Lot 95: John A. Whipple (1822 - 1891) and James W. Black (1825 - 1896)

Description

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CREW TEAM a group of 4 photographs, including Six Members of the First Dartmouth College Crew Team Standing on a River Bank, The Crew Team on the Connecticut River near the Ledyard Bridge, and The Crew Team with Their Boat beside a River Bank (2 copies), oval salt prints, mounted and varnished, each titled and annotated in unidentified hands in pencil and one with the studio blindstamp of 'Whipple & Black, 96 Wash'n St' on the mount, circa 1856-59 (4) Each approximately 53/4 by 73/4 in. 14.6 by 19.7 cm. Rowing at Dartmouth began in 1856. These photographs came originally from the collection of Frederick Chase, Dartmouth class of 1860, who was a member of the first crew team and is pictured in the photographs. Chase later became a lawyer and a judge, and at his death in 1890 was treasurer of Dartmouth College. It is believed that each member of the crew team received 12 Whipple & Black photographs; only 6 prints survive in the archives of Dartmouth College today. Whipple and Black formed a partnership in 1856 and set up their studio at 96 Washington Street, Boston; the partnership was dissolved in 1859. Both were important in the advancement of paper photography in America before the Civil War.