[South Dakota]

Photographs of Sleepy Hollow Farm Birdsview, South Dakota [manuscript cover title]

[Birdsview, S.D. 1919]. [16] leaves, illustrated with thirty-one original vernacular photographs, mounted one per page and each captioned in white pencil on the album pages. Small oblong octavo. Contemporary black wrappers. Minor chipping to edges of wrappers and a handful of internal leaves, tape repairs to rear wrapper. Very good. Item #4906

An annotated vernacular photograph album documenting a unique view of early-20th century farm life in rural South Dakota. The album was assembled by a young man likely as a Christmas gift; his inscription on the inside front wrapper reads, "To Mother, from Anthony and family, Dec. 1917." The photographs are each captioned, providing important details about each image, which picture Anthony, his wife, their children, plus scenes of plantings and harvests, livestock, the local school (picturing a sign reading, "Birdsview S.D. No. 3415 Erected 1918"), a Fourth of July gathering and round-up, and more. The captions are charming and reveal the family's sense of humor; i.e., a photo of hens is captioned, "Our Prizewinners," a shot of two daughters on horseback is captioned, "The cowboys," and a shot of an older man standing in a snowy landscape and bundled head to toe in furs is titled, "The Premier of Alberta." A small but notable collection of vernacular images capturing the experiences of a young family in South Dakota immediately following the First World War.

Price: $650.00