Cigarette Cards

Posted on March 20, 2023 by meehan

In the early 1900s, small leather or paper cards were gifts in cigarette packages. This came from the increasing popularity and competition of cigarette sales. Including a prize enticed buyers and interested collectors would try to obtain all the cards in a particular series.

The cards were small, around 2 ½” by 2”. One series featured college and university seals embossed on leather. A collection of these cards was stitched together at some point and backed with black felt to make a large quilt square, featuring different university seals in a variety of colors. The Alfred University seal appears in the top row, fourth from the left. This type of artifact reveals the change in relationship we have had with cigarette sales and packaging as years have gone on.

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Writing Desks

Posted on March 14, 2023 by meehan

In the Victorian era (1837 – 1901) one invention became incredibly popular due to its practicality and convenience: the portable writing desk. These desks were like briefcases, wooden boxes often with a handle and lock, that opened to create a flat writing surface. Many of these desks came with compartments to store writing tools and ink. Two mid-19th century desks are part of the archive collection. The first belonged to Alexander B. Burdick, a ship’s carpenter. The second was owned by Alfred University’s first president William Kenyon.

Image of an early portable travel desk opened up

In addition to being made for traveling, these desks allowed for ease of movement in cold days or evenings when a person desired to continue writing by the warmth and light of a fire. They also allowed for privacy, often allowing owners to lock their writings in the inner compartment. Desks of this sort that were made for men tended to be heavier, less ornate devices while desks for women were smaller and more likely to contain engravings or paintings. Jane Austen used such a desk to revise Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and used it to write her novels Mansfield Park and Persuasion.

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Early Fans

Posted on March 7, 2023 by meehan

19th century paper and wood fan

An interesting object in the collection is this folding fan made from wood and paper. On the front of the fan, a bundle of red flowers is painted. Fans of this sort were invented in Japan somewhere from the 6th to the 9th century. This type of fan (in China called a Zheshan （折扇）) was introduced to China in the 10th century by a Japanese monk. From the late 18th century to around 1845 trade between the United States and China was increasing and Chinese fans became popular among American women. Chinese influence can be seen in how American middle-class women coveted these fans. Part of the creation of this influence can be attributed to the first Chinese woman to immigrate to the U.S named Afong Moy. She landed in New York City in 1834 and was often exhibited besides Chinese arts and goods, offering many people their first introduction into Chinese art and culture.

Written on this fan is text that reads: “E.A. Higgins, July 2nd 1878, Anniversary, I.A. Place, Cornell ’81.” Edgar A. Higgins and Ira A. Place were both students at Alfred University in 1878. Higgins graduated in 1879 while Place transferred to Cornell University. In the age before air conditioning, they used this fan to cool themselves during the July heat.

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Glass Plate Negatives

Posted on February 28, 2023 by meehan
Image of a glass plate negative and a print photograph made from it

A glass plate negative photograph is created by spreading emulsion on a glass plate. Light is focused through a lens onto that material creating the negative image which is then developed to create the photograph. This photography method was invented in 1851 but required photographers to expose and develop the photo before the emulsion dried. Dry plate negatives were an important development, first made available in 1873, and allowing photographers to take multiple plates out for exposure and process them all later. This method of photography was popular from the 1880s to the late 1920s as it was more convenient and efficient. The invention of roll film made cameras and photography more accessible and manageable, and glass plate negative photography went out of style. One user of the dry plate negative photography in Alfred was Henry C. Hunting. He owned a photography studio from the early 1900s to the 1920s. His camera, photos, negatives, and signature stamp are all held in the collection.

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Horn Books

Posted on February 21, 2023 by meehan
horn book paddle
Horn book pamphlet

Hornbooks were a teaching tool for children going back to the 1400’s. They often featured the letters of the alphabet as well as small prayers for children to read. This hornbook, part of the Alfred Historical Society collection, is a small paddle-shaped piece of wood with a front plate that includes the alphabet and small prayer reading: “Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name: thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven…”. The hornbook also included two pamphlets, again with the alphabet but with animals representing each letter and other small images and allusions to stories. Though children don’t use hornbooks such as these anymore, primers, as well as many educational games and videos, use this method of teaching. Encouraging children to learn through repetition of letters and sounds is still seen as an effective way to begin to teach them writing and reading.

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Early Microtome

Posted on February 3, 2023 by meehan
Microtome photo
wooden box housing for microtome

Biology professor Era Scofield discovered this 1910 microtome under the eaves in the attic of Agricultural Hall when it was being torn down in the early 1970s. This device (and more complex versions used today) are used to cut microscopically thin pieces of tissue for processing and study. Microtomes were invented in 1865 by Wilhelm His. Early uses of the device included treating animal flesh to harden it with salts and acids and then slicing it. Observing these samples under a microscope allowed for clearer understanding of the makeup of cells and tissues. The microtome found here and housed in the archives is in a wooden carrying case with an iron handle. When found, it was missing a tray, which Scofield later made to repair the object. Through this object you can see the development of scientific research and understanding from the mid-19th century to contemporary times.

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Captain Horatio Wood

Posted on November 22, 2022 by meehan
Image of Captain Horatio N. Wood
Captain Horatio Wood
Image of Inuit hunting bolas
Inuit hunting bolas

Horatio Wood was born in Butler, Wayne County, New York on August 23, 1869. In the late 1890s, as a member of the Coast Guard, he became captain of the U.S. Cutter “Bear” that patrolled Alaskan waters helping commercial fishing ships as well as the native population.

Wood acquired many artifacts from his expeditions around the world and donated several pieces in 1935 to the Steinheim Museum at Alfred University. He connected with Alfred during visits to his sisters Angeline and Julia, who both taught in the university’s School of Agriculture.

One unique artifact was a slingshot or “bolas” from the Inuit people. They used this hunting weapon by swirling it in the air, launching it at a low-flying bird. Once entangled, the bird was brought down by its weight.

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Simpler Speling

Posted on September 1, 2016 by Laurie McFadden

Dewey letter, 1922

Best known for developing the Dewey Decimal System, Melvil Dewey was also interested in the movement to simplify the spelling of the English language (as evidenced in this letter written to Alfred University president Boothe C. Davis in 1922). Dewey attended Alfred University in 1877 and had been instrumental in convincing Andrew Carnegie to donate money to construct the Carnegie Library on Alfred’s campus (it opened in 1913). Dewey continued his interest in the University with future donations and by recommending students to attend. Carnegie was also interested in spelling reform and in 1906 funded the Simplified Spelling Board of which Dewey was a charter board member. To demonstrate his commitment to the cause, Dewey even shortened the spelling of his first name from Melville to Melvil!

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Hannah Simpson Spencer

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Laurie McFadden

Spencer, Hannah Simpson plaque

Hannah Simpson Spencer (born in 1838) graduated from Alfred University in 1864 and was recently honored by the Kanisteo Valley chapter of the DAR with a “Women in American History Award.” The University Archives recently received the laser-carved wooden plaque presented at the award ceremony to Hannah’s family. It will join Hannah’s diary already found in the archive collection. Hannah used her diary as both record keeper and confidante, regaling it with daily minutiae and heartfelt emotions alike. It has been transcribed and can be accessed online. Hannah’s writing is an entertaining window into the life of a young college woman finding her way. After first teaching in public schools, she entered Alfred University at age twenty-three. Her obituary gives insight into Hannah’s life after college as she joined other AU alumnae in forging a path into disciplines generally regarded as suitable only for men. “During her college course she broke in health and as the result of an extended course in sanatorium treatment, she became interested in the study of medicine. After a two year medical course and special courses at the eye and ear infirmary in New York City, lectures in surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, she was entitled to a license for the practice of medicine.” As was typical of women of her time, she married and raised a family of six children. “After her children were out of arms she opened a small sanatorium at her home [in Jasper, NY]. She was successful in the use of electricity, baths, rest and carefully regulated habits of living, which are more commonly practiced by the regular medical profession than they were at that time. Her health, however, never allowed her to develop a large practice and after a few years she was obliged to give up this line of work entirely. She was always interested in forward moral and religious movements. She was from girlhood an ardent abolitionist. For twenty-eight years she was the head of the Woman’s Missionary society of the Canisteo River Baptist Association and for over twenty years she was the president of the Jasper Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. When nearly seventy she organized a scout troop in Jasper and it was a success for quite a time.” Hannah Simpson Spencer died in 1929.

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Senior Art Shows

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Laurie McFadden

Vase_1916 As we near yet another end of the academic year, senior art students are busily preparing for their final public exhibitions. This showing of art is heavily attended and looked forward to by many as a “must attend” event. (This year it will be held Saturday, May 7th.)
One hundred  years ago, another student was also preparing her senior thesis project. This hexagonal whiteware vase was created by Inez Cook in 1916 under the supervision of Charles Fergus Binns, first director of the New York State College of Ceramics. The ornate art nouveau style is created using an underglaze of pastel colors showing through an elaborate raised fretwork design.
Inez Cook donated her piece to the Alfred University Archives in 1975.

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