage with policemen and bystanders

                  Airplane wreckage

                  Crowd? (5)

                  Crowd watching biplane in flight

                  Observer looking upward

 

Box 10  GN0102

 

      Air meet (cont.)

            Man at controls of plane (6)

            Men and plane on ground (3)

            Group before airplane on ground (2)

            Biplane

            Man before biplane

            Two men before plane on ground (2)

            Men and plane #57 on ground

            Men and plane #32 on ground

 

Box 11  GN0103

 

Events--Parade on Michigan Avenue (8)

Land--Waterfronts--Beach scene with bathers (14)

 

Box 12  GN0104

 

Land--Waterfronts

            Beach scene with bathers (3)

            Beach scenes with sand sculpture

            Woman at beach (5)

            Beach scenes with women bathers (5)

            Oak Street beach?

            Women and children at beach

 

Box 13  GN0105

 

People

      People in park

      People in open automobile

      Mail bags? with men bystanders

      People on street in rain or snow?

      Man & woman on veranda

People--Children

      Children with buckets on residential street

      Children with wagon on residential street

      Two girls with buckets on residential street (2)

      Women and children opening packages

      Children opening packages (2)

      Children on residential street

      Woman and children in snow

      Girl with horse and carriage

      Three children in park? with water spray

 

Box 14  GN0106

 

People--Men

      Lifeguards in rowboats

      Portrait of a man

      Portrait of a man in hat and coat (2)

      Man on veranda

      Man in vehicle? (dark plate)

      Two men

      Two men in crowd

      Men with crowd in background

      Group of men with water spigot

      Seated man and boy (3)

      Four men on street (2)

      Four men in top hats

      Men on street with horse drawn vehicles

      Men in open automobile

      Group of men (most of image gone)

      Man shoveling snow

 

Box 15  GN0107

 

People--Peddlers

      Peddler on stairway

      Peddlers on stairway (2)

Sports

      Racetrack (4)

      Jockey and man

      Jockey on horseback

      Swimming pool

      Swimming pool competition (2)

Transportation facilities

      Railroad station [small] and tracks

      Railroad station interior

Women

      Portrait of a woman (6)

 

Box 16  GN0108

     

      Undefinable images (12) [some are two or three plates stuck together]

 

dmr

June 23, 1989