Pinkney's well, north of W. 139th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, New York City, April 21, 1898.

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Title
Pinkney's well, north of W. 139th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, New York City, April 21, 1898
Identifier
nyhs_PR062_b-02_f-07_007_H-14
Creator
Smith, James Reuel, 1852-1935
Subject-Topic
Springs--New York (State)--New York--Photographs
Water, Underground--New York (State)--New York--Photographs
Wells--New York (State)--New York--Photographs
Harlem (New York, N.Y.)--Photographs
Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)--Photographs
New York (N.Y.)--Photographs
Date Created
1898
Note
James Reuel Smith was born in 1852 in Skaneateles, New York. After the early death of his mother, his father having remarried, Smith went to live in the household of a cousin. In 1882 Smith married Elizabeth Thompson; they had no children. Family money enabled Smith to actively pursue his hobby of photographing and investigating springs and wells. This interest led him to travel around Europe, looking for springs and wells mentioned in literature. In 1922, he published Springs and Wells in Greek and Roman Literature, Their Legends and Locations. Smith's interest was also local: He spent much of the years 1897 to 1901 bicycling around northern Manhattan and the Bronx looking for and photographing springs and wells. Smith's enthusiasm for springs and wells was well-matched with his photographic eye and his meticulous note-taking on the locations and conditions of the springs and wells he saw. James Reuel Smith died in 1935.
Language
eng
Type
still image
Genre
Photographic prints
Extent
5 in. x 7 in.
Digital Format
image/jpeg
Digital Origin
digitized other analog
Rights (Use and Reproduction)
This digital image may be used for educational or scholarly purposes without restriction. Commercial and other uses of the item are prohibited without prior written permission from the New-York Historical Society. For more information, please visit the New-York Historical Society's Rights and Reproductions Department web page at http://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Owning Institution
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, 212-873-3400
Collection
James Reuel Smith Springs and Wells Photograph Collection, 1893-1902
Collection Description
The James Reuel Smith Springs and Wells Photograph Collection comprises 17 boxes (seven of glass and acetate negatives) of visual and written material pertaining to Smith's book Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, at the End of the Nineteenth Century, published by the New-York Historical Society in 1938