A Tourist's Album of Japan

Katherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a graduate of the University of Vermont, and in 1929 Katherine Wolcott helped to fund the construction of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum in memory of her late uncle. This album, a memento from their trip, was part of Wolcott’s own collection. There are nearly 40 leaves of collected photographs and postcards, numbering two to three per album page. The pictures range in content, some depicting staged photos of daily life while others portray landscapes and countryside. The album itself measures approximately 11 x 14 x 4 inches and is currently housed at the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont. Wolcott’s album captures a unique view of Japan at the brink of burgeoning Western influence. After defeating the Russians in the Russo Japanese War (1904-05), Japan began to cement itself as a global power, and its efforts to modernize began to attract Westerners. The images in this album depict a Japan with a strong national heritage and cultural appreciation as well as a newfound embrace of modernization and technology. Most of the pictures in the album sold commercially as a form of postcard. In the early 1900s, the Japanese populace began consuming millions of these types of commercially produced picture postcards. Eventually, the medium became so popular that it started to replace the more traditional wood block print. The citizenry sought pictures of their budding nation, wanting to hold a still image of the rapidly modernizing and changing countryside.

List

Gallery

Information

Showing 51 - 60 of 130 Records

Relevance Title (A-Z) Title (Z-A) Year (0-9) Year (9-0)
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130 1909
Miniature of Entrance to a rural shrine
Entrance to a rural shrine
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
    Miniature of Farmer traveling on a country road
    Farmer traveling on a country road
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
      Miniature of Flowers
      Flowers
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        • Date Created: 1909
        • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
        Miniature of Woman crossing bridge over pond
        Woman crossing bridge over pond
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          • Date Created: 1909
          • Description: A woman in a kimono is walking through a residence. She is crossing a small pond, walking over a wooden bridge.
          • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
          Miniature of Two female performers
          Two female performers
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            • Date Created: 1909
            • Description: The woman on the right is holding a Shamisen, while the woman on the left is posed in a position as if she were about to begin dancing.
            • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
            Miniature of Two carpenters
            Two carpenters
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              • Date Created: 1909
              • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
              Miniature of Two Ainu posing in traditional attire
              Two Ainu posing in traditional attire
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                • Date Created: 1909
                • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                Miniature of Farmers planting their crop
                Farmers planting their crop
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                  • Date Created: 1909
                  • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                  Miniature of Large houses in a Japanese city
                  Large houses in a Japanese city
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                    • Date Created: 1909
                    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                    Miniature of Two Sumo wrestlers locked in a grapple
                    Two Sumo wrestlers locked in a grapple
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                      • Date Created: 1909
                      • Description: The under garment worn by Sumo Wrestlers is known as the "Mawashi".
                      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs