Feature of the Month - The Nieves Collection 🏆

January 2025 Registry Feature

This month's featured Registry Set Collection is the New York themed Nieves Collection.  The Nieves Collection Set displays some unique and interesting views of New York City at the turn of the century, as well as a few pieces documenting the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake disaster of 1906.  The Nieves Collection has received the Award of Excellence for the month of January, and to celebrate this achievement, we will take a closer look at some of the stereoviews within this set.

The first piece we will be looking at in the Nieves Collection Registry is item #1280, a Winter view in Manhattan's Central Park.  Although the stereoview card was published in the 1870's, the photograph itself was most likely taken in the late-1860's.  The photo is taken from the Casino within the park near East 72nd Street.  This part of the park was constructed in the mid- to late-1850's and the age of the landscape trees give us clues as to the age of the photograph.  The Casino from where the photo is taken was first opened in 1864 and quickly became a hot spot for New York's wealthy elite.

Upon closer inspection of this Winter scene in Central Park, we can see a young couple enjoying a horse driven sleigh ride with a blanket draped over their legs to keep the cold from entering beneath the lady's dress.  At the far left of the frame, a horse driven taxi is parked along the roadway, while the driver tends to his horse.  It is very likely that the driver is awaiting the return of his wealthy passengers who are most likely enjoying drinks, dance and gambling inside the Casino.  The well-trodden trail snaking up the hillside in background is a testament to the popularity of the park in the late-1860's, as the city's residents sought quiet respite and solace from the bustling city.

Just a few steps from where the Casino was located, we encounter the location of the next featured view, Registry item #1325.  This stereoview is as interesting as it is rare and is a showcase piece in the Nieves Collection.  This view shows a boy in a seated but reclined position, resting atop a rocky hedgerow on a late Summer day in c1863.  In the distance, we can see the newly built Bow Bridge spanning a narrow portion of the Central Park Lake.  Much like the Central Park Casino, the Bow Bridge was designed by architect Calvert Vaux and construction on the bridge was completed a year earlier in 1862.

This stereoview is one in a series of views photographed by brothers Edward and Henry Anthony.  The two brothers were intimately familiar with Central Park, not only as a spot where their blossoming photography business could capture the architecture of the day, but also as a place where they frequented for both sport and leisure.  Henry Anthony was a professional baseball player prior to entering the photography business and his team, the New York Knickerbockers, often played their games in Central Park during the 1840s.  Their interest in the park has allowed future generations of historians to track the transformation of Central Park from what was previously Seneca Village to the green space that modern New Yorkers enjoy today.

The next stereoview that we are going to take a look at in the Nieves Collection Registry is item #1326.  This view is a fascinating glimpse of bustling Broadway (Western Boulevard at the time) during the 1860's.  A large advertisement banner for Jerome Park Horse Racing Track is strung across the street, appearing in the foreground of the photo.  The track was a popular gathering place for high society New Yorkers in the late-1860's and 1870's.  Also visible in the photo are carriages of both the upper caste and lower caste of society.  Ornate white carriages drawn by white horses are visible racing down the street alongside transport carts of a more modest form and function.  The moving carriages appear as a blur, a result of the long exposure times that were required to capture images during this time period.

This stereoview is exceptionally rare.  During the research phase, we were unable to find another example of it in the New York Public Library Archives nor the Library of Congress Digital Archives.  Many of these early views are one-of-a-kind, having been acquired by William S. Appleton in the 1920's, moved to the William Culp Darrah Collection in the 1950's and then finally transferred to the T.K. Treadwell Collection in the 1970's.  In many cases, rare stereoviews such as this one have not been made available to collectors for over a century!  Before I move on to the next piece, one more small detail in this photo struck me as interesting.  In the foreground, at the lower left of the photo, you can see a young child pulling at their mother to purchase them something from the confectionary store.  It seems as though some things never change!

The last piece in the Nieves Collection that I will be highlighting is Registry item #1414.  The scene in this iconic stereoview takes place on the other end of the Country and almost 40 years later.  On an early April morning in 1906, a devastating Earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale rocked the city of San Francisco.  The quake and the resulting fire razed the city to the ground, leaving more than 3000 people dead and tens of thousands of people homeless.  Entire blocks were levelled to rubble and the city's magnificent Victorian West Coast architecture was destroyed.  Hollowed out buildings that were left standing after the earthquake were demolished with dynamite.

The image in this stereoview is a powerful one.  In the foreground, a man salvages scrap metal while another man sits atop the rubble in disbelief and awe.  Behind them, a panorama of the city of San Francisco in complete ruin.  In my opinion, this is one of the most iconic stereoviews of the Great Earthquake of 1906.  It captures both the human toll and the widespread destruction of the city.  Viewed through a stereoscope, the 3D effect adds a powerful visual depth to the photo.  Looking over the wreckage, a haze is visible weaving it's way through the buildings and the landscape.  Is it the smoke from the fires?  The dust from the demolition crews?  Or the San Francisco fog rolling across the city?  Most likely, all of the above are true.

Check in with us next month when we feature another collection from the registry!  Photos of pieces from the Nieves Collection are available on the registry page at https://whsstereoview.com/pages/registry .  Congratulations to the Nieves Collection on this award winning set!