VanDyke Photograph Album

The James Blackstone Memorial Library has in its collection a photograph album by the VanDyke Studio of Stony Creek. The album consists of 257 photographs and postcards with descriptions from various parts of town and a few from North Branford. The VanDyke Studio is never listed in the Branford Town Directories. It appears that the photographs were numbered and placed in the album in the late 1970s. By 2006, the album had deteriorated and the photographs are brittle, breaking easily. At this time, the photographs have been scanned to preserve the images, decreasing the wear on the album, and making viewing and reproductions easier.

The photographs were taken by H. Rossiter Snyder for the VanDyke Studios. He was a retired Lieutenant Commander of the United States Navy. He took the photographs between July 1st and December 31st in 1921 and by 1922 was living in Boston. Many of the photos were used for postcard images and sold to the public. Where known, the owners in 1921 are included in the description.

In 2007 the Bloss family of Short Beach donated the negatives taken by Snyder that were in the possession of the Arthur Seaburg estate.

Jane Peterson Bouley