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The Hunter-Rose Collection contains images from
"The Famous N. H. Rose Collection of Old Time
Photographs" by various photographers including Noah H. Rose, a San
Antonio commercial photographer and collector of photographs of what he termed
"early day characters and scenes." J. Marvin Hunter (1880-1957), a friend of
Rose, was a printer and publisher of newspapers, most notably the
Bandera New Era, as well as the
Frontier Times, a publication "devoted to
Frontier History, Border Tragedy and Pioneer Achievement," which he
co-published with his father, Warren Hunter. Hunter also founded and operated
the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, Texas, to showcase his collection of
frontier and historical artifacts. Rose and Hunter were friends from an early
age and together they published
"The Album of Gunfighters" in 1951. |
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The collection consists predominately of photographs of the Old West
and the Southwest, ca. 1850-1960s. The photographs taken by Rose date from the
1930s. Among the other photographers represented in the collection are D. P.
Barr, A. A. Brack, and W. D. Smithers. Typical subjects featured in this
collection include Indians, frontiersmen, cowboys, outlaws, and Texas Rangers,
as well as Texas governors and other statesmen. Individuals represented in the
collection include Jesse and Frank James, Judge Roy Bean, Billy the Kid,
Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, David Crockett, General George Custer, and Sam
Houston and his family. There are also photographs of historical places and
scenes, military forts and encampments, and towns in Texas and surrounding
states, such as New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma. Among the Texas towns
represented in the collection are Del Rio, San Antonio, and
Washington-on-the-Brazos, as well as Bandera, home of Hunter's Frontier Times
Museum. The collection also contains photographs and manuscript materials
relating to both J. Marvin Hunter and N. H. Rose. |
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Both vintage and copy prints in a variety of formats are included in
the collection. The formats range from cabinet cards, cigarette cards and
cartes-de-visite, to panoramic prints. Among the photographic processes
represented in the collection are albumen prints, cyanotypes, and tintypes, as
well as both nitrate and safety negatives. In addition to copy prints of
original daguerreotypes and other processes, there are photographic
reproductions of drawings, paintings, and other works of art, some of which
pre-date photography. The collection also contains postcards and original
letters, as well as negatives of letters, newspaper articles, and legal,
financial, and military documents. |
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The material has been left in its original order and is divided as
follows: Series I. Identified Photographs (4 filing cabinet drawers); Series
II. Unidentified Photographs (1 filing cabinet drawer); Series III. Oversize
Photographs (2 boxes, 1 oversize flat file drawer); and Series IV. Nitrate
Negatives (5 boxes). At the end of this finding aid are two indexes, one of
correspondents and one of photographers represented in the collection. It
should be noted that for most of the material the photographers have not been
identified. |
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The folder list for Series I, which forms the great majority of the
collection, reproduces the titles the creator/collector assigned to the folders
in alphabetical order by subject. Note that a large segment is present under
the title
"Indians." Numerous cross-references
have been added by the cataloger for personal names and selected subjects.
Bracketed information, including the number of items in each folder, has also
been supplied by the cataloger. If no number of items is given, the presence of
one item may be assumed. When only safety or nitrate negatives of a particular
item are available, "SN only" or "NN only" appears in the bracketed
information. |
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The material in Series II has been divided into four subseries:
People, Places, Various Subjects, and Written Materials. (The subseries Places
includes interior and exterior architecture as well as landscapes.) There are
two subseries in Series III: Oversize Items Removed from Series I., and
Numbered Oversize Items. The Numbered Oversize Items are divided into People,
Places, and Panoramics. The panoramics have been further subdivided into
vintage and copy prints. If there are multiple vintage panoramic prints from
the same negative, they have all been assigned the same number plus a different
uppercase letter for each print. (For example, the number #35A-E indicates that
there are five vintage prints from the same negative in the collection). The
numbering of the panoramic copy prints corresponds to that of the panoramic
nitrate negatives in Series IV. Since copy prints are not yet available for all
of the panoramic nitrate negatives, the numbers of the copy prints are not
consecutive. |
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The following abbreviations are utilized in the finding aid:
- ALS--autograph letter signed
- CC--Caldwell Collection
- DC--Dienst Collection
- DRC--Dick Rudisill Collection
- FBC--Frank H. Bushick Collection
- HC--Hunter Collection
- NN--nitrate negative
- NV--nitrate vault
- P&N--print and negative
- SN--safety negative
- TLS--typed letter signed
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For more information on N. H. Rose, a publication entitled
"The Passing of a Life-Long Friend," by
J. Marvin Hunter, is available. (Call No. TR 140 R774 H857 1952 HRC Dobie.
Please note that this book is located off-site and the researcher needs to
allow at least 24 hours advance notice for paging purposes.) |
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For information on J. Marvin Hunter, please see "J. Marvin Hunter,
personal journalist of the twentieth century," a 1957 thesis by Helen Anna
Betty. (Call No. T1957 B466.) |
