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Lincoln Wade Barnes Photographic Negatives Collection

 Collection
Identifier: MA.00253

Scope and Contents

Photographic negatives depicting local places and events taken by photographer Lincoln Wade Barnes and his staff, chiefly at Amherst College, circa 1927-1965. The images document Amherst College commencements, buildings, grounds, faculty, student groups and athletic teams. Also included are some images of people and places from the town of Amherst. A small number of photographic prints are included in the collection.

Also of interest are the original envelopes that previously housed the negatives; in addition to the original descriptions of the negatives, many of the envelopes also have printing and ordering information. The envelopes are reused letter and photograph or film developing envelopes, and so also can be used to examine Lincoln Barnes correspondence and business practices.

Dates

  • Creation: 1927-1965

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The majority of this collection is housed in off-site storage and requires advance notice before use. Access may be restricted for preservation purposes. Please contact Archives and Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Biographical / Historical

Lincoln Wade Barnes (1879-1966) was a photographer in the town of Amherst for many years. He was born in Wayne County, Pennsylvania and moved to Amherst in 1919. He maintained a studio on Main Street in Amherst from about 1920 to about 1955. He also served as photographer to the College during much of that time.

Extent

6.5 Linear feet (7 negative boxes, 1 archives box, 2 half archives boxes, 1 record carton, 1 presentation folder, 1 pamphlet box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Photographic negatives depicting local places and events taken by photographer Lincoln Wade Barnes and his staff, chiefly at Amherst College, circa 1927-1965.

Arrangement

This collection is organized in seven series by subject matter:

  1. Series 1: Amherst College - Commencements
  2. Series 2: Amherst College - Campus
  3. Series 3: Amherst College - People
  4. Series 4: Amherst College - Activities
  5. Series 5: Town of Amherst - People and Places
  6. Series 6: Miscellaneous
  7. Series 7: Addendum (Accession 1987-002)

The physical items in this collection are housed by material type to facilitate storage in appropriate conditions. Glass negatives are housed in box 1, glass composite boxes 2 and 3 and an oversize presentation folder. Cellulose nitrate negatives are housed in boxes 2-5. Cellulose acetate negatives are housed in boxes 6-9. The original envelopes from all the negatives are housed in boxes 10-11. Photographic prints are housed in box 12.

Custodial History

The collection was recieved in 1984 and 1987 from the Jones Library Special Collections in Amherst, Mass. and is comprised of duplicates from their Lincoln Barnes Photograph Collection.

Related Materials

Lincoln Barnes Photograph Collection, Jones Library Special Collections, 43 Amity Street, Amherst, Mass.

Photographic prints by Barnes may be found in the following collections in Amherst College Archives and Special Collections:

  1. Amherst College Photograph Collection
  2. Amherst College Buildings and Grounds Collection
  3. Amherst College Athletics Collection
  4. Amherst College Dramatic Activities Collection
  5. Amherst College Non-Alumni Biographical Files
  6. Amherst College Alumni Biographical Files

Processing Information

The collection was organized and listed in the mid 1990s. In 2015, a comprehensive rehousing project was undertaken: nitrate, acetate and glass negatives and photographic prints were re-housed separately to facilitate storage in proper preservation environments. Original envelopes were retained and housed separately. In this process box and folder numbers changed for most items; the old finding aid with original box and folder numbers is available upon request. A small number of negatives were found to be decayed beyond possibility of conservation and were removed from the collection.

Status
Completed
Author
Carol Trabulski; Doris Chacon (AC 1997); Revised in 2015 by Mariah Leavitt
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
61 Quadrangle Drive
Amherst MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2299