Call Number:

Realia 3

Repository:

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

Extent:

.6 linear feet (2 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Caroline F. Schimmel collection of photographs relating to women in the American wilderness, circa 1860-1999, Realia 3, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1885-1953 (bulk) and 1860-1999 (inclusive)

Creator:

Schimmel, Caroline F.

Form:

Photographs and Postcards

Abstract:

Caroline F. Schimmel is a bibliographer and book collector who has collected narratives and representations of women in the American wilderness, from the North Pole to the South, for the past forty-five years. This collection consists of photographs collected by Schimmel and includes postcards; landscape photography; portraits of notable women; and photographs by women photographers.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Library Service at Columbia University, Caroline F. Schimmel is an elected member of the Grolier Club, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Explorers Club. She is a full-time book collector and bibliographer. Schimmel has collected tens of thousands of fiction and nonfiction narratives and representations of women in the American wilderness, from the North Pole to the South. In 2014, she donated part of her collection, as the Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness, to the Penn Libraries, and has continued to augment the collection with subsequent gifts. While the bulk of the collection consists of books (including novels, anthologies, poetry, works by Indigenous women authors, travel writings, narratives of polar expeditions, memoirs by women aviators and sailors, captivity narratives, and works for children), Schimmel also collects photographs, manuscripts, archives, art, and artifacts.

Works cited:

"Caroline F. Schimmel Collection of Women in the American Wilderness." "Notable Collections," Penn Libraries, University of Pennsylvania, https://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/notable/caroline-f-schimmel-collection

Hoover, John and Russell L. Martin, III. "Introduction," OK, I'll Do It Myself: Narratives of Intrepid Women in the American Wilderness: Selections from the Caroline F. Schimmel Collection, 2017.

This collection consists of postcards and photographs collected by Caroline F. Schimmel.

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

This collection is subject to additions.

The collection is organized into three series: I. Postcards; II. Photographs of Indigenous people by news photography agencies; and III. Miscellaneous Photographs.

I. Miscellaneous postcards includes postcards depicting women in the American West and/or featuring a photograph by a woman known for her work in North America. Postcards are typically undated and the date of the photograph's original creation can be decades before the date the postcard was published. Items are arranged in alphabetical order by photographer surname or, where no photographer is named, the sitter or subject's name. This series is subject to additions.

II. Photographs of Indigenous people by news photography agencies includes ten photographs, all of which were purchased as Lot 158 from Swann Galleries sale 2670. Some photographs are portraits, while others are of women socializing, weaving or making other fiber arts, and making pottery or ceramics, sometimes with children. Most photographs in this series are stamped with Publisher's Photo Service or Underwood & Underwood credit stamps and have one or more typed captions affixed to the back. Where places are provided in captions, modern spellings are substituted in folder titles. Captions provided by the agencies on the reverse of these photographs may use language that is outdated, inaccurate, disrespectful, and/or considered offensive to readers. Researchers are urged to use discretion when viewing materials. This series is comprised of one auction lot and is not subject to additions.

III. Miscellaneous photographs includes the rest of the photographs collected by Caroline Schimmel and is subject to additions. These photographs span a wide range of years and subjects. They are of, by, and/or related to women in the Americas.

Known photographers: Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), Evelyn (E. J.) Cameron (1868-1928), E. B. Andrews, George Wharton James (1858-1923), Witter Bynner (1881-1968), Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971), D. F. (David Francis) Barry (1854-1934), Laton Anton (L. A.) Huffman, R. L. Kelly, Gisèle Freund (1908-2000), Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), and Marion Post Wolcott (1910-1990). Studios and publishers include White Studio, Sarony Publishing Company, and Purdy and Frear.

Subjects and portrait sitters include author Mary Hunter Austin (1868-1934), artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), artist Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986), sharpshooter and performer Annie Oakley (1860-1926), performer Dale Evans (Dale Evans Rogers) (1912-2001), high-altitude archaeologist María Constanza Ceruti (1973-), Gros Ventre woman Mrs. Bad Gun, author Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), Violet Berry, and performer Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923).

Margaret Fuller cartes-de-visite are from John Plumbe's 1846 daguerreotype originals, the only known photographs of Fuller. One carte has Purdy and Frear's publisher information printed on the back; the other is unlabeled. Lot 75 from Swann Galleries' Focus on Women sale, May 15, 2025.

Marion Post Wolcott photographs are from her body of work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Other photographs in the series, including photographs by Lange, Abbott, and Wolcott, were produced while the photographers were employed by New Deal Agencies, i.e. the FSA and Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Items are arranged alphabetically by photographer surname, subject/sitter name, or subject when no photographer or sitter is named.