Tag Archives: Leon Abdalian

New Collections added to Digital Commonwealth in February

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A lot of new content was added in February–must have been the leap year effect! There’s something for everyone with maps, manuscripts, prints and photographs all ready for research  and enjoyment. The Leon Abdalian Collection, containing the work of self-taught photogapher Leon Hampartzoum Abdalian reminds me of the Leslie Jones Collection.
Both men turned their lens’ on the people of Boston, Jamaica Plain West Roxbury and surrounding communities and brought ordinary people into sharp focus. Leon and Leslie, good eye!  Travel back in time with them via Digital Commonwealth.
Arnold Arboretum

Boston Public Library

Colonial and Revolutionary Boston (2 items)*

Early, Rare, and Exceptional Items from Special Collections, Rare Books (3 items)*
French Artists (1 item)
Coast Guard Heritage Museum
D.M. Rowland Collection (40 items) 
 Lawrence Public Library 
 Massachusetts Archives

 

 

New Collections added to Digital Commonwealth in June

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Waltham, interior detail, stairway, Governor Gore Mansion, 1799
Stairway, Governor Gore Mansion, 1799 from Frank Cousins Collection of Glass Plate Negatives

Digital Commonwealth uploaded several outstanding photograph collections in June.  But it’s not all photos, there are maps from Phillips Academy in Andover and a painting from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

But the photos are this month’s find.  Like the unusual Massachusetts Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission, Quabbin Reservoir, Photographs of Cemeteries, 1928-1945 from the Massachusetts Archives. It’s sure to be a boon to anyone researching the flooded towns and their families. And the usual Boston Public Library additions to existing collections, like the Leon Abdalian Collection. If, like me, you’re a sucker for snowscapes, Abdalian’s photos, e.g. Ward’s Pond, snow view of hillside are a Christmas-in-July gift. (See below.)

The Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum makes a splash with its inaugural contributions of photographs from the glass plate negatives of Frank Cousins and Herman Parker.  Cousins’ larger collection began with photographic essays on Essex County, but soon expanded across the eastern seaboard of the US.  Any fan of historic buildings will appreciate his elegant photos of exteriors and interiors, like the stairway inside the Governor Gore mansion (See top left.)

Views across Marblehead Harbor with boats at sunset
Marblehead Harbor with boats at sunset from Herman Parker Collection of Glass Plate Negatives

Parker also photographed Essex county, but focused on views from his home in Marblehead. I feel I could walk right in to the Views across Marblehead Harbor with boats (See bottom left.) at sunset photo – and I want to. What a great end to a summer day!