A collection of 30 glass plate negatives spanning approximately two decades, from naval subjects of the Spanish-American War to scenes of soldiers and devastated landscapes during the First World War. Sizes range from approx. 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. to 5 x 4 in. Unknown photographer.

This compact but highly engaging group offers a vivid photographic survey of American military and naval life across a transformative twenty-year period. The earliest portion, comprising 10 plates related to the Spanish-American War, appears in several instances to document the Victory Fleet Review held in New York Harbor in August 1898. Included are negatives of several notable warships, among them USS Massachusetts (BB-2), New York (ACR-2), St. Louis, Saint Paul, Texas, and Iowa (BB-4). 

A second set of 10 plates dates to about 1905 and includes nine views titled “Maryland 3rd Army Corps War Games,” together with a separate image of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. As no Maryland 3rd Army Corps appears to have existed in 1905, these images likely document some form of commemorative military pageantry or Civil War reenactment activity staged roughly four decades after the conflict’s end. 

The final 10 plates, dating from around 1918, shift decisively into the world of the First World War, recording both the lives of soldiers and the destruction left in the war’s wake. Titled views include “Machine gun test in biplane,” “Shelled Village WWI,” “W.W.I Troops at field kitchen,” “W.W.I. View of Ruined Church,” and “WW1 German Soldier.” Together, these images broaden the scope of the archive from pageantry and fleet review to the harsher visual language of modern warfare. 

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards] [Spanish American War, Spanish-American War, Cuban War of Independence, USS Maine, Remember the Maine, Philippine-American War, Philippine Revolution, Rough Riders, Battle of San Juan Hill, Theodore Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt] [World War I, WWI, The Great War, First World War] 

Conditions vary.