Feature of the Month - The Schumacher Collection 🏆

February 2025 Registry Feature

This month's featured Registry Set Collection is the Mount Monadnock themed Schumacher Collection.  The Schumacher Collection is comprised of many rare views of the southern New Hampshire mountain from the late 1860's to early 1870's.  At 3,165 ft high, Mount Monadnock dwarfs all other nearby peaks.  The mountain tempted and dared many explorers to conquer it's summit in the Victorian era.  Among the men and women who dared to travel Monadnock's early mountain trails were early photographers such as George Scripture, Freeman E. Bugbee and Jotham A. French.

The first stereoview from the Schumacher Collection that we will be looking at is Registry Item # 1178, an 1870 view of the Mt. Monadnock Halfway House by George S. Scripture.  George Scripture was instrumental in documenting the landscape of the mountain and the roads and buildings that rested upon it.  Without his work, very little would be known of Monadnock in the Victorian era.  The majority of the photos of Mt. Monadnock from the late 1860's and early 1870's came from Scripture's camera, yet very little is known about the man.  Scripture settled in nearby Peterborough in 1865 and quickly took an interest in photography (Jaffrey, Then and Now, 1994).  From his home in Peterborough, he would have been able to see Monadnock rising into the clouds. Writings by William Darrah Culp and Thurman Kelso Treadwell in the National Stereoscopic Association's 1979 Handout indicate that Scripture made his first ascent of Monadnock (with a camera) in the Summer of 1867.  It is also known, according to the NSA's U.S. Photographers Release in 1994 (also known as the Treadwell List), that Scripture captured over 150 views of Monadnock in what was likely a 3 to 5 year period.

Scripture would begin selling these photos and stereoviews in his shop at #2 French's Block in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 1869 or 1870.  Many of the photos date back to 1867, although it is unclear which ones.  This stereoview illustrates the Toll Road leading to the Halfway House Hotel on a level clearing of land halfway up the mountain.  The hotel was built in 1858 by entrepreneur Moses Cudworth and could comfortably host 100 guests.  Upon close inspection of this stereoview, we see a guest or an employee walking up the Toll Road carrying a yoke with two glass jugs affixed at either end.  The downtrodden roadway is a testament to the popularity of the hotel in the late 1860's.  After a bitter battle over the fate of the building, and decades of subsequent neglect, the hotel met it's fate in 1954 when a suspicious fire razed it to the ground.

The next piece that we are going to look at is truly a rare piece of history.  Registry Item # 1309 is a stereoview of George Scripture himself at the Summit of Mount Monadnock.  Standing in frame, to the left of the photo, we see a mustachioed George Scripture with arms resting on his hips and what appears to be a leather camera bag strapped over his shoulder.  Very little is known of Scripture and he is an enigmatic figure despite the nature of his business as a photographer.   A true rarity indeed!  Also in this photo, we see a young man and woman peering from the mountaintop with a collapsible telescope.  There are other Scripture stereoviews known to exist of this same summit party, but at different angles and vantage points.

Stereoviews with self-portraits of the photographer are very rare because the photographer would have had to ask another person to take the shot.  At that time, entrusting another man with your camera would have been a nerve-racking affair.  The equipment would have been extremely expensive and the long exposure times would have required motionless staged poses.  There was no room for error!  Perhaps if we zoom a little closer, we can get a glimpse of nervous fret on George's face!

The third stereoview that we are going to look at in this truly remarkable collection is Registry Item # 1379.  This is another interesting and unique view by Scripture illustrating a crudely constructed bowling alley, which likely existed on the grounds of the Monadnock Halfway House.  In this view, we see a man atop a boardwalk with several bowling balls strewn across the ground nearby.  A little girl and her father look on as the bowler faces them in conversation.  At the end of the boardwalk, there appears to be a small hole cut in the center of the planking.  In the far distance, other men wait their turn to pitch their ball down the deck with the object being to drop the rolling ball into the hole.

Scripture titles this stereoview 'Deliberation', possibly hinting that the bowler has yet to make the shot and wandered instead to the edge of the planking to assess the best line.  Many photographers of the day would seek landscapes of grandeur, whereas Scripture was known for capturing candid moments in time.  He took photos of scenery along Monadnock that many others would not have.  Rather than focusing his efforts on summit views, he would take photos of the people who braved the mountain instead.  This stereoview is no different and offers a wonderful view into Victorian leisure activities that took place on the mountain.

The last stereoview we will be looking at in the Schumacher Collection is Registry Item # 1578.  This view shows the construction of the Summit House atop Mount Monadnock.  This 'house' was crudely built by Scripture and his party in 1867 - 1870 and very little is known about it.

In other stereoviews in this series, George Scripture himself is seen walking towards the men to aid them in the building's construction.  In this photo, we see exhausted men working in the thin air with chisels, shovels, pickaxes and hammers.  Riding high on aspiration but lacking any planning, it isn't clear to the degree that the Summit House was built under Mr. Scripture's direction.

Check in with us next month when we feature another collection from the registry!  Photos of pieces from the Schumacher Collection are available on the registry page.  Congratulations to the Schumacher Collection on this award winning set!