Wood family glass-plate negative collection

Historical/Biographical Note

Historical/Biographical Note

This collection concerns the activities of the Wood family, which consisted of William, his wife Agnes, and their three sons Austin, George, and Frank (see Wood family biographies). The family resided in Dorchester, Massachusetts beginning in 1889, living first at 10 Elm Lawn Street and then relocating a few blocks to 3 Shawmut Park (now 7 Florida Street) in 1895. During this period, which overlaps with the production of the photographs in this collection, William worked as an engineer for a gas company in Boston, Agnes was a housewife, Austin and George were in their early teens, and Frank was a child. The interest in photography by the older Wood brothers coincided with the rise of amateur photography in the last decades of the 19th century. Advances in technology made both cameras and developing processes more accessible to the average person, prompting an outburst of interest in photography from middle class American families and the proliferation of "camera clubs" (such as the Big Four Camera Club mentioned by the Wood brothers on the negatives' original sleeves). This expanded access led to a growth in domestic photography, with these amateur photographers capturing the details of family life and important events. These developments in the field of photography are visible in the contents of this collection, especially in the chosen subjects of Austin and George Wood, who were in their early-to-mid teens when they took the images of this collection.William Austin Wood (1852-1941)

Born in Northampton, Massachusetts in November 1852; married Agnes Babcock in 1878; worked as a civil engineer at a gas company in Boston; died in Dorchester, Massachusetts in May 1941 at age 88.Agnes Elizabeth Wood, née Babcock (1854-1937)

Born in Syracuse, New York in February 1854; married William Wood in 1878; died in Dorchester, Massachusetts in July 1937 at age 83.Austin Clarence Wood (1879-1965)

Born in Syracuse, New York in July 1879; worked as an architectural draughtsman; married Maude Smith (1883-1965) in 1914; died in Massachusetts in April 1965 at age 85; no children.George Babcock Wood (1880-1963)

Born in Syracuse, New York in November 1880; worked as the manager of a limousine company in Maine; married Mary Folsom (1881-1919) in 1904; died in Maine in April 1963 at age 82; two surviving children.Frank Asahel Wood (1886-1976)

Born in Charlestown, Massachusetts in November 1886; worked as a mechanical engineer at a gas company in Boston; married Elizabeth Russell (1889-unknown) in 1917; died in New Hampshire in December 1976 at age 90; one surviving child.

Sources

Wood family biographical information obtained from: U.S. Census Records for 1880, 1900, and 1910; Massachusetts and Maine World War I Draft Registration Cards; City of Boston Directories 1886-1897; and Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire Vital Records.
Map of Hampshire County, 1860. Historic Northampton. Accessed 25 September 2023. http://www.historic-northampton.org/members_only/maps/1860.html
Dorchester Atheneum. "Robert Ball Hughes, 1806-1868." Accessed September 25, 2023. https://www.dorchesteratheneum.org/project/robert-ball-hughes-1806-1868/
Historic New England. (2023, May 10). Pierce House (1683). Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.historicnewengland.org/property/pierce-house/
Taylor, E. (2020, April 19). Dorchester Illustration 2453: Capen Bowl. Dorchester Historical Society. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.dorchesterhistoricalsocietyblog.org/blog/3837/
Parsons, H. (1912). Parsons Family: Descendants of Cornet Joseph Parsons, Springfield, 1636-Northampton, 1655 (Vol. 1). New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Company. https://archive.org/details/parsonsfamilydes01pars/page/n5/mode/2up
Fineman, M. (2004, October). "Kodak and the Rise of Amateur Photography." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved September 26, 2023 from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kodk/hd_kodk.htm