Ca. 1900-1910 archive of 66 photographs by Frank Everett Fairbanks, amateur photographer in Fitchburg, Massachusetts

Sixty-eight total photographs, 66 by Frank Everett Fairbanks. The majority of images are silver prints, in landscape format:  6½ x 8¼ inches and mounted onto period cardstock, 10 x 12 inches. Some mounts have minor wear along edges or corners; a few images have unobtrusive stains. Overall, condition is very good.

Archive of 66 photographs taken by Frank Everett Fairbanks (1857-1930), an amateur photographer born in Ashburnham, Worcester County. Fairbanks was a longtime resident of Fitchburg.

A local newspaper records Fairbanks exhibiting his photographs as early as 1896. Several photographs in this collection have exhibit labels. Two are from the Haverhill Camera Club Loan Exhibition of 1902. A photography publication of the period notes that Fairbanks was an officer of the "Postal Photographic Club."

The majority of archive's photographs have Fairbanks stamp and the address 11 Day Street in Fitchburg. This was the address of Charles L. Fairbanks, coal dealer, and likely Frank's brother. For most of his life, Frank E. Fairbanks worked in the coal business: first as a dealer (1880s), then as an accountant, and then office manager for a coal business (1900-1920s), and finally as a yardmaster for the Union Coal Company (1930). In the 1880s, Frank's half-sister, Ellen Almira Fairbanks (later King), advertised locally that she taught oil and watercolor painting at her art studio. She may have encouraged Fairbanks to pursue photography.

Inventory

A.  Family

1.  "Frank & Irene Fairbanks home, Academy St., Fitchburg, Mass." (caption, verso), showing women playing croquet
2.  "Seth Fairbanks (Frank's son) & wife?" (caption, verso); taken at Fairbanks home
3.  Small group photo (self-portrait?) in front of Fairbanks home, the front door of which bears a metal plate reading "Fairbanks"
4.  Portrait of a seated woman wearing a hat
5.  Portrait of a toddler

B.  Medical

6.  Nurses' quarters, front and side elevations, Burbank Hospital School of Nursing
7.  Nurses' quarters, back and side elevations, Burbank Hospital School of Nursing
8.  Operating theater, Burbank Hospital School of Nursing, showing a surgical procedure
9.  Operating theater, Burbank Hospital School of Nursing, showing medical equipment
10.  Group portrait of nurses, Burbank Hospital School of Nursing
11.  Duplicate of #10
12.  [Studio portrait of a nurse by "Peterson & Reardon, Fitchburg"]

C.  Churches

13.  [Rollstone Congregational Church, Fitchburg, 1868, by Joseph Moulton, a pioneering Fitchburg photographer]
14.  Large group of men with a YMCA banner standing in front of a church or civic building
15.  Wooden church
16.  Christ Church, Fitchburg; exhibit label, verso

D.  Bridges

17.  North River Bridge; exhibit label, verso
18.  Stone arch bridge
19.  Iron bridge
20.  Duplicate of #19
21.  Duplicate of #19

E.  College

22.  Small, panoramic view of Fitchburg State College campus

F.  Whalom Park

23.  Whalom Lake
24.  Whalom Park Theatre
25.  Whalom Park Café Restaurant
26.  Rustic Log Bridge, Whalom Park
27.  (Handcolored view:) "At Whalom. Landscape."; exhibit label, verso
28.  Deer enclosure at Whalom Park

G.  Marshall Farm

29.  Orchard at Marshall Farm, barn in distance
30.  Orchard at Marshall Farm
31.  Orchard at Marshall Farm, close-up of flowering tree
32.  Orchard at Marshall Farm
33.  Orchard at Marshall Farm, from top of hill

H.  Houses

34.  Italianate House in Wallace Way, Pritchard Street, Greek Revival House next door
35.  View down Pritchard Street, including houses seen in #34
36.  House with fanlight attic window, side elevation
37.  House on roadway with telephone pole

I.  Other Buildings

38.  Fitchburg Post Office
39.  Wooden building with sign "Allen and Lesure"; stone bridge in foreground

J.  Identified Landscapes

40.  "Adams Island, Naukeag L., Ashburnham with Little Watatic Mt. in background" (caption, verso); "Naukeag" in white ink below image
41.  Oceanscape with evidence of photomanipulation to clouds
42.  "Pearl Hill, Fitchburg, Massachusetts" (caption, verso)
43.  Duplicate of #42 on larger mount
44.  View of Mount Wachusett with Wachusett Reservoir in foreground
45.  Duplicate of #45
46.  Duplicate of #45
47.  "Wachusett Mt." (caption, verso); pencil signature on verso
48.  Wachusett Mt. from Meeting House Hill, Ashburnham (caption, verso)

K.  Miscellaneous Landscapes

49.  "Country Road" or "A Country Road"; two exhibit labels, verso, including one for the Haverhill Camera Club Loan Exhibition, 1902
50.  River view
51.  River view with building in distance
52.  River view
53.  River view with tree in foreground
54.  Duplicate of #53
55.  River view
56.  Rock formation
57.  Stand of pine trees
58.  Valley view with orchard
59.  Valley view with houses and wooden tower in middle distance
60.  Lake view through trees
61.  Lake view through trees and adjacent roadway
62.  Roadside view with large tree and road sign
63.  Roadside view with road sign, gambrel roof house in background

L.  Miscellaneous

64.  Gravestone of John Prescott, first settler of Worcester County; caption, verso
65.  "Wild Goose"; two exhibit labels, verso, including one for the Haverhill Camera Club Loan Exhibition, 1902

M.  Industrial

66.  Two industrial engines against cloth backdrop
67.  Large generator in factory building with monitor roof
68.  Second generator in same factory