A Tourist's Album of Japan

Katherine Wolcott and her uncle, Robert Hull Fleming, compiled this photo album on their visit to Japan in 1909. Part of a larger Asian trip, the two stopped in Japan and collected photos, postcards, bookmarks, and other materials. Fleming was a graduate of the University of Vermont, and in 1929 Katherine Wolcott helped to fund the construction of the Robert Hull Fleming Museum in memory of her late uncle. This album, a memento from their trip, was part of Wolcott’s own collection. There are nearly 40 leaves of collected photographs and postcards, numbering two to three per album page. The pictures range in content, some depicting staged photos of daily life while others portray landscapes and countryside. The album itself measures approximately 11 x 14 x 4 inches and is currently housed at the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont. Wolcott’s album captures a unique view of Japan at the brink of burgeoning Western influence. After defeating the Russians in the Russo Japanese War (1904-05), Japan began to cement itself as a global power, and its efforts to modernize began to attract Westerners. The images in this album depict a Japan with a strong national heritage and cultural appreciation as well as a newfound embrace of modernization and technology. Most of the pictures in the album sold commercially as a form of postcard. In the early 1900s, the Japanese populace began consuming millions of these types of commercially produced picture postcards. Eventually, the medium became so popular that it started to replace the more traditional wood block print. The citizenry sought pictures of their budding nation, wanting to hold a still image of the rapidly modernizing and changing countryside.

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129 1909
Miniature of Bridge spanning a slow moving river
Bridge spanning a slow moving river
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
    Miniature of The streets of Yokohama
    The streets of Yokohama
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • Description: The streets are lined with ornamentation to celebrate a Japanese victory over the Russians in the Russo-Japanese war.
      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
      Miniature of Yokohama celebrating victory
      Yokohama celebrating victory
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        • Date Created: 1909
        • Description: The streets of Yokohama are full of people, as the city celebrates a Japanese victory over the Russians.
        • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
        Miniature of People viewing a statue of a Samurai
        People viewing a statue of a Samurai
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          • Date Created: 1909
          • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
          Miniature of Two Sumo wrestlers
          Two Sumo wrestlers
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            • Date Created: 1909
            • Description: The belt of cloth, usually silk, worn by the men is known as a "Mawashi" in Japanese.
            • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
            Miniature of A group of monks under a large Buddhist statue
            A group of monks under a large Buddhist statue
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              • Date Created: 1909
              • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
              Miniature of Man fishing from a boat
              Man fishing from a boat
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                • Date Created: 1909
                • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                Miniature of Farmers collecting their harvest
                Farmers collecting their harvest
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                  • Date Created: 1909
                  • Description: It appears the people in this picture are all part of the same family. In the picture you can see three generations of the family working together on the harvest.
                  • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                  Miniature of Two women preparing a meal
                  Two women preparing a meal
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                    • Date Created: 1909
                    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs