George Meade Bowers scrapbooks and photograph album, 1898-1917

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Summary

Abstract:
Collection contains three volumes relating to the life and political career of George Meade Bowers, Congressional member for West Virginia, 1916-1923: a scrapbook (1898-1914) of clippings and a few other items concerning the United States Fish Commission, fish culture, the fishing industry, and politics and elections in West Virginia, with a few items relating to the Bowers family; a scrapbook of congratulatory telegrams sent after Bowers's 1916 election to Congress; and a photograph album from a 1917 visit to Hawaii by a congressional delegation, which included Bowers, containing gelatin silver photographs with views from the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, and Kauai, photographs of officials and Japanese and Hawaiian inhabitants, and an image of Queen Liliuokalani lying in state following her death November 11, 1917.
Extent:
1.5 Linear Feet (3 volumes)
Language:
English
Collection ID:
RL.11838

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains three volumes belonging to George Meade Bowers, Republican politician and government official from West Virginia.

The photograph album, entitled "Photographs, Congressional Party in Hawaii, George Meade Bowers," contains 58 silver gelatin photographs. The album is undated, but the image content establishes its creation from 1916-1917. The delegation's visit in 1917 coincided with the death of Queen Liliuokalani on Nov. 11, 1917 and her funeral; the album includes a photograph of the Queen lying in state. Settings include the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai, including Honolulu, Kona, Waimea, Kaimu, Makapuu, and Hilo. Scenes include Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (created a national park in 1916), the delegation, schoolchildren, Japanese, Hawaiians, public officials, and travel.

The scrapbook, also assembled by George Bowers, contains mostly clippings but also a small number of photographs, and dates from 1898-1914. They primarily concern his work as U.S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1898-1913. There are a variety of clippings about Bowers, the Fish Commission, the International Fisheries Congress in 1908, oyster; lobsters, various kinds of fish, and the U.S. fishing industry. There are also numerous clipping about politics and elections in West Virginia. A few clippings concern the Bowers family.

The third album contains congratulatory telegrams for Bowers' 1916 election to Congress from the Second District of West Virginia. The telegrams include two from Theodore Roosevelt, one of which is substantive. There is one photograph in the back of the leather volume, of a campaign parade for Bowers.

Biographical / historical:

George Meade Bowers (1863-1925) was a banker, Republican politician, and government official from Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia. Bowers served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1883-1887. He was the supervisor of the United States census for West Virginia in 1890 and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892. He was a member and treasurer of the board of World's Fair commissioners for West Virginia in 1893 and United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries from 1898 to 1903, and subsequently Director of the United States Bureau of Fisheries from 1903 to 1913, when he resigned. He was elected to Congress in 1916 and served until 1923. After leaving Congress, he became president of the People's Trust Company. He died in Martinsburg, West Virginia in 1925.

[Source: Wikipedia, accessed April 8, 2020]

Acquisition information:
The George Meade Bowers scrapbooks and photograph album were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1956.
Processing information:

Albums were processed and cataloged by library staff, 1957, 1982.

Collection guide description by Paula Jeannet, April 2020.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], George Meade Bowers scrapbooks and photograph album, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.