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Roy and Rogers McVaugh family photographs

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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. 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

Roy McVaugh was born in Hockessin, DE, 18 May 1880 and died in Damariscotta, ME, 7 October 1945. He graduated from George School in 1899 and from Swarthmore College in 1902; he overlapped in both schools with his brother Frank (Charles Franklin McVaugh Jr., 1878-1947. He recieved an MA from Columbia University, lived in Atlantic City and Brooklyn, NY briefly, and finally moved to Kinderhook, NY, where he lived and farmed for the rest of his life. A Quaker, he was a member of New York Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). In 1905 he married Elizabeth Cooper Skinner (1868-1941); their son, Rodgers McVaugh, was born in Brooklyn 30 May 1909 (died Chapel Hill, NC, 24 September 2009.

Rodgers McVaugh graduated from George School before going on to Swarthmore College (class of '31); after graduation from college, before going to the University of Pennsylvania for graduate school, he spent a summer working for the US Department of Agriculture in Cleveland, Ohio. He became a research professor of botany and University of North Carolina herbarium's curator of Mexican plants

This collection contains three albums with photographs taken by Roy McVaugh (1 album) and Rogers McVaugh (2 albums). There is also an envelope of larger photographs kept of Rodgers McVaugh, mostly in groups.

This collection is arranged in albums and folders as donated.

Gift of Michael McVaugh, 2010.

An orientation notebook given to Swarthmore undergraduates in 1927, and a small box with Swarthmore and George School jewelry have been removed to handbooks and relics respectively.

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Author
Zoe Peyton Jones
Finding Aid Date
2018
Access Restrictions

This collection is available for research use.

Use Restrictions

Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Collection Inventory

Middle sized album (green fading to brown).
Scope and Contents

The photographs in this album were taken by Roy McVaugh. Most photos are taken at George School or Swarthmore, including pictures of sports teams. The annotations in small lettering were made by Roy; the more recent ball-point annotations, usually identifying Roy in the different photographs, were made by Rogers.

Small album (brown).
Scope and Contents

The photographs in this album were taken by or for Rogers McVaugh. The first few pages are of animals on the Kinderhook farm where he grew up. Pictures of George School, Swarthmore College, and his summer working for the US Department of Agriculture studying Dutch elm disease can also be found in this album. Rogers wrote brief notes in white ink when the album was created, but in recent years added further annotations to identify people and friends in greater detail. "S.C.' indicates that the picture was taken at Swarthmore; "G.S." that it was taken at George School. Rogers is in at least one of the pictures: he is third from the left in the "buggy-ride" photograph marked "Cleveland 1931.". At the end of the volume are several pictures of players on the Swarthmore lacrosse team, on which he was the goalie; there are also two clippings of lacrosse matches which mention his performance. He was self-deprecatory about his play, but very proud of it too.

Large album (green).
Scope and Contents

The photographs in this album were taken by Rogers McVaugh. At the beginning there are a number of pictures of classmates and events at Swarthmore, 1929-31, but the majority are of places near Kinderhook (Columbia Co., NY) or Hockessin, of Cleveland in 1931, and of a trip he took to the southern US in early 1932.

Envelope of larger photos.
Scope and Contents

This file includes larger photographs kept by Rogers McVaugh--of himself in class groups, in smaller social groups he took part in, in sports teams, and of certain college buildings. They appear to be mostly (if not all) taken at Swarthmore College.

Photograph of Kitty Michener on glass - FRAGILE.
Scope and Contents

Kitty Michener was a George School classmate of Rogers McVaugh. There is also a black and white photograph of her in the small brown album. This glass photograph is either an ambrotype or an Autochrome, likely from around 1926.

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