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Archives For November 30, 1999
Exciting news! We now have 11 photo albums available in the Lowcountry Digital Library:
http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/content/gertrude-sanford-legendre-papers-1836-2000
Coming soon: WWII Nazi and Fascist leader photographs, approximately 10 new photo albums (including Indo-China and various African expeditions), World War II correspondence, and photo portraits of Gertrude Legendre by famed artists such as Man Ray, George Platt Lynes, Toni Frissell and Charlotte Fairchild. Enjoy!
35mm slides
ByThe Gertrude Sanford Legendre collection boasts nearly 13,000 35mm color slides. Most of these slides are of Gertrude’s travels in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and to islands in the Atlantic. Though many printed pictures of her expeditions are showcased in her scrapbooks and photo albums, there is much more to be found in the slides! Below are some images of the cataloging and rehousing process, equipment used to view slides, and well as photos of some of the images on the slides.
Pana-Vue Automatic slide viewer
Natives with downed elephant, French Equatorial Africa, 1952
Natives with downed elephant, French Equatorial Africa, 1952
Robert F. Kennedy on the campaign trail, 1968
Robert F. Kennedy on the campaign trail, 1968
Barn kitten, undated
Medway Plantation (SC), undated
This collection includes a large amount of scrapbooks and photo albums created with a wide variety of bindings, papers, and photo types. Some of the albums are in great shape, and others are in need of a lot of TLC.
The first scrapbook I worked with is “Around the World, 1963.” It includes ticket stubs, brochures, and 3×5 photographs chronicling Gertrude and Bokara Legendre’s mother/daughter worldwide excursion in 1963. This album has sustained significant water damage, and almost all of the materials had to be removed from the original binding and placed in chemically inert enclosures. Scroll through the photos for more details!
Original binding
Severe water damage. All pages had to be removed from original plastic page covers, and all photos and ephemera were removed and placed in archival enclosures.
Side view of album before conservation
All pages had to be kept, because each photo included a handwritten title below it! We matched each photo with its corresponding title before disassembling the album.
Original spine rusting and damage
The finished product!
This is what the album looks like now! All materials are safely cataloged and will remain preserved for future research.
This collection includes a sizable amount of full newspapers and clippings. Below are some of the most notable articles available, including a tribute to former United States President and American Civil War commander, Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant on his most famous horse, Cincinnati, 1865
In addition to small portraits and cabinet cards, this collection includes a wide variety of formats from the mid-late 1800s- early 1900s. Here are a few examples:
Hand painted prayer verse
Correspondence between Ethel Sanford (GSL’s mother), John Sanford (GSL’s father), Carola Sanford Dow (GSL’s aunt), Gertrude Ellen du Puy (GSL’s grandmother), and others, 1890-1915
Hand painted memorabilia, 1890
Dried flowers
Dried flower souvenir from the Julian Pass in Switzerland
Invitation for the Inauguration Reception of Ulysses S. Grant, 1869
Dinner invitation extended by President Benjamin Harrison to the Sanfords, 1892
Dinner invitation extended by President Benjamin Harrison to the Sanfords, 1892
Hon. John Sanford’s personal business papers
Some of the oldest items in the Gertrude Sanford Legendre papers are daguerreotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards, and sketches created in the early 19th century. Daguerreotypes and tintypes represent some of the earliest known versions of photography, and were used primarily from the 1840s-1870s.
Unknown painting, September 28th, 1813
Shown with pencil for scale
Sarah Jane Cochran Sanford (Gertrude’s paternal grandmother) cabinet card
Stephen Sanford (Gertrude’s paternal grandfather), undated
Tintype image case
Leather tintype image case
Ethel Sanford (Gertrude’s mother), undated (mid 1800s)
Ethel Sanford, undated (mid 1800s)
Gertrude was born in 1902 in Aiken, SC, into a family with two older siblings, Sara Jane “Janie” Sanford and Stephen “Laddie” Sanford. Below are a two scrapbook pages from the children’s early years.
Aiken, 1913
Aiken and Atlantic City, early 1900s
Gertrude’s sister, Sarah Jane (“Janie”) Cochran Sanford, married Italian diplomat, Mario Pansa, in 1937. Pansa played polo with Stephen Sanford, and served as a social adviser to Benito Mussolini before and during World War II. Below are images of the couple, as well as images from Mario’s time in fascist Italy and Germany during WWII.
We are still in the process of identifying some of the men in these photographs. If you recognize someone, let us know (mchughck@cofc.edu)!
Jane (left) and Mario Pansa
The Pansa’s wedding invitation and portrait
Jane golfing in Palm Beach, Florida
Mario and his polo team
Mario with his elephant trophy, 1930
June 1943. Benito Mussolini (in white), Mihai Antonescu, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, (2nd from right) Mario Pansa (6th from left), others unidentified
June 1943. Mihai Antonescu, Mussolini (center), and Pansa (second from center), others unidentified
Mihai Antonescu, June 1943
June 1943. Mihai Antonescu, others unidentified
June 1943. Benito Mussolini (right), Mihai Antonescu (left)
June 1943. Benito Mussolini (right), Mihai Antonescu (left)
Galeazzo Ciano (center), Foreign Minister of Fascist Italy from 1936 until 1943 and Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law.
June 1943. Mihai Antonescu (center), Mario Pansa (front left), others unidentified
Gertrude was an avid writer and artist, and she kept detailed journals of each place she visited over the years. She also wrote several books, including The Sands Ceased to Run, Gertie!, The Time of My Life. Below are images of these manuscripts in their different forms — from scrawled notes to final drafts!
Handwritten preliminary chapter list
Two of Gertie’s travel journals
Testing image placement and captions
A response to one of Gertie’s many solicitations for publication
Manuscript corrections for The Time of My Life
“Final” draft!
This collection includes a large number of detailed scrapbooks Gertrude compiled over the years.
Gertrude funded expeditions for National Geographic and the American Museum of Natural History, during which they would collect specimens to display at Medway Plantation and in various museums.
These images are from some of her earliest expeditions to Africa, Abyssinia, and Indochina (1928-1932) and include Gertrude, her husband, Sidney Legendre, her brother, Stephen “Laddie” Sanford, and her brother-in-law, Morris Legendre.
Thanks to the project’s digital library assistant, Rebecca McClure, for these beautiful scans! These scrapbooks (and many more) will soon be available in a digital exhibit via the Lowcountry Digital Library.
Africa, 1927, and Abyssinia, 1928-1929
Indochina, 1932
Africa, 1928
Africa, 1928