1900s Edwardian Photo Album Richardson Benson Mexico Colorado Denver Hospital
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:1271 | Region of Origin: US |
| Color: Black & White | Listed By: Dealer or Reseller |
| Photo Type: Snapshot | Date of Creation: 1910-1919 |
| Original/Reprint: Original Print |
WELCOME TOSALLY’S DIARIES: Up for auction today is an incredible photoalbum that originally belonged to the William Eddy and Amanda Elizabeth (Benson)Richardson family. I believe the album was put together by Amanda and I also believeshe went by her middle name, Elizabeth. The album contains about 335 photos, some quite large then some medium and a few smaller snapshots. I believe mostof them are early 1900’s to about the 1920’s or so. The best thing conc...erningthis album is the fabulous landscape and mountain scenes of Colorado includingat least 9 photos of the historical “Bendemeer Lodge” which is at the head ofBear Creek Canyon in Colorado. Some of the other photos were also taken bynoted Colorado photographers which I’ll get to in a minute. Amanda Elizabeth Benson Richardson wasborn in 1894 in Christine North Dakota. She married William Eddy Richardson whowas born in 1898 in Minnesota. They had two sons, William Eddy Richardson Jr.born 1927 in Mexico and James Richardson born in 1930. I got a bit confused at first as there arevery few handwritten notes in this album and because many of the photos arepasted down (some just on the corners) I wasn’t positive of who it belonged to.With a lot of hours of research and a few clues I was able to find out. Theother thing that threw me off were the different places represented in this album;Mexico, Colorado and more. Then there was a photo (WWI) of a woman in Uniformand come to find out I’m almost sure it’s Amanda Elizabeth when she was a WWInurse. I found this out about her on the web……“AmandaElizabeth Benson. Army number, none: not a registrant, army nurse; born, Christine North Dakota, September 29th, 1894, of Norwegian American parents;occupation nurse; enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps, at Abercrombie, on Nov. 7, 1918; called into active service on Nov. 13, 1918; assigned to Base HospitalCamp Dodge, Iowa, to January 1919; General Hospital No. 21, Denver Colorado todischarge, Relieved from active duty at Denver Colorado on September 23, 1919, as a nurse.” Here’s the best part, there are so manyhistorical photos in this album. Many are from her time at the hospital inDenver, the one mentioned above. In fact there is a fabulous photo showing abirds-eye-view of the hospital, plus tons of photos of other nurses, soldiers, patients, etc. Then there’s the photos of the great outdoors, which I believeare in Colorado, then again they could also be her home state of North Dakota. Andseveral birds-eye-views of little mountain towns. Further research needs to bedone of course on where many of them were taken. As far as the photos of Bendemmer Lodge Ifound out this concerning this historical structure……“BendemeerLodge was built in the 1890s, this resort consisted of a central lodge andsurrounding cabins. Attractions included two miles of private fishing on BearCreek, music, card parties, hiking, horseback riding, beefsteak fries, croquet, horseshoes, a dining room for 100 guests and a small general merchandise andgrocery store. In 1945, the 1500 acre resort was sold for $15, 000 to aconsortium of Harold Rolley, a Kansas banker, and Jo Hare, an Evergreen realtorand University of Denver librarian. The property was subdivided in 1949 andhome were sold. Bendemeer Lodge itself was destroyed by fire in August 1960.” Then some of the photos show two women inthe mountains (again I believe they are in Colorado) and those are large blackand white photos that measure about 5” x 7” and in fact, 5 of the photos of thelodge are that big. Now as far as the professional photographerphotos. One of the photos was loose. It shows a scene of Longs Peak and on theback is a stamp that reads, “Enos A. Mills, Rocky Mountain National Park LongsPeak, Colorado.” I have to share this biography concerning Mr. Mills. It’s longbut worth the read….“Born in Kansas, Enos Mills left home at age 14 andtraveled to Estes Park, Colorado, where some of his relatives lived. He fell inlove with the mountains and in Colorado found his new home. For the next twentyyears he made his living as a mountain guide and supplemented his income byworking at local mines and ranches during seasons where there were not manytourists.In 1902, Mills purchased the Longs Peak Inn inEstes Park, which he operated until his death in 1922. Mills wanted theLongs Peak Inn to reflect the quiet tranquility of nature, so he did not allowany music or dancing in his hotel. Mills loved Longs Peak, the mountain hishotel was named for, and had climbed it over 300 times.As he grew older, Mills quit his mining and ranchingjobs, which often took him far from Estes Park, and began spending most of histime there, where he wrote books1 and articles promoting the area as atourist destination. Soon Mills began to promote the idea of making the areaaround Estes Park into a National Park, especially since Estes Park had begunto draw more and more tourists with the opening of the Stanley Hotel. Millsfeared the hotel would attract other commercial development2 and sought topreserve the area as a National Park. Mills and others worked hard to determinethe boundaries of the proposed park and to lobby Congress to designate thearea. Finally, in 1915, Rocky Mountain National Park was officially designated.3At the age of 48, in 1918, Mills married EstherBurnell, who had come from Ohio as a tourist in Estes Park. The couple had onechild, a daughter, Edna. Just four years after his marriage, Enos Mills died ofinfluenza at the age of 52.4 Today, the Estes Park cabin in which he livedfor many years has become a museum.” Then another photo had the stamp on the back that says “F. P. Latworthy”I don’t know if this is a mishap as far as the wrong name but I did find a prominentColorado photograph by the name of Fred Payne Clatworthy on the web. Could thisphoto be his?? There are two pages of photos that look like they could be fromsome prominent photographer but some of the photos are glued down and I don’twant to remove them. I scanned those two pages above. And last but not least, the cover is fabulous. It’s a soft leather withan art nouveau design. It’s not in the best shape but still so beautiful. Thealbum pages are also worn and a few torn around the edges. The photo are in avariety of conditions, some great, some poor so please keep all of this in mindwhen purchasing. The album itself measures about 12” x 14”.
