亚历山德拉·布什，数字制作助理

The MHS is proud to announce a newly available digital collection. Prominent Boston landscape architect 阿瑟·阿瑟·阿瑟·舒尔克利夫 created this collection of more than 1,200个玻璃灯滑梯, 跨越90个物理盒子, 是MHS在20世纪60年代收购的. There are many rationales for the digitization of an MHS collection. 在这种情况下, the fragility of these glass slides along with the absence of the appropriate projection equipment makes in-person viewing difficult. 然而, a high-resolution scan reveals a diverse array of subject matter; city planning maps and diagrams, 波士顿街道和地标的历史图像, 夏克利夫在国外旅行的照片, 和更多的.

阿瑟·阿瑟·阿瑟·舒尔克利夫, 生于1870年, enjoyed a long career as a landscape architect in Boston and beyond. 他与弗雷德里克·劳·奥姆斯特德和他的儿子密切合作, with whom he developed the first landscape architecture program at Harvard. Through his interest in urban beautification and landscape-based history, Shurcliff played integral roles in projects such as the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, the 1920s additions to the Back Bay Fens including the athletic track and Kelleher Rose Garden, 以及对查尔斯河广场的改造, 在许多其他方面. 他还梦想有一个环绕波士顿的交通环, 虽然从未意识到, 会彻底改变城市的交通状况吗. Shurcliff married Margaret Homer Nichols in 1905 with whom he had six children. Margaret is described by the Nichols House Museum as a “spirited woman” whose wealth did not interfere with her social conscience. She spent her spare time teaching carpentry to inner city children and lobbying for women’s suffrage. The two were known to design and build wooden furniture together.

As President of the American Society of Landscape Architects as well as a member of the Boston Arts Commission, Shurcliff worked often with prominent individuals and organizations such as Boston’s Metropolitan District Commission and Metropolitan Planning Board. It is evidence of this work combined with that of his development of the Harvard program with Frederic Law Olmsted, Jr. that allows us to surmise that his collection of 幻灯片s was likely used for lectures to students or professionals in the landscape architecture field. 事实上, 在舒尔克利夫的日记里, 也在卫生部举行, 记录频繁的出差情况, 拖着相机, 目的是为讲座“准备幻灯片”. (Please see 23-28 February, 1923 日记 entries, 阿瑟·阿瑟·阿瑟·舒尔克利夫 Papers, carton 7.)

Often treated as in this case as a precursor to the modern-day overhead transparency, 幻灯片s were popularized around 1849 but were still in use as late as the 1930s. Hand-painted scenes as well as those produced using photographic negatives, which were created both commercially as well as by amateurs using take-home kits, were used in conjunction with a light projector to produce images. These projected images were used for a variety of purposes from magic shows to academic lectures. 在舒尔克利夫的情况下, 虽然大多数幻灯片都没有标签, it is safe to assume that the collection was created using a mixture of commercial and self-produced 摄影, along with photographs of paper documents such as maps or diagrams.

Shurcliff玻璃灯幻灯片收藏(图. 科尔. 6.以其有趣而多样的课程而自豪. Those familiar with downtown Boston will enjoy paging through images of it from over 100 years in the past. Those interested in demographics will find the charts recording changes in the populations, 交通, 以及城市规划的优先顺序. Those in search of evidence of Americans abroad may find Shurcliff’s architecturally-minded, photographic 日记 of his 旅行s through Southeast Asia to be an especially unique example. This fascinating collection is described in the online 收集指南, which also includes links to the online presentation of each image.  请浏览 收集指南. The web displays of the 幻灯片s are also now discoverable via MHS’s general website search tool.

The MHS is grateful to the Boston Public Library for creating the master digital images of the 幻灯片s. The Library for the Commonwealth program of the Boston Public Library supports digitization services for a statewide collaborative project, 马萨诸塞州数字联邦.  在不久的将来, metadata relating to the Shurcliff 幻灯片s will be added to 数字英联邦’s online discovery portal, where people can search across thousands of collections from various cultural institutions in Massachusetts. In the meantime check out other digitized MHS collections currently on 数字英联邦.

进一步的阅读

1. 库欣，伊丽莎白·霍普. 亚瑟一个. Shurcliff: Design, Preservation, and the Creation of the Colonial Williamsburg Landscape. 阿默斯特:马萨诸塞大学出版社, 与美国景观历史图书馆合作, 2014.
2. 阿瑟·肖克利夫. 亚瑟王自传. Shurcliff: written winter of 1943- 1944, with additions summer of 1946, summer of 1947. 1981.
3. Todisco,帕特里斯. “Boston’s Charles River Esplanade: an urban jewel,” Landscape Notes, 2015. http://landscapenotes.com/2015/03/07/bostons-charles-river-esplanade-an-urban-jewel/
4. “Margaret Homer (Nichols) Shurcliff (1879-1959),” Nichols House Museum, 2019. http://www.nicholshousemuseum.org/margaret_nichols.php
5. 阿瑟·阿瑟·阿瑟·舒尔克利夫 papers, 马萨诸塞州历史学会. http://vfebv.c-midori.net/collection-guides/view/fa0023