Eugene A. Livingston Family Photograph Collection
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Abstract
Photograph collection primarily consisting of formal studio portraits of members of the family of Eugene A. Livingston, including elaborate frames and photograph albums.
Biographical Note
The family of Eugene Augustus Livingston (1813-1893) comprises one branch of the politically and socially prominent Livingston family of the Hudson Valley and New York City. Eugene A. Livingston, son of Robert L. Livingston (1775-1843) and Margaret Maria Livingston (1783-1818), had seven children. Harriet Coleman Livingston bore him two children: Eugene Livingston (1845-1862), who died in the civil war, and Mary Coleman Livingston Delafield, who became the wife of Maturin L. Delafield. With his second wife, Elizabeth Fisher Livingston, he fathered Adelaide Livingston, Elizabeth Livingston, Katharine Livingston Clymer, Richard M.C. Livingston, and Walter Eugene Livingston. The family lived both in New York City and at their summer home, Teviot, on the Hudson River.
Arrangement
Photographs have been arranged in two series:
Missing Title
- Series I: Loose Photographs
- Series II: Albums and Framed Photographs
Scope and Content Note
The Eugene A. Livingston Family Photograph Collection spans the period 1855 to 1887 and primarily contains photographic portraits of the Livingston family and their pets. The collection is divided into two series: Loose Photographs; and Albums and Framed Photographs.
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Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers.
Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to thirty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. See guidelines in Print Room for details.
Use Restrictions
Permission to reproduce any Print Room holdings through publication must be obtained from:
Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
Two West 77th Street
New York, NY 10024
Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282
Fax: (212) 579-8794
The copyright law of the United States governs the making of photocopies and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials. Unpublished materials created before January 1, 1978 cannot be quoted in publication without permission of the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Eugene A. Livingston Family Photograph Collection, PR 138, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Loose Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Series I dates from 1870 through 1887 and includes tintypes, albumen prints, cabinet photographs, an ambrotype, and cartes-de-visite. Photographs are filed alphabetically by sitter or subject. Many items are undated. Formal studio portraits by a variety of American and European portrait photographers make up the majority of the collection. Most portraits are of Eugene A. Livingston's children. Also portrayed are Mary Livingston Delafield's husband, Maturin L. Delafield, and children, as well as members of the Clymer family. A few landscapes and group photographs are included. This series also contains several folders of studio portraits of the family's dogs, including portraits by the Pach Brothers. Photographs of several Livingston family paintings include a portrait of Margaret Beekman Livingston. One folder of vintage carte-de-visite size photograph envelopes is filed at the end of the series.
Clymer, George, 1884
Clymer, Katherine Livingston, 1884
Delafield, Joseph L. (1871-1924), 1871
Delafield, Mary C. Livingston (1847-1922), undated
Delafield, Maturin L. (1869-1922), 1870-1871
Group Portraits, 1878, undated
Landscapes, 1879, 1887, undated
Livingston, Adelaide, undated
Livingston, Elizabeth (1857-1941), 1872-1874, undated
Livingston, Margaret Beekmand (copy photograph of painting), undated
Livingston, Richard M.C. (silhouette), 1883
Livingston, Richard M.C. with Walter Eugene, 1870, 1883
Livingston, Robert R. (copy photograph of painting), undated
Livingston Family Dogs, 1876, undated
Unidentified Females, undated
Unidentified Males, undated
W. Bienmuller photograph envelopes, cartes-de-visite size, undated
Series II: Albums and Framed Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Series II dates from circa 1855 through 1885 and includes undated items. Of particular interest and rarity are several elaborate frames including one leather, easel-mounted, fold-out book frame; one frame featuring a hand-painted silk mat; and two velvet frames. Also present is a glass stereograph view of the family's Hudson Valley summer home, Teviot (formerly known as Eversleigh). Seven albums ranging in size from 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches to 11 x 9 1/4 inches make up the bulk of this series. One cartes-de-visite album has a wooden cover with a carved stag's head protruding from the front; the smallest of the albums portrays a female figure in inlayed wood. Some allegorical tableaus are included in the scrapbooks.
Portrait photographs by several prominent photographers is also included; a portrait of Eugene A. Livingston and his two eldest children, Mary and Eugene Livingston (1845-1862), taken and signed by Gustave Le Gray is included in its original housing, as are carte-de-visite portraits by Mathew Brady. A framed portrait of a print of General Philip H. Sheridan is identified on the verso as "possibly" being Sheridan; a comparison with portraits at different ages indicates that it is very likely Sheridan.