Visual Materials
The manuscript material, dated 1859-1993, that accompanies Peabody's photographs and negatives provides background information on the photographer's travels, professional interests, and commercial output. It consists of ledgers and negative lists; commercially published catalogs; correspondence; ephemera; and materials collected by Robert Weinstein.
The ledgers and negative lists record information about Peabody's negatives, specifically negative number, size, title/subject, style (colored or plain), and copyright date. Ledger 1 (fragment) details negatives arranged by lecture: "In the Footsteps of Cortes"; "A Tour of the White Mountains"; "Around Historical Boston"; "Seashore of New England"; and "Grand Canyon of Arizona." Ledgers 2, 3 and 4 list negatives arranged by negative number. The negative lists detail negatives for some of the national parks and monuments in the Western United States, and the Canadian Rockies.
The Swastika Educational Series catalogs were published by Peabody and list the slides (lantern and film), manuals, and films that comprised the Series. They contain information about prices and include "commendatories," or praise from third parties in regards to both Peabody's lectures and the strength of his images. The first and third also contain an index to subjects and localities.
The correspondence consists of letters to and from Henry Peabody and various businesses and individuals (including the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway; Bell and Howell Company; Dartmouth College; Encyclopedia Britannica; Ideal Pictures Corporation; National Geographic Society; the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; and the Society for Visual Education). Much of it concerns sales of Peabody's slides and albums to private individuals, schools, and museums; technical discussions about the projection of his films and slides; sales, purchases, and discussions of projection equipment; and slide and film production.
The ephemera consists of a scrapbook created by Henry Peabody, a brochure about the Grand Canyon published by Gates Tours, and scripts for Peabody's lectures on El Camino Real. The scrapbook documents Peabody's youth and career, and contains, among other items, mementoes from Peabody's childhood and marriage; catalogues of Peabody's work; the slide narration for Peabody's lecture on Zion National Park; a floor plan of his Boylston Street (Boston) studio; subscription announcements for Peabody's publications; price lists for Peabody's services and for photographic equipment; Peabody lecture programs; advertisement and brochure for Peabody's house at 640 North Prospect Boulevard, Pasadena; ephemeral materials from the United Universalist Conventions' Church of the Golden Rule in Pasadena; Swastika Educational Series brochures and catalogs; and Peabody's Christmas cards (featuring his hand-colored photographs). The Gates Tours brochure, What the tourists say, contains quotes about the experience of seeing the Grand Canyon. The El Camino Real scripts are Peabody's narrations written to accompany his slide lectures.
The materials collected by Robert Weinstein include autobiographical and biographical material on Peabody; notes and photocopies created by Weinstein; an essay on Peabody; letters to and from Weinstein; and some of Peabody's lecture scripts.
