A PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF THE WOLFERSBERGER AND BLACKMER FAMILIES, OF DENVER AND STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO. EIGHT FAMILY PHOTO ALBUMS, OVER 1000 PHOTOS OF THEIR LIVES, BEGINNING WITH THEIR SETTLEMENT IN ILLINOIS IN THE 1860s, AND THEIR MIGRATION WEST IN THE 1880s, AND FOLLOWING SEVERAL GENERATIONS TO THE 1930s

A collection of eight photo albums, bound in several different styles, and including both professional [approx. 120] and candid [over 900] photos of Wolfersberger family members, family activities and vacations. Most are very good, clear (a few faded), and many are captioned, likely by Eda Wolfersberger Blackmer. The albums include: 1) Blind embossed photo album, 6 x 5 in., all edges gilt, with 22 portrait photos and an occasional tintype, most 3 1/2 x 2 in., inserted into cut-out gilt framed pages of stiff card stock. Several bear the imprint of various professional photo studios on the versos. No dates, but there are images of a Civil War soldier, Naval Academy cadets, and young women in long dresses. 2) Textured brown leather photo album, 12 x 9 in., all edges gilt, metal clasp at right margin, gilt stamped name of W.H. Wolfersberger on front cover, with 97 photos, and tintypes, from 7 x 3 1/4 in., to 5 1/4 x 3 1/2 in., to 3 1/4 x 2 in., inserted into cut-out gilt framed pages of stiff card stock. Small paper labels, likely penned by Eda Wolfersberger, are inserted into the frames of a few images identify some of the subjects: a tintype of four young men has an accompanying note, "father in back on the right;" another notes "father's cousin John Wolfersberger, father came West to join him in working for Wells Fargo;" another photo of a man is labeled "father's brother Charles" and there is a newspaper obituary laid in. There are several portrait photos of [Naval Academy?] cadets in uniform. 3) Oblong black fabrikoid photo albums, 7 x 11 1/2 in., bound with black button brads at left margin; white ink note on front cover: "2338 Gilpin / City Park / Mesa Verde / etc. / about 1900 and earlier." Approximately 104 cyanotypes and photos laid down on stiff card sheets, one to three to a page, most 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 in., or so, with a few larger, many with ink captions on the pages. A few photos faded. Many images are of family life in Denver, and trips to Balanced Rock, Garden of the Gods, City Park Lake, Perry Park Hotel, Palmer Lake, Castlewood Dam, Old Denver Fish Hatchery, and many others. Three photos show a parade for servicemen returning from the Spanish American War. There are 9 photos of a family excursion to Mesa Verde and a few of the Wetherill Ranch, ca. 1900. One photo of a lake scene, mountains in the background, 4 x 6 1/2 in., is laid in and identified on the verso with the photographer's printed label," W.H. Jackson & Co., Photographers of Rocky Mountain Scenery, Denver, Colorado." 4) Oblong stiff paper photo album, 7 x 10 1/2 in., bound with cord at left margin. Front cover detached. Some 97 cyanotypes and photos laid down on black paper sheets, one or two to a page, from 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. to 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in., many with white ink captions. There are family photos showing Philip Wolfersberger's home in Princeton, Illinois; photos of William H. Wolfersberger's home on Gilpin Street in Denver, including interior views; Warren Wolfersberger (son of Charles) who was killed in World War I; Eda in her high school graduation dress in 1905, with a newspaper picture noting she was one of the "pretty members of the Freshman Class at Boulder University;" group photos of young people with their bicycles; a cyanotype of women identified as the Deutsche Daman Club [one labeled "mother"]; Lake Wellington; Bear Creek; Old Evergreen Dam; one photo of a cheese factory at Littleton; two photos of the Cheesman Dam [under construction, and completed]; the Old Leadville toll road; etc. Tipped onto one page is an envelope addressed to Mrs. W.H. Wolfersberger, containing a 4 pp., approx. 800 word letter from her husband Will, on letterhead of the Colorado Division of the League of American Wheelmen, dated July 11, 1898, regarding a bicycle ride he had just completed up Elk Creek Canon. 5) Oblong brown fabrikoid photo album, 7 x 11 in., bound with cord at left margin. White ink note on front cover: "1908-1913." With 170 cyanotypes and photos.