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[djold1]

A new Fort Worth Gazette blog on C.L. Swartz

[John S.]

Excellent post, Pete. This is very similar to a 1901 edition I ran across at the FW Public Library over 20 years ago. The downtown photos are different, however. I'm surprised that no Stockyards-Armor & Swift plant photos were included but then the then new development was within North Fort Worth-Niles City at the time rather than in FW proper. Did this 1903 edition include a "Residences" section? In the 1901 edition, residences collage, is the "H.B. Garvey" (typo-should be W.B. or William B. Garvey) house at 769 Samuels Avenue. I noted in the 1903 edition photo that Monnig Drygoods is captioned: "Drygods". Although these souvenir type booklets were printed by the Albertype company in Brooklyn, NY (which did a brisk business at the time with many other cities included in their offerings which occasionally appear on online sites) they were still a low volume printing intended for local sale and distribution. The Views photo "proofs" might have been created in the Swartz studio and then sent to the Albertype company for printing. Alternately, the Albertype company might have had a traveling drummer (salesman) who would visit local photographers and sell these kinds of souvenir booklets. I would think you'd find such souvenirs in places where local postcards were sold such as in hotel lobbies and train stations. The FW Public Library 1901 Views example is the only copy I'm aware of. It seems Charles Swartz and his brothers created a number of these types of booklets before WWI each featuring a different collection of photos. The UNT Portal to Texas History collection online has at least one more booklet of Views from around 1907-1908 as I recall. Wish the Fort Worth Bohemian magazine were available online-in 1903, as I recall, it featured an in-depth article about the Swartz Bros. and their bicycling about town with a heavy tripod and camera on board. I'm sure their unparalleled collection of late 19th and early 20th century photos has been lost. I read in the Arcadia Publishing photo history book about Weatherford, Texas, that the earliest known photo of the downtown square (believed to be from 1868) in Weatherford was found at the local dump ground in 1926. Those old glass plate negatives were frequently broken or, as in the Weatherford example, taken to the dump grounds. Many an elderly widow of vintage photographers tossed out priceless early collections because they were thought to be worthless. That helps explain why events and people from more than a century ago require careful research to discover the facts. Legends and myths do not seem to take as long to take hold in the public's mind. Compare Fort Worth today with how it appeared as in 1903 to see how drastically our surroundings have changed. Only the land, the river, and the place names remain the same.

[djold1]

Thanks John..  I only put up three of many pages because I wanted to take the space to comment on each page.  There are pages for residences, the stockyards, more buildings, churches, etc. As the spirit moves and time becomes available i may put up some more. Obviously some of the images in each montage have become familiar through their use in postcards of the period. Others are seldom seen anywhere.

 

My guess is that Swartz was solicited to participate and selected a number of his images in various categories and styles and sent them up to the Albertype people for design and production. As you said, each album from a city was for mainly local consumption,. so probably the total numbers of each one saw a very low press run.  On the other hand, the profit per piece for both the publisher and Swartz was probably very good.

 

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get the blog together and do a little research on each picture..