Collection consists of 898 nitrate negatives and two small prints, all taken by amateur photographer and Baltimore resident Reginald Sellman from 1911 to 1935. They were originally stored in four black cases, one of which has been retained for the collection. The collection also includes Sellman's meticulous hndwritten index cards. The images are arranged in original chronological order and listed by the photographer's original identification number has been retained; the titles were also taken from the original index cards.
The snapshots were chiefly taken in Baltimore, Maryland and Baltimore County, and depict buildings, streets, bridges, railway stations, parks, rivers, and monuments, and many family members, especially Reginald's friend (possibly fianceé) Susie Ford, and later, his wife Obedience, and their son Bruce. There are quite a few photographs taken on day trips to historic sites and parks in Baltimore County such as St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Chattalonee, Gwynn Falls, Owings Mills, Massey, and Lake Roland. Sellman clearly enjoyed being outside; there are many images of activities such as camping, hiking, and visiting parks and Eastern Shore recreation areas.
Reginald's father, William A. B. Sellman, was the founder of a Baltimore sanatorium, thus there are views of hospitals, including many marked "B.S.S.," almost certainly the Biedler Sellman Sanatorium on Charles Street, where Reginald Sellman was listed as a physician; a few interior shots of the "B.S.S." include an operating room. There are also exterior views of medical teaching institutions such as Johns Hopkins Hospital. In one of the two positive prints in the collection, Susie Ford is shown wearing a nurse's uniform.
There are images of apartment buildings and houses where Reginald and other family members lived, and some interior shots of rooms. There are many casual snapshots of family members. Later images depict Sellman's young son, Bruce, as a baby and young boy, along with his mother, Obedience (Bedie) Darden Sellman (O.D.S.). She first appears in the images as Obedience Cox Darden, at her own commencement at a nursing school in May 1914.
Reginald and Obedience Sellman often visited her Darden family relatives in North Carolina; thus, there are many vacation photographs from the 1920s taken in Raleigh, Beaufort, Goldsboro, La Grange, and Kinston, N.C. Depicted are train stations, relatives' houses, railroads, street scenes, and businesses, some owned by relatives. A long series features scenes from the Methodist Orphanage in Raleigh, possibly where relatives worked. Zylpha or Zylphia Darden, Obedience's cousin, often appears with baby Bruce. There are many scenes from Beaufort, N.C., with commercial fishing, streets, and the waterfront.
Other earlier vacation spots depicted that Reginald visited with Susie Ford include the Eastern Shore, with Tollchester Beach and its amusement part and piers; Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; and the Blue Ridge in Virginia. The last images from 1935 feature Susie Ford's grave and monument in Mount View Cemetery (undentified state); she probably died in spring 1914.
Also in the collection are four sets of handwritten index cards listing each negative's identification number, roll of film and frame, caption, and technical details such as camera settings, exposure, film number, and date when image was developed. The cards are filed at the beginning of each group of negatives represented by the set. One original black storage case has also been retained, as well as advertisement and leaflets featuring photographic supplies, and an envelope of paper corner mounts.
Apparently, Sellman also photographed with glass plates, but these are not present in the collection. There were also several places in the storage case where the film negatives were missing; in these cases, only the titles remain, taken from the index cards.
