{"id":1358,"date":"2012-10-31T19:10:04","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T23:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2014-06-07T07:59:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-07T11:59:52","slug":"faces-of-1862","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/faces-of-1862\/","title":{"rendered":"Faces of 1862"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>With the rise of relatively inexpensive albumen printing in the 1860s, photographic visiting cards\u2014universally known by the more tony-sounding cartes de visite,<\/em> reflecting their French origins\u2014became wildly popular.<\/p>\n

Of a standard size of 2\u00bd by 4 inches, they could be inserted in commercially available albums.\u00a0 School and college students, no doubt encouraged by photography studios, soon took advantage.\u00a0 In the decades before the rise of the photographic yearbook (Williston\u2019s Log<\/em> first appeared in 1902), seniors typically purchased photo albums and filled them with the cartes de visite<\/em> of their classmates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Recently a set of cartes de visite<\/em> stamped \u201cGraduating Class, Williston Seminary, 1862\u201d came into the hands of Rex Solomon \u201884<\/strong>, who has generously donated them to the Williston Northampton Archives.\u00a0 It is a significant gift.\u00a0 Though incomplete, it is the earliest set of class photographs in the Archives\u2019 collection.<\/p>\n

The images are in especially good condition for their age and chemistry.\u00a0 Typically, chemicals, impurities, and moisture in the original paper, glue, and cardboard backing react with the environment and one another, causing fading, yellowing, mildew, and the deterioration of the paper itself.\u00a0 But after 150 years, these photographs remain remarkably sharp and clean.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the photographs are not captioned, so we may never know the individual students\u2019 names.\u00a0 But there are also pictures of two adults, one of whom is immediately recognizable from other images as Principal Josiah Clark.\u00a0 This photograph of Clark was previously unknown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Josiah Clark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josiah Clark was Williston Seminary\u2019s second Principal, who served from 1849 to 1863.\u00a0 Born in Leicester, Mass. in 1814, he graduated Yale and taught Greek and Latin at several schools before coming to Williston.<\/p>\n

Joseph Sawyer, in his History of Williston Seminary<\/em> (1917), writes that \u201cJosiah Clark was not a maker of text books, he was himself a living text book.\u00a0 He did not content himself with giving to his pupils printed directions for procedure; he walked with them through the paths of knowledge.\u00a0 The boys learned to discriminate by seeing him discriminate; learned to admire by seeing him admire.\u00a0 He won the hearts of all excepting the unresponsive and incorrigible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like his predecessor, Luther Wright, Clark became increasingly convinced that he could not meet Samuel Williston\u2019s exacting, probably unrealistic standards, and stepped down after 14 years of distinguished service.\u00a0 He taught at the short-lived Round Hill School in Northampton, then in 1875 became Professor of Latin and Greek at newly founded Smith College.\u00a0 He died in 1878.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Eli A. Hubbard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other teacher in the set is not named, but since there were only seven men on the 1862 faculty, the odds of successfully identifying him are somewhat better.\u00a0 Most of the seven may immediately be rejected on account of their youth.\u00a0 Based on another photograph, albeit one taken much later in the subject\u2019s life, we believe the photo to be of Eli A. Hubbard.1<\/sup>\u00a0 Hubbard (1814-1899), a Williams College graduate, taught Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Williston, 1848-1854 and 1856-1874.<\/p>\n

For most of those years the indefatigable Hubbard was the only scientist, and to an extent the only advocate for<\/em> the sciences, on a faculty of classical scholars.\u00a0 During his Williston hiatus he was Principal of Fitchburg, Mass., High School.\u00a0 When he left Williston, aged 60, he served for eight years as Superintendent of Schools in Springfield, Mass., then returned to Fitchburg as Superintendent of Schools before finally retiring, aged 71, in 1885.<\/p>\n

More information on cartes de visite<\/em> may be found at The American Museum of Photography<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1<\/sup>Since this was first published we have located an identical portrait in William Andrew Emerson, Fireside Legends: Incidents, Anecdotes, Remeniscences, Etc., Connected with the Early History of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Vicinity <\/em>(2nd ed.,\u00a0[s.l. : s.n.], 1900), p. 155, thus confirming the identification of Eli A. Hubbard.<\/p>\n

Your comments and questions are welcome!\u00a0 Please use the form below.<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the rise of relatively inexpensive albumen printing in the 1860s, photographic visiting cards\u2014universally known by the more tony-sounding cartes de visite, reflecting their French origins\u2014became wildly popular. Of a standard size of 2\u00bd by 4 inches, they could be inserted in commercially available albums.\u00a0 School and college students, no doubt encouraged by photography studios, … Continue reading Faces of 1862<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[140,68,25],"tags":[158,163,162,161,160,106,159],"class_list":["post-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-alumnae","category-recent-gifts-acquisitions-and-discoveries","category-williston-seminary","tag-cartes-de-visite","tag-cdvs","tag-class-of-1862","tag-eli-andrews-hubbard","tag-josiah-clark","tag-photography","tag-portraits"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2644,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions\/2644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}