Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1683

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

.2 linear feet (1 box containing 1 volume.)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Mabel Cranston Briney and Frances Aileen Laughlin American West road trip photograph album, 1938, Ms. Coll 1683, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1938

Creator:

Briney, Mabel Cranston, 1886-1972 and Laughlin, Frances Aileen, 1910?-1990

Form:

Photographs and Photograph albums

Abstract:

The Briney and Laughlin families were neighbors who resided in Iowa. This photograph album documents a road trip that Mabel Cranston Briney, Mary Belle Briney, Anna H. Laughlin, Frances Aileen Laughlin, and Leroy Briney, Jr. took through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, including landmarks and national parks, with handwritten commentary and poetry.

Mabel C. Briney was born Feb. 2, 1886, in Champaign County, Ohio, to Frank H. and Clara Belle Smith Briney. She resided in Woodstock, Ohio, much of her life and was a member of the Woodstock Garden Club and a teacher in the Woodstock and Mechanicsburg Schools. She was also an instructor at Lenox College in Hopkinton, Iowa. She died June 10, 1972. She may be the compiler of the album; she selected the literary passages. Mary Belle Briney was her niece and Leroy Briney, Jr., her nephew. Mary Belle lived with Mabel at some point, including in 1940, two years after this trip.

Frances Aileen Laughlin, the album's primary photographer, was born circa 1910 in Illinois. She resided in Hopkinton, Iowa at least in the year 1935. In 1940, Frances' mother, Anna H. Laughlin (who also went on the road trip), lived next door to Mabel C. and Mary Belle Briney, at which point both Anna Laughlin and Mabel Briney were instructors at Lenox College.

This collection consists of one album documenting a road trip taken by Mabel Cranston Briney, Mary Belle Briney, Anna H. Laughlin, Frances Aileen Laughlin, and Leroy Briney, Jr. through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, departing on June 16, 1938 from Hopkinton, Iowa. The route is illustrated in ink on a tipped in map. Photograph subjects include indoor scenes of the group with friends in various lodgings; Cheesman Park, Denver, Colorado; Colorado State Capitol; Denver City Park; South Cheyenne Canyon; Garden of the Gods; Pike's Peak; Pine, Colorado; the Continental Divide; Salt Lake City, Utah capitol building; monuments and statues in Salt Lake City; Yellowstone National Park, including geysers, vistas, and wildlife; Top of the World Highway (Beartooth Highway); a rodeo at Red Lodge, Montana featuring Alice Greenough; the Black Hills; and the Badlands.

The album begins with portraits and descriptions of all five members of the group. Includes handwritten captions narrating the stops of the journey, quotes, and poetry, plus some preserved flowers and business cards. While no one is credited with compiling the album, Mabel Cranston Briney is the first party member listed and is noted on leaf 35 recto as the selector of the quoted passages. Frances Aileen Laughlin is credited as photographer. The majority of the photographs in the scrapbook are 2.75" x 4.5", black and white. Some are hand-colored. A second, uncolored copy of the last photograph in the album is laid in and stamped on the verso: Aug 31 1938 "XL" Film Service Luverne, Minn. Postcards tipped in on front cover verso. Souvenir stickers tipped in on back cover.

This album is part of the Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness.