Main content
William McOran Campbell Photograph Albums, Sketchbooks, and Other Materials
Notifications
Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
William McOran Campbell was the son of Scottish businessman and politician, James Campbell of Stracathro, and Janet (Jessie) Campbell (née Black). He was married to Marianne Campbell (née Richardson), and had two sons, George William McOran Campbell and James Ronald McOran Campbell. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, he often went on fishing trips to Iceland.
Consists of photograph albums, fishing ledgers, and sketchbooks from William McOran Campbell's fishing trips to Iceland between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Many of the materials note trips to "Langä Lodge" or "Langä", one of Iceland's salmon rivers. One of the photograph albums includes photographs of places, such as Nathro, the Faroe Islands, Derwentwater, and Broom; and one of the sketchbooks is a travel diary with entries and sketches from an 1873 trip to Norway.
The photograph albums consist primarily of photographs of Langa Lodge and its environs, as well as some interior photographs. There are a few photographs of people who were on the trip or at Langa. The fishing ledgers contain information about the types and amounts of fish caught during particular fishing seasons, and are also used as scrapbooks to some extent with newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, and illustrations pasted in or loose. There are three sketchbooks: the travel diary to Norway, which is primarily diary entries; a sketchbook of watercolors and a few pencil drawings; and a sketchbook with pencil drawings. The watercolors consist of landscapes, while the pencil drawings are also primarily landscapes, but also include people, with a few interiors, objects, and animals.
There are also two maps of Iceland, a copy of the book "Through Iceland with a Camera", typed pages of fishing notes for 1920, and a letter to Campbell with the 1925 sailing bill from the Iceland Steamship Company, Ltd.
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received.
Purchased from Blackwell's Rare Books in 2023 (AM 2025-081).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Amy C. Vo in April 2025. Finding aid written by Amy C. Vo in April 2025, incorporating description provided by the creator.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2025 processing.
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Amy C. Vo
- Finding Aid Date
- 2025
- Access Restrictions
-
This collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
1 linear footin two manuscript boxes and one half-manuscript box.