Guide to the Spencer Family Photograph Collection, 1896-1911 AIS.1990.07
Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Spencer Family Photograph Collection
Creator
Spencer family
Collection Number
AIS.1990.07
Extent
1275 items(9 photograph albums)
Date
1896-1911
Abstract
The collection comprises nine photograph albums consisting of 1,275 photographs taken between 1896 and 1911. The photographs primarily show the Spencer Family at their Shadyside, Pittsburgh (Pa.) home located at 719 Amberson Avenue and on vacation in the eastern United States. Digital reproductions of selected images are available online.
Language
English
.
Author
Renee Ziemann.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives & Special Collections Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Biography
Headed by Charles Hart Spencer (1852-1950), a sales agent for industrialist,Henry Clay Frick, the Spencer Family lived in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Charles Spencer was married to Mary Acheson Spencer (1836-1950) and had seven children: Adeline Spencer Curry (1884-1984); Kate Spencer (1886-1961); Ethel Spencer (1889-1966); Mark Spencer (1892-1975); Mary Spencer (1893-1971); Charles Spencer (1895-1976); and Elizabeth Spencer Blue (1895-1976). The Spencer family background included Pittsburgh store owners Joseph Wilber and Anna Eliza Spencer, on the paternal side, and prominent judge, Marcus Acheson, on the maternal.
Shadyside was a fairly rural community when the Spencer family children were growing up during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. While the family earned a better than average income, they also had a larger than average family. They lived comfortably, but it was not without sacrifices in order to do so. Due to their family size, they employed more servants than the average middle class family. They also spent little money on luxuries like the theater. The children wore hand-me-downs that were mainly made within the family. The Spencer Family focus was on education, music, and religion. Mrs. Spencer was a dominant force in the household who strongly encouraged all of her children to attend college. Mrs. Spencer earned a BA from the Pennsylvania College for Women, distinguising her from other middle class women of the time.
Copyright
No copyright restrictions.
Scope and Contents Note
The collection comprises nine photograph albums consisting of 1,275 photographs taken between 1896 and 1911. The photographs primarily show the Spenser Family at their Shadyside, Pittsburgh (Pa.) home located at 719 Amberson Avenue and on vacation in the eastern United States. Charles Spencer's family photographs are an intimate document of middle class family life in Pittsburgh. Beyond this, they are a creative body of work that reflects Spencer's artistry and sensitivity. His carefully composed photographs with their attention to detail also demonstrate his mastery of the technical dimensions of photography, serving as a pictorialist view of late nineteenth and early twentieth century family life.
Arrangement
The photographs in this collection were arranged by the Spencer family in their nine original albums.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Previous Citation
Spencer Family Photograph Collection, 1896-1911, AIS.1991.07, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Preferred Citation
Spencer Family Photograph Collection, 1896-1911, AIS.1991.07, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Spencer, Ethel. The Spencers of Amberson Avenue: A Turn of the Century Memoir. Edited by Michael P. Weber and Peter N. Stearns. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. 1983.
"Pittsburgh Revealed: photographs since 1850 / introduction by Jan Beatty," Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art, 1997.
"Picturing Childhood," A Carnegie Museum of Art exhibition, 2006-2007.
Leonard, John William. Woman's who's who of America: a biographical dictionary of contemporary women of the United States and Canada. v.1. The American Commonwealth Company. 1914.
Pitz, Marylynn. "Pictures of childhood: Carnegie photo exhibit paints portrait of family life," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Now retrieved on May 12, 2009 from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07324/835253-42.stm.
Subjects
Personal Names
Spencer, Mark
Spencer, Kate
Spencer, Ethel
Spencer, Charles
Curry, Adeline Spencer
Blue, Elizabeth Spencer
Spencer, Mary Acheson
Spencer, Charles Hart
Geographic Names
Shadyside (Pittsburgh, Pa.) -- Genealogy
Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Genealogy
Other Subjects
Families -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Pictorial works
Personal papers
Merchants -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- History
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