| Historic Winthrop Photographs |
| The Whorf Collection |
| The Whorf Collection at the Winthrop Public Library & Museum includes over 400 photographs almost all of which were taken in Winthrop, Mass. circa 1885-1905. The majority of the collection consists of quarter plate glass negatives. The photographs capture Winthrop just as it was beginning to grow and prosper. The arrival of the railroads at that time made Winthrop, which had been primarily a rural farming village, a much easier to get to destination for people living in the city. |
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| One of the early families who took advantage of this convenience was Isaiah Atkins Whorf (1848-1901), his wife Thankful (known as Thannie) Ann (Baker} Whorf (1844-1922), and their five-year old son Harry Church Whorf (1874-1934). A tailor by trade, Isaiah worked in the rapidly growing ready-to-wear clothing business. Unhappy with their increasingly congested surroundings in Chelsea, the family moved to Winthrop in 1879. Isaiah must have been very successful because he and Thannie are shown in an 1896 map of the town owning three houses on the corner of Pleasant St. and Somerset Ave. Isaiah was a founding member of the Winthrop Yacht Club and a Trustee of the Frost Public Library at its founding. (Click here for more of the Whorf family in Winthrop) |
| It is probable that Isaiah had the initial interest in photography, an interest he passed on to his son Harry. In the late 1800s stable, transportable gelatin-based dry plate negatives were just becoming widely available and the quarter-plate size, 3.25 by 4.25 inches, enabled cameras to be made much smaller. |
| Unfortunately, there is no record of what camera the Whorfs used, nor is there a surviving record for the collection that identifies who took the photographs, the date on which they were taken, or the location. It is generally thought that Harry took most of the photos. Some are of his children, while others show Harry as a child suggesting that Isaiah, his father, was the photographer. Several of the photos are marked as being shot by Turnbull Studio and Walter E.R. Wells. Frank Barrett and Albert L. Squiers were also active photographers in Winthrop during that era. |
| In the mid-1980s, a volunteer team undertook the task of organizing, dating, and describing the photos in the Whorf Collection. Based on their knowledge of local history they were able to identify most of locations and the approximate year the photos were taken. |
| The Whorf Collection at the Winthrop Public Library & Museum |
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