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John W. and William M. Ridpath photographs
Notifications
Held at: Old York Road Historical Society [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Old York Road Historical Society. 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
John W. Ridpath was a Jenkintown pharmacist, newspaper publisher, borough government official, and amateur photographer. William M. Ridpath, son of John W. Ridpath, was an engineer who worked for six years on the Panama Canal.
This collection, which consists of mostly glass plate negatives with some contact prints and (film) slides created later, is organized into two series by creator: John W. Ridpath and William M. Ridpath.
John W. Ridpath's photographs, 1890-1910, include local scenes of eastern Montgomery County--churches, local events, and family--as well as some domestic scenes of late Victorian home-life. This series, which consists of approximately 650 images, contains glass negatives, original prints, contact prints, and slides.
The majority of William M. Ridpath's photographs, 1906-1935, document his work on the construction of the Panama Canal as well as aspects of life in Panama. Additional images include local scenes and Philadelphia views. This series, which consists of approximately 350 images, contains glass negatives, original prints, and contact prints.
There is an inventory on-site of the images on (film) slides as well as an item-level inventory with access copies of William M. Ridpath's photographs.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alan S. Rains, 1970, and gift of A. Stuard Graham
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Old York Road Historical Society directly for more information.
People
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Old York Road Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Old York Road Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.