A Tourist's Album of Japan
Collection Overview
Katherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a...
Show moreKatherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a graduate of the University of Vermont, and in 1929 Katherine Wolcott helped to fund the construction of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum in memory of her late uncle. This album, a memento from their trip, was part of Wolcott’s own collection.
There are nearly 40 leaves of collected photographs and postcards, numbering two to three per album page. The pictures range in content, some depicting staged photos of daily life while others portray landscapes and countryside. The album itself measures approximately 11 x 14 x 4 inches and is currently housed at the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont.
Wolcott’s album captures a unique view of Japan at the brink of burgeoning Western influence. After defeating the Russians in the Russo Japanese War (1904-05), Japan began to cement itself as a global power, and its efforts to modernize began to attract Westerners. The images in this album depict a Japan with a strong national heritage and cultural appreciation as well as a newfound embrace of modernization and technology.
Most of the pictures in the album sold commercially as a form of postcard. In the early 1900s, the Japanese populace began consuming millions of these types of commercially produced picture postcards. Eventually, the medium became so popular that it started to replace the more traditional wood block print. The citizenry sought pictures of their budding nation, wanting to hold a still image of the rapidly modernizing and changing countryside.
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Additional Content
Pages
- Title
- Samurai posing in a sitting position
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
A hand colored picture of a Samurai posing for a picture, fully garbed in armor.
- Title
- Two carpenters
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Three travelers walking down a country road
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Doctor attending to a sick woman
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- A man and five women dining
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The gathered group of people appear to be eating either Udon or Soba noodles. The gender ratio is somewhat perplexing, but can most likely be attributed to the artificial nature of the picture.
- Title
- Employees outside a tea house
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- A portrait of a young woman
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Tea house with waitresses
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
Judging by the large quantity of women present in the building, this residence is most likely a tea-house or establishment catering to entertaining men.
- Title
- A riverboat with passengers
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Five monks posing
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Temple in the Japanese countryside
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Two women and a child siting below Sakura Trees
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
A small Gazebo structure appears behind the women.
- Title
- The streets of Kyoto
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The streets are filled with people, American and Japanese flags flying from buildings. In the background, you can see an advertisement for Kirin beer, written in both Katakana and English. On the streets, there are men dressed in the more traditional clothing as well as men dressed in western...
Show moreThe streets are filled with people, American and Japanese flags flying from buildings. In the background, you can see an advertisement for Kirin beer, written in both Katakana and English. On the streets, there are men dressed in the more traditional clothing as well as men dressed in western appearing clothing.
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- Title
- Staged rickshaw accident
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Monks in front of a large statue of Buddha
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
Possibly a picture of the Amida Buddha statue in Kamakura.
- Title
- The town of Hakone
- Date Created
- 1909
- Title
- Two women posing for a picture with their calligraphy
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
Two women posing with umbrellas and calligraphy.
- Title
- Groups of people eating lakeside
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
A group of women are eating together by a lake. A group of men are in the background, and appear to be eating as well.
- Title
- A hotel in the Japanese countryside
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
In the upper left hand section of the picture, there is a black X inscribed on the picture. This was probably done by the original collector to identify which room (s)he stayed in.
- Title
- Female musician with koto and Ōtsuzumi
- Date Created
- 1909
- Description
-
The instrument leaning against the wall behind the woman is a Koto. The drum she is holding and the one laying on the floor next to her are Ōtsuzumi.