EXTENT: 69 glass negatives (gelatin dry plate; 17 x 22 cm. or smaller) in 6 containers.

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGMENT: Four series: I. House buildings; II. Historic sites, monuments, markers; III. Cemeteries; IV. Non-Concord images.  Houses and buildings arranged alphabetically by street name. 

bIography: Local expert and writer on history of Plainville, Connecticut; amateur photographer of New England locations.  Born in Plainville, April 18, 1869.  Made his living first in Hartford with a bookselling company, then as accountant and later sales manager with Pope Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Connecticut, as a writer of advertising copy for New Departure Manufacturing Company, and finally in Plainville as purchasing agent (1916-1941) for Trumball Manufacturing Company.  Died in Bristol, January 3, 1962.  Longtime member and officer of the Connecticut Historical Society; chaired the Society’s Library Committee from 1933 to 1947.

While Castle’s particular area of expertise was Plainville history, he was responsive to the sense of place characteristic of New England towns in general, and was drawn to photograph a number of places in Massachusetts, Concord among them.  Around the turn of the century, he repeatedly visited Concord to photograph buildings and sites related to Colonial and Revolutionary history, and those associated with the Concord authors.  He also photographed Arlington, Bedford, Billerica, Cambridge, Danvers, Duxbury, Hingham, Lexington, Plymouth, Quincy, Salem, and Woburn.  Resembling picture postcard scenes, his images of Concord are straightforward and clear, and provide good architectural detail.  The work of an interested and informed outsider, they reflect an outsider’s perception of what is important in Concord. 

Scope and Content: Fifty photographs of Concord, Massachusetts, twelve of Bedford, Billerica, and Woburn, and seven unidentified locations, taken between about 1900 and 1906.  (The date span of the collection is based on a Library album and dated Castle prints of Concord.)  The negative collection includes thirty-six images of house and building exteriors and grounds in Concord (among them multiple images of some), eight of historic sites, monuments, and markers (North Bridge area, Battle Lawn area, and Walden Pond), and six cemetery shots (of the Hill Burying Ground and Sleepy Hollow).  The twelve identified non-Concord images (seven of Bedford, one of Billerica, and four of Woburn) and seven unidentified  images consist mainly of photographs of houses.

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: Gift of Henry Allen Castle, 1949.

ADDITIONAL PHYSICAL FORMS AVAILABLE: Positive microfilm services copies for use in the Library and for interlibrary loan.  (The microfilm was prepared through National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant number 97-063.)  Information about interlibrary loan is available from the Curator of Special Collections. Information about the provision of prints, reproduction fees, and restrictions on use is available on the Photo Order page of the CFPL website. Early prints of most of the Concord images are found in an album assembled by Castle (the captions prepared with the assistance of Concord historian Allen French) and presented by him to the Library.  The Library also holds loose copy prints of some of the Concord images.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS: Patron access to images in the collection is via microfilm only (no access to the original negatives).

PROCESSED BY: LPW; finding aid prepared 11/27/97.  Prepared for the internet by Peter K. Steinberg, 01/14/06.

CONTAINER LIST

Series I. Houses, Buildings:

Box 1

Item I.1. Barrett’s Mill Road: Col. James Barrett House (old no. 200)
Item I.2. Cambridge Turnpike: Ralph Waldo Emerson house (old no. 194)
Item I.3. Elm Street (West Concord): Dr. John Cuming (Cumming) House (MCI, Deputy Superintendent’s House) (old no. 212)
Item I.4. Elm Street: F.B. Sanborn House (old no. 208)
Item I.5. Lexington Road/Monument Square: Wright Tavern (old no. 208)
Item I.6. Lexington Road: First Parish Meeting House (old no. 184)
Item I.7. Lexington Road: Thomas Pellet-D.A.R. Chapter House (old no. 201)
Item I.8. Lexington Road: Lee House-Concord Art Association and Thomas Dane-Hunt House (old no. 202)
Item I.9. Lexington Road: Reuben Brown saddlery (old no. 203)
Item I.10. Lexington Road: Orchard House (old no. 188)
Item I.11. Lexington Road: Concord School of Philosophy (old no. 187)
Item I.12. Lexington Road: Concord School of Philosophy (old no. 250)
Item I.13. Lexington Road: Alcott grounds (view showing pines and fence), July 11, 1902 (old no. 252)

Box 2
Item I.14. Lexington Road: Wayside (old no. 189)
Item.I.15. Lexington Road: Wayside (old no. 204)
Item I.16. Lexington Road: Grapevine Cottage (Ephraim Bull House) (old no. 213)
Item I.17. Liberty Street: Major John Buttrick House (old no. 210)
Item I.18. Liberty Street: Major John Buttrick House (old no. 211)
Item I.19. Lowell Road: Hunt-Hosmer House (old no. 214)
Item I.20. Main Street (later Lowell Road): Block House (old no. 196)
Item I.21. Main Street (later Lowell Road): Block House (old no. 209)
Item I.22. Main Street: Woodward Hudson House (elms in foreground) (this plate separately accessioned, the gift of Mrs. Walter Miller) (old no. 249)
Item I.23. Main Street: Thoreau-Alcott House (old no. 192)
Item I.24. Main Street: Major Joseph Hosmer House (old no. 206)
Item I.25. Main Street: Major Joseph Hosmer House (old no. 226)

Box 3
Item I.26. Monument Street: Elisha Jones House (Bullet Hole House) (old no. 191)
Item I.27. Monument Street: Old Manse: Front view, with gate posts and fence (old no. 198)
Item I.28. Monument Street: Old Manse: View of front and side, from angle (old no. 228)
Item I.29. Monument Street: Old Manse: View through garden and trees (old no. 193)
Item I.30. Monument Street (Punkatasset Hill): Old Hunt House (no longer standing) (old no. 199)
Item I.31. Monument Street (Punkatasset Hill): Hutchins Farm (Punkatasset Farm) (old no. 224)
Item I.32. Monument Square: J.W. Barber, “Central Part of Concord, Mass.” (engraving, 1840) (this plate separately accessioned, the gift of Russell H. Kettell) (old no. 253)
Item I.33. Monument Square: View showing monument and Town House (old no. 185)
Item I.34. Monument Square: Colonial Inn (old no. 205)
Item I.35. Old Bedford Road/Lexington Road: Merriam/Meriam House, and Merriam’s/Meriam’s Corner (old no. 190)
Item I.36. Wood Street: Ephraim Wood House (old no. 207)

SERIES II. HISTORIC SITES, MONUMENTS, MARKERS

Box 4
Item II.1-2 North Bridge (1888 version), from Minuteman Statue (old nos. 215, 229)
Item II.3 North Bridge (1888 version), showing Battle Monument in forefront (old no. 218)
Item II.4-5 Minuteman Statue (old nos. 219, 220)
Item II.6 Battle Lawn, tablet, Edwin Barrett House, Liberty Street (old no. 195)
Item II.7 Field across Liberty Street from Battle Lawn (old no. 227)
Item II.8. Walden Pond: Thoreau house site (cairn) (old no. 216)

SERIES III. CEMETERIES

Box 4, cont.
Item III.1. Hill Burying Ground, Lexington Road (old no. 221)
Item III.2. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Bedford Street: Alcott graves (old no. 223)
Item III.3. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Bedford Street: Emerson grave, with fence (old no. 222)
Item III.4-5. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Bedford Street: Hawthorne grave, with wire fence (old nos. 197, 225)
Item III.6. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Bedford Street: Thoreau grave (old no. 217)

SERIES IV. NON-CONCORD IMAGES

Box 5
Item IV.1-IV.7 Bedford, Mass.:
Item IV.1. Bedford Center, showing liberty pole (old no. 242)
Item IV.2. Michael Bacon House (old no. 238)
Item IV.3. Domine Manse (or parsonage; built by Nicholas Bowes) (old no. 237)
Item IV.4-5. Garrison House, build by Job Lane (old nos. 240, 241)
Item IV.6. Pollard Tavern (no longer standing) (old no. 235)
Item IV.7. Stone wall (old no. 236)

Item IV.8. Billerica: Asa Pollard House (old no. 230)

Item IV.9-IV.12. Woburn:
Item IV.9-10. Loammi Baldwin House (old nos. 232, 233)
Item IV.11. Count Rumford House (old no. 234)
Item IV.12. Samuel Thompson (old no. 231)

Box 6:
Item IV.13-IV.19. Unidentified:
Item IV.13. Corner house in heavily built neighborhood (earlier identified as Page House, Bedford; Bedford historian Ina Mansur disputed this identification, basing her judgment on location, surrounding buildings, type of street lamp show in photograph, etc.) (old no. 239)
Item IV.14. House with attached barn (old no. 243)
Item IV.15. House with to-left-of-center chimney (old no. 244)
Item IV.16. House with stone wall and fence (old no. 245)
Item IV.17. Brick-sided house (old no. 246)
Item IV.18. House with awnings (old no. 247)
Item IV.19. House with circular drive (old no. 248)

c2006 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

Mounted 3rd February 2006. rcwh.