Photographs, 1860s-1920s and undated
- Extent:
- .5 Linear Feet (1 box)
- Scope and content:
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This series of 231 black-and-white photographs and one photograph booklet relate to the Hemphill family of Abbeville, Charleston, and Due West, South Carolina, and their kin, the Coleman, Greene, Lind, Moffatt, Neuffer, Rogers, Sign, and Tandy families (chiefly children of Hemphill women). Several dozen portraits date from the 1860s; most are unidentified.
The majority of the images relate to Robert Reid Hemphill and James Calvin Hemphill and their families, and date from the 1870s to the 1910s. Two photographs of John Lind Hemphill were taken in Newnan, Georgia, where he was minister; in one, he is standing by his church. There are two portraits of William Ramsey Hemphill (1806-1876), father of John Lind, Robert Reid, Mary, Margaret, and James Calvin Hemphill, as well as a portrait of his brother, Confederate senator John Harrison Hemphill. About half the photographs are studio portraits.
Other portraits and snapshots include business and military associates and friends, both male and female, some identified, some with inscriptions. There are two photographs of African Americans, one of a woman labeled "Aunt Patsy," and one of two elderly men in front of a family home. There is a photograph of what appear to be enslaved person's dwellings. There is a sequence of photographs showing an early 20th century street paving project in Richmond, Va. that shows Black workers; each bears a typed verse on the back, signed "Webster Damyankee."
Settings for more informal photographs include many images of children, home gardens, vacation trips, family homes, rural locations, some city street views, and family dogs.
Arranged for the most part in the order in which they were either received or arranged by library staff when the collection first arrived.
A list of photographers whose names appear on studio photographs is in the series information folder.
- Arrangement:
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The first half of the series was organized by the donors or library staff in three divisions bearing the names of brothers John Lind Hemphill, Sr., Robert Reid Hemphill, and James Calvin Hemphill. Within these divisions are images of each man and his immediate family, as well as friends, relatives, business and military associates, and associated places and houses. Other members of the families also appear in each other's folders.
The rest of the photographs are arranged in two mixed groups of often unidentified images; in here are found the earliest images in the collection, dating to the 1860s. These two mixed groups also house additional images related to the three brothers John Lind, Robert Reid, and James Calvin.
- Physical facet:
- 231 photographs; 1 photo booklet
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Collection is open for research.
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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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