Collection of Photographs Documenting "Camp Seemore," Founded for Poor New York City Kids Recovering From Trachoma

Otisville, New York: 1914. Nine black paper photo album leaves, containing 77 black and white photos cornered in on both sides of each leaf. Many images captioned on the backs, additional captions present on a couple of album leaves and on the fronts of a few photos. The photographs document the 1914 season of Globe Trachoma Camp, aka "Camp Seemore," located in Otisville, New York. The camp, funded by the New York Globe and its readers, provided a clean, rural space for poor New York City children to recover from Trachoma, a harmful eye infection and leading cause of blindness. According to one report, the camp housed "103 children whose parents were so poor as to make it improbable that their recovery would be rapid unless they were sent to the country and given proper food and care for the summer months" (Charity Organization Society of the City of New York Annual Report, 1915). The images depict children and staff posed singly or in groups, recreational activities ("our baseball nine"; "ready for a picnic up the mountain"), meal time ("line before mess tent"), tents and other structures (i.e. the bulletin board), children working as "waiters", the "kitchen squad", and more. Another photo shows a student receiving an eye treatment. An emphasis on sanitation, necessary to prevent the spread of the disease, is present as well. Several images show children carrying buckets as members of the "sanitary squad", and another photo shows a pile of bedding, captioned "Airing bedding every a.m." Images in very good condition, chipping to album leaves. Item #13097

Price: $350.00