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
Place(s)
- Japan [7]
- Clothing and dressJapan [6]
- LifestylesJapan [5]
- SwordsJapan [3]
- ArcheryJapan [1]
- ArmorJapan [1]
- GamesJapan [1]
- PoorJapan [1]
Genre(s)
- photographs [9]
- photomechanical prints [9]
Topic(s)
- Samurai [9]
- Clothing and dress [5]
- Lifestyles [4]
- Swords [2]
- Archery [1]
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Topic: ("Samurai")
Title: A rural Samurai
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
The Samurai in this picture is wearing a straw raincoat in addition to his swords and clothing.
Title: An elderly man getting his hair styled
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
It looks as if the man is getting his hair pulled back into the traditional Samurai hairstyle of the top knot (Chonmage).
Title: Elderly man with a bow
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
An elderly man is posing in a clan kimono with a "Yumi" (Bow) in his left hand. The bareness of his left arm suggests that the man is a practitioner of "Kyudo" (Japanese Zen Archery).
Title: Men practicing Kendo
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
The men here are depicted in full Kendo gear. Their armor and swords are designed to be used in practice against one another without causing harm. However, the mat/stage upon which the main subject of the picture stands could not serve as a ground to hold a Kendo match, as it is much too small.
Title: People viewing a statue of a Samurai
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
Title: Samurai bowing before their lord
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
The important figure is stepping into a palanquin, about to be carried to his destination by his bodyguards.
Title: Samurai posing in a sitting position
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
A hand colored picture of a Samurai posing for a picture, fully garbed in armor.
Title: Two hand draw masks
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
These two faces look akin to common "Mempo", the masks worn by samurai to guard the face. The coloration, and fierce facial expressions, are remarkably similar.
Title: Two men attired as Samurai playing Shogi
Creator: Wolcott, Katherine
Date: 1909
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: photomechanical prints
Judging by their hairstyles and the manner in which they are dressed, the two men are either of Samurai heritage or imitating men of such. They are playing Shogi, a Japanese board game similar in quality and manner to Chess.
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