Hunt, Rachel McMasters Miller,1882–1963

Persons, Collections and Topics

HI Archives collection no. 405
The glass lantern slide collection and accompanying lecture by Mrs. Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt
3 linear feet (2 boxes)

Biographical Note

Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt (1882–1963) was a bookbinder and an avid book collector, who had a special interest in botanical materials sparked by a childhood gift of How to Know the Wild Flowers (1895) by Frances Theodora Smith Dana Parsons (1861–1952). In 1936 Rachel Hunt built a library in her home, Elmhurst, in Pittsburgh's East End, to store her ever-growing collection of botanical literature. This collection grew in size and academic recognition until the dedication of the Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library in 1961, which would continue to expand in size and scope over time into the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation of today.

Rachel Hunt was not only an expert in bookbinding and a noted collector but also a frequent lecturer at institutions, local and national, notably being the first woman to lecture at the Grolier Club, a then male-only bibliophile's club. She was also a member of multiple botanical clubs, especially the Garden Club of Allegheny County, where she most likely presented the materials found in this very collection. It is possible that she had these slides commissioned in response to a January 1920 Bulletin of the Garden Club of America, which called for local clubs to produce photographic slides of local member's gardens to contribute to a larger, Garden Club-wide collection (Sloan 1920).

The majority of the slides collected here are labeled "Edward Van Altena," the name of a late-1800s photographer and slide colorist. He, alongside John Scott, ran a firm in New York City that primarily produced colored lantern slides. They were renowned for their hand-painting technique that utilized, in Altena's own words, "'dyes, the same as are used in fabrics,'" as "'these colors are very bright, transparent, and are easily applied to black and white negatives...'" (Phelps 1979). He worked frequently with the Garden Club, both in photography and in slide coloring. His slide coloring services were recommended in the aforementioned bulletin (Phelps 1979).

Scope and Contents Note

This collection consists of 168 hand-colored glass lantern slides, numbered 001-171 (slides 42, 50 and 116 are not included in this collection). Also included in this collection is the typed copy of the lecture written by Rachel Hunt describing the slides' contents. The slides depict gardens and are labelled with owners and often locations.

Finding Aid

A finding aid for this collection is available online.

Other Resources

For more information, see the History section of our Web site.

Sources

Phelps, H. J. 1979. Edward Van Altena and His Glass Slides. In: H. J. Phelps. 1979. Newport in Flower: A History of Newport's Horticultural Heritage. Newport, R.I.: The Preservation Society of Newport County. Pp. 22–24.

Sloan, K. C. 1920. Slides Committee. Bull. Gard. Club Amer., n.s. (II): 42–43. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50353566#page/204/mode/1up.

<p>Slide 054—Mrs. Roy A. Hunt, featuring Rachel's garden at Elmhurst with her lecture text: The floor of the garden is almost two feet lower than the perennial border around the walls, and has a pool, copied from one of the Italian villa pools. The planting in the four beds is kept quite low. The color scheme is usually blue, lavender and soft pink. This slide shows the view from the little arbor toward the entrance gate.</p>

Slide 054—Mrs. Roy A. Hunt, featuring Rachel's garden at Elmhurst with her lecture text: The floor of the garden is almost two feet lower than the perennial border around the walls, and has a pool, copied from one of the Italian villa pools. The planting in the four beds is kept quite low. The color scheme is usually blue, lavender and soft pink. This slide shows the view from the little arbor toward the entrance gate.