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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7 still image

7 1909
Miniature of Bookmark from Kasuga Shrine in Nara
Bookmark from Kasuga Shrine in Nara
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
    Miniature of A charm to protect against fire
    A charm to protect against fire
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • Description: The charm was created to protect the bearer from fire. On the marker, it says Jadaiji temple, which may be the Jindaiji temple in Tokyo.
      • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
      Miniature of A man paying homage to two Buddhist statues
      A man paying homage to two Buddhist statues
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        • Date Created: 1909
        • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
        Miniature of Doctor attending to a sick woman
        Doctor attending to a sick woman
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          • Date Created: 1909
          • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
          Miniature of Buddhist temple guardian statue
          Buddhist temple guardian statue
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            • Date Created: 1909
            • Description: These statues were though to ward off evil spirits and ensure the safety of the temple. In the very forefront of the picture you can see a man kneeling before the statue and box in front of it.
            • Parent Collections: A Tourist's Album of Japan, Album of Japanese Photographs
            Miniature of Five monks posing
            Five monks posing
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              • Date Created: 1909
              • 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