Nathalie Bailey Morris photographs of American Gothic Revival architecture, 1853-1937, bulk 1933-1934

Summary Information

At a Glance

Arrangement

Organization and Arrangement

This collection is organized in four series: Mounted Photographs; Ringbound Photographs; Loose Images; and Papers.

• Series 1: Mounted Photographs
• Subseries A: Hudson River Valley, New York
• Subseries B: New York City, New York
• Subseries C: Eastern Westchester County, New York
• Subseries D: Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
• Series 2: Ringbound Photographs, All images date from 1933.
• Subseries A: Ringbinder A
• Subseries B: Ringbinder B
• Series 3: Loose Images
• Series 4: Papers

Description

Scope and Content

The collection includes 1134 images (photographs and postcards, with some duplicates) of approximately 60 buildings, including some earlier photographs, plans, and renderings that Morris copied to add context to her own contemporary photographs. Of properties with identified architects, the great majority were designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, with a few examples of the work of Richard Upjohn, James Renwick, and several other lesser-known architects. Major sites depicted include Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, N.Y.; Fonthill Castle, Bronx, N.Y.; Lovat, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Hurst-Pierrepont, Garrison, N.Y.; Belvoir, Yonkers, N.Y.; Beechwood, Yonkers, N.Y.; Mount Ida, Troy, N.Y., Llewellyn Park, Orange, N.J.; and Malbone, Newport, R.I. Some 18th-century buildings, and one 17th-century building (the Christopher Billop House, near Tottenville, Staten Island, built circa 1699), are also depicted.

Also included is correspondence to Morris about her research from Emma Clifton Austin; J. J. Champenois; John Mead Howells; Cornelius G. Kolff; Grace M. Mayer (Museum of the City of New York); Renwick, Aspinwall & Guard; Robert B. Sterns; and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes; as well as several published articles and Morris' own research notes. Lastly, of special interest are nine photographs of the official opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931.

• Series 1: Mounted Photographs

  N. B. Numbers in parentheses indicate quantity of duplicate prints.

• Series 2: Ringbound Photographs, All images date from 1933.

  Two binders, A and B, were compiled by Morris and contain 170 individual black and white photographic prints and black and white and color postcards of varying sizes, cornered in pages, with brief descriptions of the properties, architects, and owners. In addition to Morris's own photography, images include views, renderings, and plans from other sources. Many photographs and views are dated.

• Series 3: Loose Images

  Items are gelatin silver photographic prints, unless otherwise noted.

• Series 4: Papers

Using the Collection

Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

Restrictions on Access

This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information and to make an appointment, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Permission to publish must be obtained in writing from the Director, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam Ave., MC 0301, New York, NY 10027.

Preferred Citation

Nathalie Bailey Morris photographs of American Gothic Revival architecture. Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.

Related Collections

See also the Alexander Jackson Davis architectural drawings and papers, the Richard Upjohn and Richard Michell Upjohn architectural drawings, and the Leslie O. Merrill Collection of Greek Revival in Syracuse held in the Department of Drawings and Archives at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Libraries.

Custodial History

Gift of Elizabeth M. Smith, pre-1978. (1000.055)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Gift of Elizabeth M. Smith, pre-1978. Accession number--1000.055.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Annemarie van Roessel, Archivist, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, in January 2008.

Revision Description

2007-11-14 File created.

2009-07-23 File revised.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Subject

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

Alletta Nathalie Lorillard Bailey Morris (1883-1935) was born to a socially prominent New York City family and in her adult life was active in civic and charity work. She was also an amateur architectural historian and photographer, particularly dedicated to documenting works of 19th-century American Gothic Revival architecture in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. Her interest may have been spurred in part by the summer house she and her husband, Lewis Gouverneur Morris, owned in Newport, Rhode Island. A large villa in the Gothic Revival style"Malbone" was designed in 1848-1850 by noted American architect Alexander Jackson Davis. From the 1910s through the early 1930s, Morris was driven by her husband or chauffeur to many notable sites of Gothic Revival architecture so that she could photograph extant conditions.