Albums
Country Life in Japan: Ten Photographs Colored by Hand in Japan. ca. 1900. Widener Library
Album of hand-colored photographic prints, possibly taken by Tamamura Kozaburo circa 1890. Images show people and activities associated with rice farming and cultivating silkworms in late 19th century Japan.
The Rice in Japan. 1907. Widener Library
Album of hand-colored collotypes produced from photographs by Tamamura Kozaburo, probably taken in the 1890s. Images document the cultivation of rice in Japan.

Photographs of Kyoto, Japan [by E.G. Stillman?]. 1905? Widener Library
Album of 63 black-and-white snapshots of Kyoto, Japan, showing Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, geishas, parks, gardens, the Gion Matsuri festival, theaters, shops, and street scenes.
Japanese Photographs of the Meiji Period, Volume 1. 1868-1897? Widener Library
Album of 52 hand-colored albumen prints. Mostly scenic views of Tokyo. Other locations include Koganei, Yokohama, Kamakura, Kobe, Matsushima Bay, and Awaji Island and Itsukushima (or Miyajima) in the Inland Sea. Images show Ueno Park, cherry trees, wisteria, gardens, stone lanterns, the Sumida River, rickshaws and ferries, Japanese women wearing kimonos, Kameido Tenjin and other Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, torii, and teahouses.
Japanese Photographs of the Meiji Period, Volume 2. ca. 1885-ca. 1895. Widener Library
Album of 53 hand-colored albumen prints. Studio portraits and views documenting people, daily life, and customs in Japan around the middle of the Meiji period. Images show Japanese Buddhist priests, women and children, blind persons, street vendors, various occupations, samurai, singers and actors, kimonos, shamisens and other musical instruments, teahouses and the tea trade, stores, street scenes, parks, and festivals.

Souvenir of a Garden Party at Waseda. 1898. Widener Library
Souvenir album with two black-and-white collotype portraits of Count and Countess Okuma Shigenobu and 20 hand-colored collotypes of a garden party at their home in the Waseda district of Tokyo. A Japanese statesman and prime minister, Okuma Shigenobu was an early advocate of Western science and culture in Japan and founder of Waseda University in Tokyo. Images show the house, including interior views, and garden.
Photographs Relating to Japan, 1898, Volume 1. ca. 1880-ca. 1895. Widener Library
Album of one black-and-white and 29 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period reflecting traditional Japanese culture before modernization and the influence of the West. Most photographs were taken in and around Nikko with an emphasis on the historic Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples of the area, including Futarasan Jinja, the tomb of Tokugawa Iyeyasu at Nikko Toshogu, and the tomb of Tokugawa Iemitsu in the Buddhist temple complex of Rinnoji. Landscape and other views show the 100 stone statues of Jizo at Gamman-ga-fuchi, along the Daiya River, Japanese cedar trees along the Nikko Road from Imaichi, hot springs and waterfalls at Hakone, Lake Ashi, Mount Fuji, and Nagoya Castle.
Photographs Relating to Japan, 1898, Volume 2. ca. 1890. Widener Library
Album of 29 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period reflecting traditional Japanese culture before modernization and the influence of the West. Includes mostly views of Kyoto showing Chion'in and other Buddhist temples, temple bells, gates, and cemeteries. Also included are views of Shinto shrines and torii; teahouses and Japanese gardens; Lake Biwa and the city of Otsu; Mount Fuji; and the bronze bell at the Buddhist temple complex of Todaiji, which houses the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of Nara, Japan's largest bronze Buddha statue.
Photographs Relating to Japan, 1898, Volume 3. ca. 1883-ca. 1895. Widener Library
Album of 50 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period reflecting traditional Japanese culture before modernization and the influence of the West. Subjects include Shinto shrines, torii, tombs, cherry trees, gardens, and landscapes; Buddhist temples, bells, priests, funeral processions, and sculpture, including the bronze statue of Diabatsu, the Great Buddha of Kamakura; Japanese travelers on the Tokaido, hotels, the Imperial Palace, sumo wrestlers, and festivals; street scenes showing shops, paper lanterns, rickshaws, and daily life; and Japanese women harvesting shellfish, planting rice, picking tea leaves, playing go, dressed in kimonos, and with children. Most photographs were taken in Yokohama and Tokyo; other locations include Nikko, Hakone, and Mount Fuji.
Photographs of Japan, Volume 1. ca. 1870-ca. 1890. Widener Library
Album of 50 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period taken in Tokyo, Kyoto, Yokohama, Hakone, and other locations. Includes photographs attributed to Kusakabe Kimbei, Shimooka Renjo, Uchida Kuichi, Adolfo Farsari, and Baron Raimund von Stillfried. Characteristic of Japanese tourist photography, the images reflect traditional Japanese culture during the mid- to late-19th century before changes brought about by modernization and Western influence. Subjects include: Japanese gardens, cherry trees, Buddhist temples, Nikko Toshogu and other Shinto shrines, pagodas and torii, rickshaws and palanquins, bridges and rivers, teahouses, hot springs, Mount Fuji, cities and towns, and portraits of Japanese women, priests, and laborers.
Photographs of Japan, Volume 3. ca. 1873-ca. 1888. Widener Library
Album of 27 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period. Marketed primarily to foreign tourists, the images reflect traditional Japanese culture during the mid- to late-19th century before changes brought about by modernization and Western influence. Chiefly studio portraits and genre views, the images document traditional clothing and dress; tea ceremonies and other customs; Buddhist priests, pilgrims, and temples; torii and Shinto shrines; rickshaws; occupations, including firefighters, street vendors, and craftsmen; child acrobats, women dancers, and musicians.

Photographs of Japan, Volume 4. 1880-1896. Widener Library
Album of 58 photographs compiled by E.G. Stillman, approximately half of which are hand-colored albumen prints from Japan taken during the Meiji period. Most of these are by unidentified photographers except for a few by Ogawa Kazumasa, Tamamura Kozaburo, and Adolfo Farsari. Includes studio portraits and scenes of domestic life, city and landscape views, Nagoya Castle, Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and other images from various locations around Japan. Other photographs include views of Yosemite by George Fiske, Hawaii and San Francisco by I.W. Taber, and the Canadian Rockies around Banff in Alberta by Stephen J. Thompson.

Photographs of a trip through Japan, vol. 1. 1905. Widener Library
Album of 89 black-and-white snapshots documenting a trip to Japan, probably taken by E.G. Stillman in 1905 when he was a student at Harvard. Includes images of the Gion Matsuri festival, sumo wrestling, theaters, shops, and street scenes in Kyoto; and images of Nara showing Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, the Daibutsu at Todaiji, Mount Mikasa, and Nara Park. Also included are views of various places taken while traveling by automobile throughout the Sanyo Region, including the Takahashi River, Inland Sea, and Iwakuni.

Photographs of a trip through Japan, vol. 2. 1905. Widener Library
Album of 89 black-and-white snapshots documenting a trip to Japan, probably taken by E.G. Stillman in 1905 when he was a student at Harvard. Most photographs were taken in and around Nikko and Hakone. Subjects include: Nikko Toshogu Shinto shrine, the Buddhist temples Rinnoji and Saijoji, festivals, mountains, roads, bridges, rivers, waterfalls, and rural areas. Of special note are images of traditional offerings for Tsukimi, the custom of moon viewing held on August 15 of the lunar calendar.

Photographs of a trip through Japan, vol. 3. 1905. Widener Library
Album of 95 black-and-white snapshots documenting a trip to Japan, probably taken by E.G. Stillman in 1905 when he was a student at Harvard. Mostly images of a trip by automobile around the Kyushu region, showing the automobile, roads, bridges, rivers, ferries, valleys, mountains, and scenic views along the way.
General Views of Japan I. ca. 1880-ca. 1890. Fine Arts Library
Album of 26 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period. Chiefly views of Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and gardens in and near Kyoto; also includes images of Mount Fuji and Nagoya Castle.
General Views of Japan II. ca. 1871-1891? Fine Arts Library
Album of 32 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period. Views from various locations, including Awaji Island and the Inland Sea, Hakone and Lake Ashi, Enoshima, Yokohama, Himeji, Kobe, and Osaka. Subjects include Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, castles, hot springs, beaches, and scenic landscapes.
Views of Tokyo, Japan. ca. 1873-ca. 1890. Fine Arts Library
Album of 30 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period. Views of Tokyo show Ueno and other parks, cherry trees, flowers, ponds, teahouses, the Imperial Palace, Shinto shrines and torii, Buddhist temples, the tombs of Tokugawa shoguns at Zojoji, the graves of the Forty-seven Ronin, theaters, hotels, and the red-light district of Yoshiwara.

Japan [photographs by Felice Beato]. 1867? Fine Arts Library
Album of 47 photographic prints by pioneering photograher Felice Beato. Mostly views of places visited by foreign tourists at the beginning of the Meiji period, including Yokohama, Tokyo, Nagasaki, Kamakura, and along the Tokaido (the Eastern Sea Road). City and landscape views show buildings and streets, harbors, junks, Buddhist temples and pagodas, Shinto shrines and torii, Edo castle, cemeteries, roads, bridges, rivers, and mountains.
Photographs of Japan. ca. 1870- ca. 1890. Fine Arts Library
Album of 48 hand-colored albumen prints from the Meiji period. More than half taken by Tamamura Kozaburo and some by Baron Raimund von Stillfried. Includes general city, harbor, and street views of Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Kyoto, and Nagasaki showing festivals, funeral processions, daily life, Shinto shrines, parks, and Japanese gardens; and landscape views around the Hakone resort area showing Mount Fuji, Lake Ashi, hot springs, waterfalls, hotels, and teahouses. Also included are portrait photographs of women playing musical instruments and dancing, women riding in basket palanquins and jinrikishas, women having their hair done and receiving a massage, women harvesting tea leaves and threshing rice; an old samurai, Buddhist priests, laborers, vendors, a tattooed man, sumo wrestlers, and a blind shampooer with bamboo whistle.

Tamamura Kozaburo Photograph Album. ca. 1870-ca. 1883. Fine Arts Library
Album of 50 hand-colored albumen prints attributed to the studio of Tamamura Kozaburo and mounted in an accordian-fold album. The second half of the album consists of studio portraits and genre photographs documenting clothing and dress, occupations, and daily life while portraying samurai, merchants, laborers, blind persons, and women.
Japan, Korea, Port Arthur, Manchuria. 1912. Fine Arts Library
Album with 186 photographic prints and postcards of Japan from the Meiji period. Includes mostly hand-colored albumen prints from the 1890s. Also includes black-and-white photographs documenting the 1904-1905 siege of Port Arthur in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War; postcard views of Seoul, including panoramas; and photographs showing Samoan "native" women, King Malietoa, and the graves of U.S. Navy sailors.
Suzuki Shinichi photograph album. 1880s?. Harvard-Yenching Library
Accordion-fold album with 24 photographic prints from the studio of Suzuki Shinichi. Views of Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, and other locations in Meiji era Japan show Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, torii, Japanese gardens, Ueno Park, Mount Fuji, Enoshima, the Great Buddha of Kamakura, Nagoya Castle, and the Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

Nippon fubutsu eishu. 1868-ca. 1897. Harvard-Yenching Library
Composite souvenir album of 341 mostly hand-colored albumen prints. Includes portraits and views characteristic of Meiji era Japanese tourist photography taken by various photographers, including Kusakabe Kimbei, Esaki Reiji, Tamamura Kozaburo, Adolfo Farsari, Ogawa Kazumasa, and Baron Raimund von Stillfried.
*Several albums are in the process of being conserved, cataloged, and digitized. Images will be made available when the work on the album is complete.
Banner: Oji, Tokio (maple), photographer unidentified, olvwork553612
Menu: View of Miyajima, photographer unidentified, olvwork476973