Author: Lindsey Loeper

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John G. Bullock digital collection now available

Black and white photograph of a person standing on a rocky shoreline
Image: John G. Bullock. “Woman Standing in Rocks Overlooking Water Aug. 1890,” 1890. Digital positive from a gelatin silver dry plate negative, 8 x 10 in. John G. Bullock photographs, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P84-01-462.

Photographs from the John G. Bullock collection are now available in the UMBC Digital Collections. Bullock was an American photographer who lived from 1854 to 1939. His work spanned four decades and is associated with the “New School” of photography, which placed an emphasis on soft-focused images. Bullock’s photographs showcase his life and surroundings as they were in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

About John G. Bullock

Black and white photograph of a girl with a bubble wand
Image: John G. Bullock. “Marjorie, Bubbles Side View N.D.,” circa 1897. Digital positive from a gelatin silver dry plate negative, 8 x 10 in. John G. Bullock photographs, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P84-01-255.

John Griscom Bullock was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1854. When he was only a child, he printed and published his own newspaper, City Journal. After graduating from Haverford College and receiving his Ph.D. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, he took an interest in photography in 1882. He joined the Photographic Society of Philadelphia in the same year and would go on to become its president.  

His earliest photographs were taken with a small view camera that used 4×5 inch Carbutt dry plates while his earliest prints were made on albumen paper. Later on, Bullock switched to platinum paper which allowed him to manipulate the images. He would make these changes by retouching the negative to either change the images’ tonality or add clouds onto a blank sky.  The Vienna Salon, an international photography exhibition, showcased two of Bullock’s photographs. Afterwards, he worked with photographer Alfred Stieglitz on CameraWork, to forward their cause of art photography or pictorial photography. More information about Bullock’s life can be found in UMBC’s online exhibition about Bullock’s photography and the finding aid for the John G. Bullock collection at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections.

Black and white photograph of a river
Image: John G. Bullock. “New River Near Clarks Mills, Looking Up to East, Jul. 28, 1886,” 1886. Digital positive from a gelatin silver dry plate negative, 8 x 10 in. John G. Bullock photographs, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, P84-01-019.

About the collection

The John G. Bullock collection contains 1,154 images. UMBC Special Collections holds his original glass plate negatives and photography prints, in addition to some commissioned or made by UMBC. The collection comprises photographs that are divided into three sections: landscapes, portraits of family and friends, and rural scenery. Bullock’s daughter Marjorie, is a recurring subject of his photography. His work is a prime example of pictorialism, with a greater focus placed on composition than truly representing reality.

You can help us enrich the John G. Bullock collection by providing additional details about the images. If you recognize a building, a person, or know further information about an image, please email Special Collections at speccoll@umbc.edu.

This post was written by Special Collections student assistant Jaiden Roda. Thank you, Jaiden!

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Edith Koessler woodcuts now on display in the Library Rotunda

Koessler, Edith. Let Them Grow in Peace, ca. 1982. Woodcut print.
Koessler, Edith. Let Them Grow in Peace, ca. 1982. Woodcut print. Gift of Mary Stuart, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P2023-02-009)

English woodcut artist Edith Koessler was moved to capture the suffering of children in wartime after reading Peter Townsend’s 1980 book, The Smallest Pawns in the Game. The book is a compilation of stories of children impacted by war – losing family members, whole communities, and being forced into internment. Koessler felt inspired to capture the stories of these children after reading the book while on a family holiday. “The children come to life in my mind and I feel compelled to do the woodcuts. Children and mothers always used to be the most important subject for me, I feel very strongly for them.” 

The woodcut prints displayed are from an edition of 20 and were created by the artist in Kasterlee, Belgium; the stamp for the noted printmaking studio Frans Masareel Centre is visible on the prints. This set was printed in 1982 and sent to Dr. Heinrich Rumpel, a wood engraver and artist living in Switzerland. Koessler’s woodcut portfolio was donated to UMBC Special Collections by professor emeritus Mary Stuart in 2023.

The woodcuts will be on display through November 2024 in the Library Rotunda. After the exhibit is deinstalled, researchers may view the woodcuts in the Special Collections reading room.

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Special Collections Open House

Mark your calendars for a haunting Halloween afternoon of apparitions, psychic phenomenon, thoughtography and cartomancy in Special Collections and the Library Gallery. Special Collections will host an Open House from 12-3pm on Thursday October 31 – drop by the reading room to view selected highlights from the Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation collection, such as early Spiritualist texts, séance recordings, divination tools, and Gef the Talking Mongoose. You’ll also see how students and researchers use these items in their original scholarship. 

Schedule of Events:

View of seance circle from behind a man's head.

Fodor Plates, Box 9, Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation collection, Collection 331, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).

The Special Collections reading room is located in the back of the Library Gallery, on the first floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery. Directions and information about visitor parking is available here: https://library.umbc.edu/specialcollections/visit/

The Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation Collection consists of more than 12,000 books and over 100 periodicals, including rare books on and early journals devoted to psychical research; over 600 audio and video recordings; and extensive records of the Foundation. Founded in 1951 by trance medium and research advocate Eileen J. Garrett and congressional representative Hon. Frances P. Bolton, the Parapsychology Foundation is a non-profit organization that encourages and supports impartial scientific inquiry into psychical aspects of human nature such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis. The collection at UMBC emphasizes the literature of contemporary parapsychology and publications that approach the subject from objective and analytical points of view. Strengths include: the history of psychical research and parapsychology, including early Spiritualism, mysticism and relevant philosophical works, as well as mediumship, apparitions, hauntings, poltergeists, near-death and out-of-body experiences, and experimental research on extrasensory perception (ESP), psychokinesis, and precognition. 

Learn more about our services and collections on our website and see highlights on our Instagram page. Please reach out with any questions at speccoll@umbc.edu. 

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Researching LGBTQ+ Histories in the Alternative Press Center Collection

In These Times, vol. 23 no. 15 (June 27, 1999)
Women: a journal of liberation, vol. 4, no. 1

On display in the Library Rotunda June 7 – August 7, 2024

Curated by Riya Suthar ‘24, Psychology and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, and Lindsey Loeper, Reference and Instruction Archivist.

The Alternative Press Center (APC), a resource library for non-mainstream and independent journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and other periodical publications, was founded in 1969 – the same year as the Stonewall riots in New York City. Since its founding the APC has collected, indexed, and made accessible hundreds of publications produced by LGTBQ+ authors, activists, organizations, and communities.

Gay Sunshine no. 22 Fag Rag no. 9

Researchers can trace the continued growth, support, conflict, and language from within, and without, the queer community from 1969 to the present day. What rights and freedoms were they fighting for, how were they describing themselves and their communities, and what push back and violence did they experience from adversaries, politicians, or even their own friends and families? The publications in the APC show first hand how LGBTQ+ activists, authors, and artists wrote about themselves and how their priorities have developed over time. These publications also show the vocal history of a community that is often silenced. 

View historical LGBTQ+ selections from the Alternative Press Center Collection all summer in the Library Rotunda or request specific titles in the Special Collections reading room. 

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Jerry Lee Harlowe collection

Struggling to find a topic to research for upcoming papers? Maybe you just have a curiosity for military history in Asia, or early photographs depicting trans-Pacific exchanges that took place throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries? In any case, the newly described Jerry Lee Harlowe collection housed in Special Collections is a must see!

Yung Hsing, Untitled [International Troops, Toasting], circa 1900. Cabinet cards, 6.5 in. x 4.25 in. Jerry Lee Harlowe Collection, P2014-11-012.

The Harlowe collection features an array of often rare cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, and other photographs and memorabilia that acted as windows for Americans into what was then distant Asian cultures. The majority of these photographs were saved and collected as a result of the U.S. Naval operations, in both China and Japan, when servicemen sent them home, or collected them for albums. Other sources include the prominent missionaries working throughout these areas. Missions produced various images in support of their cause, and as teaching aids for conversion.

For military families, such photographs may have been their first time viewing traditional Asian clothing, modes of transportation, and cityscapes with temples, pagodas and elaborate gardens. Other photographs document the loss of family members, ship mates, and friends.

Elias G. E Dorge, Untitled [Missionary Family in China], circa 1860s – 1920s. Cabinet cards, 6.5 in. x 4.25 in. Jerry Lee Harlowe Collection, P2012-03-010.

Images of missionary workers may have been sent back to their congregations and used to document their work. Many images depicted Bible verses and allegorical scenes, as well as studio portraits showing members dressed in traditional clothing of the area.

The Harlowe collection is rich in memorabilia documenting the aspects of naval life including the Boxer Rebellion, and Naval tours in Asia and Cuba. Some of the personal items included are postcards sent home for Christmas and other cards that highlight the various ships on which sailors were stationed. There is even a rare pamphlet for the Smoker Program. A “Smoker” was an informal gathering for men, and in this situation was for the men of the U.S. Fleet at Tsingtao, China. The event offered wrestling, boxing, and music.

“Marble Boat”, circa 1930s. Color photograph, 15.25 in. x 11 in. Jerry Lee Harlowe Collection, P2012-09-093.

This is only the beginning as the collection also includes snippets of Asian life, industry, and various methods of corporal punishment, as well as controversial racist political satire indicating the period’s instability. Even pirates make an appearance.

“Cochin Chinese Pirates”, circa 1850s. Carte-de-visite, 4 X 2.5 in. Jerry Lee Harlowe Collection, P2017-14-001.

Having spent the majority of 2020 creating metadata and description for this collection, I can attest to the ease in which I’d fall down that rabbit hole I like to call research. These images leave you with a sense of wanting to know more. For example, the photograph of the “Cochin Chinese Pirates” was my favorite photograph. Why, when the very word pirate has illegal, even violent connotations, would they pose for a photograph? As they look towards each other, is that fear in the one man’s eyes or companionship? Other compelling images are the group portraits of troop members from different countries toasting together as comrades, and those of headstones and military cemeteries that no longer exist today. Many of these short clips of memory, precious enough to be recorded, exhibit a sense of humanity we tend to forget as they help to tell a more global history through the photographic record.

“Weihaiwei Cemetery,” circa 1898 to 1930s. Gelatin silver print, 5.5 in x 3.5 in. Jerry Lee Harlowe Collection, P2012-19-109.

Jerry Lee Harlowe is a local historian, writer, and avid collector of historical photographs. He has written and edited several books and articles pertaining to his various historic and local interests including: Monitors: The Men, Machines, and Mystique, which tells the story of this innovative warship, and Vietnam Without a Dream, tales and memories of his time serving in Vietnam. Jerry Harlowe served with the U.S. Air Force at Pleiku Air Base in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. He continues to support groups for orphans of the Central Highlands, and has returned to the area numerous times over the years since in an effort to find his companion’s friends from their tour of duty.  In the collection inventories, Harlowe has included brief notations for most photographs from his private research along with links for future researchers.

If this has sparked your interest, all of the photographs, records, and memorabilia in the Jerry Lee Harlowe collection can be viewed in the Special Collections reading room. The photographs can also be searched using the Special Collections Search bar on our homepage.

This post was written by Special Collections specialist Robin Martin ’08, ancient studies, and M.A. ’17, historical studies. Thank you, Robin!