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 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.
Time Period Covered: 1909
Sub-collections
Published: February 01, 2011, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections
Rights: Requests to reproduce this item should be sent to the UVM Libraries' Center for Digital Initiatives at cdi@uvm.edu. For more information, see http://cdi.uvm.edu/about/rights.
Browse Options
Creator(s)
- Wolcott, Katherine [54]
Place(s)
- LifestylesJapan [54]
- Japan [49]
- Clothing and dressJapan [30]
- PeasantsJapan [16]
- PoorJapan [15]
- Musical instrumentsJapan [4]
- FlowersJapan [2]
- GamesJapan [2]
- MusicJapan [2]
- ParksJapan [2]
- Women musiciansJapan [2]
- ArchitectureJapan [1]
- Buddhist shrinesJapan [1]
- FestivalsJapan [1]
- FlagsJapan [1]
- Fuji, Mount (Japan) [1]
- PatriotismJapan [1]
Format(s)
- image [54]
Genre(s)
- photographs [54]
- photomechanical prints [54]
Topic(s)
- Lifestyles [54]
- Clothing and dress [30]
- Women [26]
- Peasants [17]
- Poor [16]
- Games [2]
- Religion [2]
- Women musicians [2]
- Architecture [1]
- Flags [1]
- Music [1]
- Parades [1]
- Parks [1]
- Patriotism [1]
- Pedicab drivers [1]
- Rickshaw men [1]
- Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 [1]
- Swords [1]
-
- | 26 - 50 of 54 |
-
- Thumbnails | List
Browsing by:
Topic: ("Lifestyles")
Topic: ("Lifestyles")
-
Shamisen crafter with a customer -
Staged rickshaw accident -
Street vendor posing for a photo -
Street vendor with small pipes on d... -
Tea house with waitresses -
Three basket weavers at work -
Three men carrying a woman in a pal... -
Three people bathing -
Three street vendors taking a break -
Three women bathing -
Two female performers -
Two men attired as Samurai playing ... -
Two men getting their hair styled -
Two traveling female performers -
Two women and a child siting below ... -
Two women bathing and dressing them... -
Two women getting water at a well -
Two women posing for a picture with... -
Two women posing with a tea set -
Two women practicing calligraphy -
Two women preparing a meal -
Two women preparing their attire -
Two women under a blooming Sakura t... -
Victory celebration after the Japan... -
Woman preparing her hair and clothi...
-
- | 26 - 50 of 54 |
-
- Thumbnails | List