Munroe/Monroe Family Photograph Collection, [circa 1830-1901]

Miss Mary and Eliza Munroe in the Munroe garden.

Vault A45, Munroe Unit 5

 

EXTENT: (32 numbered items in one container).   

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT: Organized by chronology of family members represented in the collection.  

FAMILY HISTORY:  A family of Lexington, Roxbury, and Concord, Massachusetts, descended from William Munro, a Scottish prisoner of war taken by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester and exiled to America.  The original William Munro was a settler of Lexington.  The Munroes of Concord were related to the Clark family through the marriage of William Munroe (1778-1861) to Martha (Patty) Stone, who descended from the Clarks through her mother. 

Family members represented in collection: 

William Monroe/Munroe, 1778-1861 (hereafter referred to as “William Senior”): great-great grandson of the original Scottish settler; born in Roxbury; later a cabinet maker and pencil maker (often described as the first in America) in Concord, Massachusetts.  

William Munroe, 1806-1877 (“William Junior”):  the eldest son of William Senior; successful in the importing and selling of dry goods; the founding benefactor of the Concord Free Public Library, which opened in 1873.   

Francis Munroe, 1814-1870: William Senior’s fifth child; continued the Concord pencil-making business after his father’s retirement; married Phebe F. Davis of Gloucester, Massachusetts.   

Alfred Munroe, 1817-1904:  William Senior’s sixth child; also in the dry goods business; in later life a portrait and landscape photographer by avocation; married Mrs. Martha T. Rozzell of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.   

Gertrude Fulton: the eldest stepdaughter of Alfred Munroe.   

Mary Munroe, 1819-1909:  the seventh child of William Senior; never married. 

Eliza Munroe, 1822-1903:  the youngest daughter of William Senior; also never married.  

Ralph Middleton Munroe, born 1851:  son of Thomas Munroe—second son of William Senior—and his wife Ellen Middleton Munroe; nephew of Alfred Munroe and William Junior; one of the first residents of Coconut Grove, Florida; a boat builder.   

Charles F. Munroe, born 1848: son of Francis and Phebe Munroe; nephew of Alfred and of William Junior. 

Nellie Munroe.  

Ina Clark.  

SCOPE AND CONTENT: Artificial collection compiled from multiple sources over a period of years.  Contains 32 photographs of William Munroe Senior, William Junior, and members of their immediate and more distant family, acquired from multiple sources.  The types of photographs represented include cartes de visite, cabinet cards, mounted prints, and one tintype; additionally, there is a detail print of a portrait of William Senior reproduced from a composite photograph.  Some of the photographs in the collection are by Alfred Munroe.  

SOURCES OF ACQUISITION: Multiple (most unidentified).   

NOTES AND COMMENTS: Processed by Carolyn Lucas; finding aid edited by LPW.  Finding aid completed 12/5/12.

 

ITEM LIST

  1. William Munroe Senior: detail image—a photograph from an original sketch—from a photographic composite; head only. 
  2. William Munroe Junior:  cabinet card; head and shoulders portrait; bears the studio marking on verso “Allen & Rowell, 25 Winter Street, Boston, Portrait Photographers.”
  3. Second copy of #2.
  4. Francis Munroe: tintype; seated figure.
  5. Alfred Munroe: mounted paper print; inscribed in manuscript on verso “Alfred in the garden arbor.”
  6. Alfred Munroe: head and shoulders mounted studio portrait; studio marking on recto “Elmer Chickering, 21 West St., Boston, Mass.”
  7. Alfred Munroe: mounted paper print; head and shoulders portrait.
  8. Alfred Munroe: cabinet card oval portrait; head and shoulders; gift of Mrs. Adams Tolman, 1936.
  9. Alfred Munroe: cabinet card portrait; head and shoulders.
  10. Alfred Munroe: cabinet card portrait (landscape format); head and shoulders.
  11. Alfred and Mary Munroe: cabinet card (landscape format); figures in the Munroe garden in front of the Munroe family house, Main Street, Concord, Massachusetts; the side of the house is almost fully visible.
  12. Alfred Munroe: mounted paper print; figure in gazebo in the yard of the Munroe house, reading a book. 
  13. Alfred Munroe and Gertrude Fulton: mounted paper print; figures in the Munroe garden in front of fountain; print by Alfred Munroe, made from cracked glass plate.
  14. Fainter second copy (enlarged) of #13.
  15. Alfred Munroe and Gertrude Fulton: mounted paper print; figures in front of the fountain; similar to #13 and #14.
  16. Alfred and Mary Munroe: mounted paper print; figures in the Munroe garden.
  17. Mary Munroe: cabinet card; detail from #16.
  18. Mary Munroe: studio cabinet card; image identical to #17; studio marking on recto “Purdy, 146 Tremont Street, Boston.”
  19. Mary and Eliza Munroe: mounted paper print by Alfred Munroe; figures in the Munroe garden in front of fountain; inscribed in manuscript on verso “Taken September 12, 1901.”
  20. Mary, Eliza, and Nellie Munroe: mounted paper print by Alfred Munroe; figures standing in Munroe garden in front of fountain.
  21. Mary and Eliza Munroe and Gertrude Fulton: mounted paper print; figures in Munroe garden in front of fountain. 
  22. Eliza Munroe: cabinet card oval portrait; head and shoulders.
  23. Second copy of #22.
  24. Eliza Munroe: cabinet card oval portrait; head and shoulders. 
  25. Second copy of #24, printed oval only (cut out of cabinet card bearing studio marking on verso “Allen & Rowell, 25 Winter Street, Boston, Portrait Photographers.”
  26. Ina Clark, Eliza Munroe, and two other figures: mounted paper print by Alfred Munroe (partial; left half missing); figures in Munroe family garden in front of fountain.  
  27. Eliza Munroe: cabinet card; figure in Munroe garden; dated in manuscript on verso “1901.”
  28. Ina Clark: mounted paper print by Alfred Munroe; figure in Munroe garden. 
  29. Ralph M. Munroe: mounted paper print; figure in Munroe garden.
  30. Ralph M. Munroe: mounted paper print by Alfred Munroe; figure in Munroe garden.
  31. Charles F. Munroe: studio carte de visite; studio marking on verso “A. Marshall, Tremont Street, Boston.”
  32. Charles F. Munroe: studio carte de visite; studio marking on verso “C. L. Marston, Photographer, Room No. 3, Bowman’s Block, Bangor, Me.  Negatives Preserved.”

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Mounted 14 March 2007.    rcwh.