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1862. The collection consists of portraits of all 30 members of the Washington College Class of 1862 (see the Biographical and Historical Catalogue of Washington and Jefferson College, pages 395-399). The CDVs are all signed or inscribed, and were presented to classmate T. Milton Todd, who became a doctor in California, which is probably how they ended up on the West Coast. An image of his portrait is attached. Twenty-seven of 30 portraits are full-length poses taken in the same room, which has distinctive carpeting. The other three are head-and-shoulder's portraits. Most of the CDVs have small notations at the top reading "Todd", which suggests that a set was made for each member. Accompanying the 30 CDVs of the Class of 1862, are 8 CDVs of members of other classes from the 1860s; 7 of them are taken in the same room as the class of 1862. We could not immediately identify four additional CDVs, but as three were taken in the same room, they are also probably Washington College students or staff. All four unidentified CVDs are signed, so further research may yield a positive identification. ISBN: 281AIB1017519.

Monroe, Michigan: Three vintage gelatin silver prints of the Newton Steel Strike. In June 1937, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) struck the steel plant in Monroe, Michigan, southeast of Ann Arbor, on the shores of Lake Eire. The mayor of the town deputized several hundred men as special police to break the strike. The SWOC reacted by blockading the plant. These photographs depict the special police attacking the strikers on June 10. The plant reopened that day, and while the strike went on sporadically, Newton Steel continued. The images are 1) 10 by 8 inches, captioned "Vigilantes await word to move on the barrier" on the verso (back). At the center of the image, a knot of men, each wearing armbands, hold clubs in the air. Townspeople and non-striking workers mill around them. 2) 9 by 7 inches, captioned "Flight" on the verso (back). A tear gas bomb has just detonated at the upper left of the image and parts of the crowd, suddenly aware of the attach, are just beginning to run. Policemen and armband-wearing special deputies are visible in the background. This image, as an AP Wirephoto, appeared on the front page of the Oakland Tribune on June 11, 1937 (this is an original photograph, not a wire photo). 3) 10 by 8 inches, captioned "Wives of strikers show they are good 'gas eaters'" on the verso (back). This shows a similar view to the second photo, but the strikers' blockade line is filled with tear gas and most of the workers have fled. A handful of men and women stand in the foreground, rags over their mouths and noses. Some carry makeshift weapons--sticks and boards. A large group of club-carrying strike breakers has gathered in the distance. These are three powerful images taken during the thick of the action. ISBN: 281AIB0105786.

Arcata, CA: A. W. Ericson, (ca. 1920s). 14-1/4 by 11 inches (mount); 9 by 7 inches (oblong image). Mount caption: Scene at Hoopa, Humboldt County, California. A. W. Ericson was the leading (and best) commercial photographer in Humboldt County from about 1880 to the 1930s. He traveled to the Hoopa reservation to take photographs on many occasions. In this scene a man stands amidst large oak trees, with Fort Gaston buildings just visible through a clearing in the distance. Humboldt State University holds most of the surviving negatives for Ericson's photographs. This image corresponds to glass plate negative 1999.02.0168. Ericson sold his prints for decades with varying styles of captions on the mounts. As yet no definitive dating of the captions has been undertaken. However, this style probably dates from the 1920s, when the woman from whose estate we acquired this image lived in Humboldt County. ISBN: 281AIB1039534.