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 Men carrying a passenger in a Palanquin to a hotel
Men carrying a passenger in a Palanquin to a hotel
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
    Miniature of Two women posing for a picture with their calligraphy
    Two women posing for a picture with their calligraphy
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • Description: Two women posing with umbrellas and calligraphy.
      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
      Miniature of Two men attired as Samurai playing Shogi
      Two men attired as Samurai playing Shogi
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        • Date Created: 1909
        • Description: Judging by their hairstyles and the manner in which they are dressed, the two men are either of Samurai heritage or imitating men of such. They are playing Shogi, a Japanese board game similar in quality and manner to Chess.
        • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
        Miniature of Sailboat
        Sailboat
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          • Date Created: 1909
          • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
          Miniature of People lined up to view a parade or procession
          People lined up to view a parade or procession
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            • Date Created: 1909
            • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
            Miniature of A riverboat with passengers
            A riverboat with passengers
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              • Date Created: 1909
              • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
              Miniature of Woman practicing on a kokyu
              Woman practicing on a kokyu
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                • Date Created: 1909
                • Description: The large instrument, known as a Kokyu, is spread out to its full length in this picture.
                • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                Miniature of Japanese city in a valley
                Japanese city in a valley
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                  • Date Created: 1909
                  • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                  Miniature of Five women on a bench
                  Five women on a bench
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                    • Date Created: 1909
                    • Description: Five women, dressed in elegant kimono's, sit astride a wooden bench. The picture is hand colored.
                    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                    Miniature of Woman with umbrella posing in front of a mural of Mt Fuji
                    Woman with umbrella posing in front of a mural of Mt Fuji
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                      • Date Created: 1909
                      • Description: A women dressed in a very formal kimono, is depicted holding an umbrella in her left hand. In the background is a mural of Mt Fuji and the Japanese countryside. The woman, a symbol for Japanese urban life, stands as a stark contrast to the background of nature imagery. Her kimono is hand colored in the image, as well as the flora surrounding her.
                      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs