Feature of the Month - The Vocca Collection 🏆

November 2024 Registry Feature

This month's featured collection is the New Hampshire themed Vocca Collection.  To date, the Vocca collection displays four unique pieces in the WHS Registry, all of which share the T.K. Treadwell provenance.  The first piece displayed in the Registry is item #1080, a stereoview card that tells a macabre tale atop New Hampshire's unforgiving Mt Washington.  

What originally appears to be a pile of snow and ice on the mountain summit, is instead a monument eulogizing the young Lizzie Bourne, who met her final resting place there on an Autumn evening of September 14th, 1855.  The rock pile serves as a grave reminder to all trekkers who dare seek Mt. Washington's summit: not all have survived the journey.  During the Winter summit expedition of 1870, photographer A.F. Clough took this photo of Lizzie Bourne's frozen monument.

The next piece in the Registry is item #1090, a cascading brook and waterfall in Warren, New Hampshire.  Taken in the 1860's, this photo captures a unique view into a landscape that has undoubtedly changed in the past 150 years.  The photographer, A.F. Clough, had a fondness for Warren, New Hampshire and it's surroundings.

New Hampshire's beauty was not lost on Dr. T.K. Treadwell either.  Dr. Treadwell painstakingly spent decades identifying photos from the White Mountains and surrounding areas.  Dr. Treadwell's work has built a rich historical account of New Hampshire's towns and villages that would have otherwise been lost to time.

The third piece in the Vocca Collection is item #1109.  This flat-mount stereoview depicts an old mill scene near Warren, New Hampshire.  The mill has an uncanny resemblance to the Willey House and one certainly may have inspired the other's design.  Taken in the 1860's by A.F. Clough, this mill appears to already be in a state of disrepair.  It is quite possible that this photo is the only account of the mill, it's damaged boarding and footing suggest that repairs were no longer being made on the buildings.

Perhaps struck by nostalgia or a desire to preserve what once was, Mr. Clough stopped to photograph the mill on one of his expeditions.  The photo allows us to imagine life in the 1830s and 1840s when this mill would have been fully operational.  

The last piece in the Vocca Collection that we will be looking at today is item #1110.  This wonderful piece, in flat-mount stereoview format, depicts an enterprising young man operating an ox-driven ferry across a brook.  Taken by E.J. Young in the 1870's, this photograph is a testament to the barriers faced by everyday people in Victorian times that are now remedied through modern conveniences.  

During the homesteading times of the 1870's, bridges across rivers and streams were often hundreds of miles apart.  In order to get to church, school, town or even everyday necessities, people would have to travel great distances by horse to navigate around obstacles such as rivers.  In this photo, we see that the road in the background ends at the riverbank.  A business-minded ferry boat operator has offered field oxen and a flat cart to help people make the crossing (likely for a fee!).  Those who were unable or unwilling to pay for the crossing are seen in the foreground operating a small row boat.  Hopefully they didn't mind getting their feet wet!  

Check in with us next month when we feature another collection from the registry!  Photos of pieces from the Vocca Collection are available on the registry page at https://whsstereoview.com/pages/registry