This photo album came to the Long Island Collection in 1979. Based on the images in it and the materials gifted with it, the album was probably compiled by a family member of Gilbert Huntting Cooper (1819-1890), either one of his children or his wife, Mary Elizabeth Gardiner Cooper (1822-1905). Both Mary and Gilbert appear in the album, along with their three oldest children, Hannah (1844-1925), Kate (1849-1925), and Gilbert Duane (1852-1929).
The subjects in the album appear to be family members from both sides. One of the only clues for the identity of the album’s owner is the label “Uncle Huntting and Aunt Phoebe” on two photos, which likely refers to Huntting Cooper and his wife, Phebe Harris Cooper, who lived in Sag Harbor until around 1860.
Gilbert’s photographed relatives include his brother-in-law Almond and his sister’s daughter Nettie Maria Gardiner (1847-1923), along with her sister-in-law Lucetta Wade (b. 1845). Family of Gilbert’s brother William Huntting Cooper Sr. (1816-1894) also appear in the album more than once, with William’s wife, Nancy Burnham Beckwith Cooper (1821-1904), and their children: John (b. 1849), Charlie (1852-1889), Edward (1856-1890), Hattie (1858-1865), Celia (1862-1948), and Annie (1864-1941). The photos of William Cooper’s children indicate the photos were taken over different years. Nancy B. Cooper’s sister Mary Ann Glover’s children Addie and Mary also appear.
The family of Gilbert’s wife, Mary, in the album includes a sister, Cornelia, labeled “Aunt Nell,” along with members of her family in Lyons, N.Y. Mary’s brother Robert Emmet Gardiner is pictured with his family, and Courtland Starr (1808-1865), who was married to her sister Catherine Gardiner Starr (1817-1899), and Catherine’s daughter Sarah also appear.
Many of the portraits in this album depict residents of Sag Harbor, particularly those residing along the village’s Captain’s Row who profited from the whaling boom, although the photographs make a powerful juxtaposition to the historical knowledge that the photographed children came of age in a village on the brink of whaling’s financial decline.
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Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the Long Island Collection’s head of collection.
