According to the elaborately painted title page, Emily Clare Harvey gave this album to her sister-in-law Madge—Margaret Augusta Shaw—in remembrance of her marriage to Spencer Philip Harvey on February 19, 1868, and it is filled with pictures of Shaw and Harvey relatives. What is unclear is whether the album was meant, like so many wedding albums today, as a joyous expression of the union of the two families, or whether it was made with memorial overtones after Spencer’s death at age twenty-eight less than a year later.
Although not photocollages per se, the pages of this standard manufactured album were personalized with drawn and watercolor decoration surrounding each portrait. Madge’s older brother John Monson Shaw is surrounded by motifs of hunting and fishing—characteristically masculine pursuits—while Emma Jane Mansel is surrounded by a more typically feminine spray of morning glories, daisies, and cornflowers, symbolic of affection, innocence, and delicacy.
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Title page
Cover
Frontispiece
1998.166 (1a)
1998.166 (1b)
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Artwork Details
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Title:[The Harvey Album]
Artist:Emily Clare Harvey (British, born 1844)
Date:1868
Medium:Albumen silver print
Dimensions:23.8 x 19.4 x 3.8 cm (9 3/8 x 7 5/8 x 1 1/2 in. )
Classification:Albums
Credit Line:Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1998
Accession Number:1998.166
Inscription: Album pages extensively decorated with watercolor pictures; title page inscribed in watercolor with illuminated Celtic letters: "Madge // From Her Sister // Clare In Rememembrance [sic] // of February XIX th // MDCCCLXVIII"
[Harry H. Lunn]; [Gary Edwards]
According to the elaborately painted title page, this album was given by Emily Clare Harvey to her sister-in-law Madge--Margaret Augusta Shaw--in remembrance of her marriage to Spencer Philip Harvey on Februrary 19th, 1868, and it is filled with pictures of Shaw and Harvey relatives. What is unclear is whether the album was meant, like so many wedding albums today, as a joyous expression of the union of the two families, or whether it was made with memorial overtones after Spencer's death at age 28 less than a year later.
The pages in the album represent:
Cuxton Rectory (watercolor only), where Robert William Shaw was Rector and Philip Spencer Harvey curate.
Robert William Shaw. Born on October 4, 1804, he was the son of Sir John Gregory Shaw, 5th Bt. and Hon. Theodosia Margaret Monson. He married Sophia Cornwall, daughter of John Cornwall, on February 18, 1830. He died on December 28, 1873 at age 69. Reverend Robert William Shaw was educated at Eton College, Eton, Berkshire, England. He graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford University, with a Master of Arts. He held the office of Hon. Canon of Rochester. He was the Rector at Cuxton, Kent. He had 5 children: Reverend Robert John Shaw b. 31 Jul 1831, d. 30 Oct 1903; John Monson Shaw b. 1 Oct 1832, d. 4 Sep 1912; Sophia Anna Shaw b. 27 Jan 1834, d. 25 Aug 1915; Hugh Cornwall Shaw b. 3 May 1837, d. 14 Aug 1881; and Margaret Augusta Shaw b. 25 Feb 1842, d. Jan 1925
Margaret Augusta Harvey. She was born on 25 February 1842 and died in January 1925 at the age of 82. She was the daughter of Robert William Shaw and Sophia Cornwall. She married Spencer Philip Harvey on February 19, 1868. She Married William Shaw Brooke Goerge on June 6, 1877.
Spencer Philip Harvey. Born in Cowden, Kent, October 10, 1840 [or September 27, 1840] and died on January 19, 1869 in Cowden, Kent. He was the son of Reverend Thomas Harvey, Rector of Cowden, Kent, and Emily Jane Nunn. He received his B.A. from Cambridge (Trinity Hall), in 1864 and his M.A. in 1867. He became curate of Cuxton, near Rochester, in 1865,
Emily Clare Harvey. She was the sister of Spencer Philip Harvey and was christened on June 30, 1844. She is the maker of this album.
John Monson Shaw. He was brother of Margaret Augusta Shaw (Harvey). He was born October 1, 1832, and died September 4, 1912.
Henry Gordon Harvey. He was brother of Spencer Philip Harvey and Emily Clare Harvey. He was born in 1827.
Emma Jane Mansel. She was born in Perth, Scotland, ca. 1841-43 (she is listed in the 1871 census as 28 and in the 1881 census as 40). The was the daughter of Sir John Mansel, Baronet, and Maria G.`
John Fremlyn Streatfeild. Born in 1828, he was the son of Reverend Streatfeild (1877-1848) and Clare Harvey (1793-1886, sister of Thomas Harvey); John Fremlyn Streatfeild was thus a first cousin of Henry, Spencer, and Emily Clare Harvey. He died in 1886.
Maud Dalison. She is possibly the daughter of Maximillian Dudley Digges Dalison (d. 1870) and Anna Maria Shaw (1795-1871), sister of Robert William Shaw and aunt of Margaret Augusta Shaw, to whom this album belonged.
[unidentified man]
Elisabeth Mansel. She is the sister (likely twin sister) of Emma Jane Mansel.
Gertrude Frances Woodgate. She is likely related to the Harvey family. After the death of her first husband (Rev. Streatfeild), Clare Harvey married Henry Woodgate.
[unidentified man]
Francis Dalison
Jane Bodkin Farmby
Emily Jane Woodgate
Harry Pye Wood
Mary Maud Woodgate
[unidentified man]
Ellen Harriet Wingfield. Likely the daughter of Sophia Anna Shaw and Rev. Harry Launcelot Wingfield (married November 27, 1857), thus a niece of Margaret Augusta Shaw (Harvey).
Cicely Margaret Wingfield. Likely the daughter of Sophia Anna Shaw and Rev. Harry Launcelot Wingfield (married November 27, 1857), thus a niece of Margaret Augusta Shaw (Harvey).
[unidentified woman]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage," February 2–May 9, 2010.
William Henry Fox Talbot (British, Dorset 1800–1877 Lacock)
1839
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