Photographs

Contents: Photographs, tintypes, clippings (one of a political cartoon), engraving plates, mats and a frame, postcards, and a cartoon.

The collection of photographs is an incomplete record of Willard Saulsbury, Jr.’s life and activities. Almost all of the photographs are undated, and the majority are unidentified. In general, the photographs in this subseries are those of Saulsbury himself and those depicting his professional life and activities, including political events and photographs of legal and political colleagues. Because most photographs are unidentified and undated, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a photograph records a political event or a more personal social or family gathering. Photographs, which are known to be of Saulsbury’s family members, are filed in the family photographs subseries in the Family series. Some items in these files are clippings and photographs, which were probably hung for decoration, and some mats and a frame, are included.

The portraits of Willard Saulsbury, Jr. are generally posed studio portraits, and all are of Saulsbury as an adult. Some are made into postcards, including one with an unidentified friend or colleague. All are undated, but the studio is usually identified. An engraving plate is also included for one of the portrait photographs. The political photographs contain many unidentified group photographs, mostly of a formal nature. Among those labeled or easily identified are pictures from the inauguration of 1913, including Saulsbury's swearing-in as President Pro Tempore of the Senate; a signed group picture of the advisory committee of a conference on limitation of arms, including Saulsbury, in Washington, December 1921-February 1922; a documentary photograph of the setting of a Senate clock to daylight savings time after the bill's passage; multiple copies of a group photograph of the Special Senatorial Committee of the National Democratic Committee composed of Senators Saulsbury, Stone, and Walsh; and a signed group photograph at Democratic Senatorial Headquarters in Chicago, 1917. Two political cartoons are also included: a signed original by C. K. Berry of Senator Saulsbury rolling up his sleeves to dig the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and a clipping from the February 11, 1915, Evening Star of Saulsbury emerging among a group of other Senators with blankets and pillows titled "No More All-night Sessions in Prospect."

The friends and colleagues photographs consists primarily of unidentified, undated photographs. Two folders consist of group photographs of social events, which could be of either a political or a personal nature. There are also several folders containing small portrait photograph cards, mostly unidentified. Among those identified are Speaker of the House Chauncey P. Holcolm and Saulsbury's maternal uncle, former Delaware Governor James Ponder. Another folder contains a comic post card and a photograph of Alberta Hill with a note from Frank Smith on Department of the Navy letterhead expressing gratitude for Saulsbury's advice. Travel photographs contains a few humorous photographs of a young Saulsbury at Cape May; a number of photographs of Willard and May in Japan in 1915, some in the form of postcards; three pictures of the armistice ceremonies in Paris in 1918; three unlabeled photographs of Willard and May wearing leis, and a photograph of Saulsbury catching a fish. The Delaware legal figures photographs consists of a set of twenty mounted photographs, some from engravings, of figures from Delaware's legal history. They would most likely have been displayed in Saulsbury's law office. These are identified, and include Caesar A. Rodney, Nicholas Ridgely, George Read, James L. Wolcott, Richard H. Bayard, Thomas Clayton, and Richard Bassett among other chancellors, chief justices, and lawyers of Delaware.

Miscellaneous photographs consists mostly of decorative and souvenir items, including a portrait photograph of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii and an autographed photograph of Louise Hunter. There is a picture of Lord Mayor of London Charles Cheers Wakefield, a fellow ship passenger on Saulsbury's return trip from Europe in 1922, "Presented by the Electors of the Ward of Bread Street," March 31, 1916. There are also postcards of the Sussex County Courthouse, before and after renovation, and some unidentified landscapes and cityscapes.