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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10 1909
Miniature of A view of Yokohama
A view of Yokohama
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
    Miniature of A large house in the countryside
    A large house in the countryside
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • 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 Rural house
        Rural house
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          • Date Created: 1909
          • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
          Miniature of Rural town next to a river
          Rural town next to a river
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            • Date Created: 1909
            • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
            Miniature of Large houses in a Japanese city
            Large houses in a Japanese city
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              • Date Created: 1909
              • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
              Miniature of Woman crossing bridge over pond
              Woman crossing bridge over pond
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                • Date Created: 1909
                • Description: A woman in a kimono is walking through a residence. She is crossing a small pond, walking over a wooden bridge.
                • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                Miniature of Bridge in rural Japan
                Bridge in rural Japan
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                  • Date Created: 1909
                  • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                  Miniature of A hotel in the Japanese countryside
                  A hotel in the Japanese countryside
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                    • Date Created: 1909
                    • Description: In the upper left hand section of the picture, there is a black X inscribed on the picture. This was probably done by the original collector to identify which room (s)he stayed in.
                    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
                    Miniature of Three children standing in a garden
                    Three children standing in a garden
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                      • Date Created: 1909
                      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs