A Pictorial History of Mount Holyoke 1900-1935: Asa Kinney's View Camera Photographs

Abstract

This monograph reproduces and discusses 142 photographs of Mount Holyoke College from 1900 to 1935 by Asa S. Kinney (1873-1961). He was teacher of plant science and landscape design from 1898 to 1939, whose passion was a 5 x 7 view camera from which he made nearly 2000 glass plate negatives, now in the college archives. Nearly all unpublished, these represent individual college buildings, campus views imbued with picturesque naturalism, theatrical productions, sports, gardens, individual students, art collections, classrooms, and student rituals such as May Day. He also made some photographs of nearby streets and buildings of South Hadley. Kinney should be remembered today for his formidable pictorial history of nearly four decades of the college. It's unlikely that a comparable set of photographs exists for any other small college town.