[Photo Album]: Chicago Couple's Home Life and Travel

Oblong quarto measuring 11" x 7". Screw-bound brown leather over stiff paper boards. Contains 350 sepia-toned or black and white silver gelatin photographs measuring between 2" x 3" and 6" x 9" with captions. Very good album with worn edges and loose pages with near fine photographs. An extensive photo album documenting the lives of Chicago natives, Genevieve Barry and Harold Burnham. It begins with the courtship of Barry and Burnham in 1916 and follows their lives through 1953 over hundreds of images. The album is packed with annotations including dates, places, and stories of what was going on in their lives. The opening pages shows a smiling Genevieve in Richmond, Virginia and Harold in his Color Sergeant uniform stationed in San Antonio, Texas in June of 1916. Harold was eventually sent for overseas duty during the end of the First World War and his sendoff is pictured here. According to their engagement announcements in 1917, Barry was a "gifted soprano" while Burnham was a recent Yale graduate. After the war the couple settled in Chicago and their names can be found in the Chicago Blue Book. They kept a large amount of animals such as dogs and horses and most of these acquisitions are mentioned throughout the album as well as the animal’s deaths. In the 1920s they took movies of their horses which were eventually stolen during a home robbery. It appears Harold worked for the Orient Coal Company and there are photos of the first load of coal shipped on Lake Michigan. The album follows the Burnham’s through work, family, and vacations over decades. They photograph their cars over the years including their first car, a Mitchell and later a Studebaker, a Fordor Sedan, and a Lincoln Zephyr. They frequently travel across the country to Niagara Falls, beach towns in New Jersey, Alabama, and Florida, among others. A 1947 trip through the south includes a chart of prices paid and miles driven. Many of the photos feature lengthy captions describing the subject such as "On the Battlefield of Gettysburg, PA – This is a place every American citizen should be compelled by law to visit. It is under government supervision and all points of interest are marked with monuments. It takes about 3-4 hours to cover." When home they spend time in the city, ride horses in the snow, and entertain at their home. A comprehensive album detailing a Chicago couple’s life from 1916 through 1953.…