Vanderbilt Whitney Archive 19c US Navy 27 Photograph Collection. Lot comprises of a total of 27 cabinet cards and card mounted photos from the era of William C Whitney serving as Secretary of the Navy annotated with 3 hand dated 1888 and one hand dated gilt edged cabinet card impressed 1887, and Geo B Wood that is hand titled in ink script Repairing the Flag, an American subject USS Galena Capn Chester, 9 of the gilt edged cabinet cards are impressed Witt. Rau With ink Chestnut StPhiladelphia stamps verso that depict a paddle wheel steamboat, top hat dignitaries aboard the Columbia, marine subject ships in drydock rowboats or tenders around the yacht Newcastle with a crowd aboard and ship festooned with banners. There are four additionally date impressed 1888 Geo B Wood horizontal card mounts that are part of the hand dated examples of related and steamship Columbia subject inscribed script verso Steamboat Columbia with Congressmen from Washington to View the Launch of the US Gunboats Yorktown and Vesuvius , partially illegible shipyard view from Deck of Rev Cutter Dispatch Apl 28, 1888, US Revenue Cutter Dispatch at Philadelphia May 28,1888, Hon Wm Whitney Sec Navy Compliments of Geo B Woods 502 Germantown Ave,Philadelphia Launch of the Vesuvius Taken from the Deck of Rev Cutter then illegible but likely Hamilton. Another card of the steamboat Rockledge has a title as part of the print President and Wife Onboard, a bear on deck with a sailor hand titled The Bear inscribed The Honorable Secretary of the Navy Compliments of the USS Galena and associated card titled The Mascot of a goat with the same Whitney complimentary inscription. There are four lively scenes assumedly the Delaware river at a boat launch ceremony. There are 3 more harbor cards of perhaps the same event, a photo of three masted steam sailer inscribed Compliments of Chas A Richardson Aug 24 87, a group of US Naval officers on deck in an 1887 partially illegibly partially erased card extensively titled in the lower margin Entering The Collingwood Strait Patagonian Channels…Victory Pass and a Naval Apprentices US Training Ship Jamestown Norfolk Va Jan 30 88 group photo with dog mascot.Provenance and Shipping: The first 100 lots in this sale are from the Studio of noted sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum and great granddaughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. At one time she was regarded as the wealthiest woman in America. The 8 largest items which are identified in the first sentence of their listings are in NY NJ CT Tri-State storage 1 hour from Manhattan with pick ups administered by our staff by appt. and the remaining 92 lots were removed from her landmark Old Westbury, Long Island, NY estate by our staff during real estate staging and transported to our Florida warehouses where they are available to be shipped via UPS or Tampa Bay pick up. Decorated with murals by prominent Gilded Age to Art Deco artist colleagues and the site of legendary soirees attended by a Whos Who of actors, painters and philanthropists, the property has been listed for sale, emptied of contents and staged for its real estate sale listing. Last year our firm was commissioned by the Vanderbilt Whitney family owners to offer 22 lots of GVW sculpture and dozens of lots of paintings, important silver, jewelry, fine art photography, decorative arts and Chinese antiques descended in multiple branches and generations of the Vanderbilt Whitney family over two record setting auctions. We are now excited to present a third sale including Vanderbilt Whitney Library Books, Archive Photography and Documents plus Important Studio Art, Historic Furnishings and Garden Sculpture. Previews for items in Florida are 1 person at a time for specific advance requested lots by appt. at our main St. Petersburg, FL warehouse from Saturday January 13th through Friday January 19th as items are not staged for exhibition and are securely housed outside of preview times at multiple locations. There is no in person preview available for the 8 Tri-State storage lots, their preview is photo only. The sale is online only with no in person auction audience or warehouse activity the day of sale or the Sunday after the sale. Winning bidders are invoiced Sunday and Monday and items are not available for pick up or shipping until payments are processed electronically as there is no payment processing at our warehouse. Thank you for your interest and participation in another exciting Richard Stedman Estate Services LLC online event.

Most images very good with many cards gilt edged and intact, one misc. Shipyard image has a hole, several others are soiled and a handful of mat mounts are dirty, chipped or torn, the four horizontal formatted photos are somewhat faded and foxed. Most cards, even crisp ones, have scattered edge damages.