About this Item
Quarto measuring 10" x 12". String-tied black and silver leather over stiff paper boards with "peerless scrapbook" stamped on the front board and a paper label reads "Cold Spring Harbor Summer - 1925 to Autumn - 1936." Contains 150 sepia-toned or black and white gelatin silver photographs measuring between 1" x 1" and 8" x 10" with captions. Very good album with some detached but present pages with near fine photographs. A photo album kept over summers between 1925 and 1936 while staying at "The Pinnacle" a home in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. The home was owned by Charles Moore Bleecker, a New York lawyer and a member of the family Bleecker Street in New York City is named for, and his wife Elaine Sargent Bleecker. Both Charles and Elaine are featured throughout the album around their summer home and it appears to have been kept by Elaine. The album seems to have been compiled as a documentation of the Bleecker's time at the home and the history of The Pinnacle itself, later renamed "Laurel Hill" in 1931. The photos are captioned and pages often include extensive notes about the house, family, and who paid visits and when. One passage reads, "1929 was the first summer the Charles M. Bleeckers lived at The Pinnacle after marriage. Pictures before this date, were taken at the time of various week-end visits beginning in the spring of 1924." Later she writes, "in the spring and summer of 1929, the Pinnacle was put in order. New plumbing, new heating, one new bathroom, a cedar closet, and newly decorated." The Bleeckers' participate in various activities over the summer months including beach trips, fishing, and playing with their dog Nab, who is seen throughout the album. Elaine was also part of the local women's clubs including a sewing club and the Women's Auxiliary Club which she writes about and lists the attendees. She also keeps track of visitors to the house, who stayed over, and details about dinner parties. Also included are photos of local groups featuring the boys' choir, "Younger Children St. John's Church School," and the Summer Pageant 1932. A longer entry from August 1933 reads, "after installing the radio, Charles asked the young man from Macy's to take a glass of iced tea with us, and found that he had his wife out in the car, so we asked her in too. She turned out to be a bride of a month: a very young and quite pretty little Jewess. Both were so young and happy, it was very pleasant. I was quite sorry to see them go, which they did hand in hand." The later part of the album includes more journal style entries with some photos illustrating them, with one reading "this picture should be destroyed," as well as newspaper clippings. The album ends on Thanksgiving 1936 with a group photo of the Bleecker's extended family. A wonderful collection of photographs detailing a wealthy family's summer holidays from the mid-1920s through the early 1930s.
Seller Inventory # 422836
Contact seller
Report this item
