Beschreibung:

19th Century photo album containing 83 images, mostly CDVs of European royalty. The album also contains approx. 19 large format images, measuring around 7.5 x 9.5 in., 4 that are prints showing paintings, 5 images of sculpture, and 8 original photographs of French landmarks including the Arc de Triomphe. Plus 10 albumen photos, 8.5 x 5.25 in., mostly scenic views showing hikers in the mountains, landscape views such as the Falls of the Rhine and Mont Blanc. The photographs and prints included in the album were gathered by Adeline Rossiter Judd, wife of The Honorable Norman Buel Judd (1815-1878). Mr. Judd, early in his law career served as attorney for the city of Chicago as well as for multiple railroad enterprises. He subsequently was elected to a number of positions, including Illinois state senator, state representative to the U. S. Congress, and chairman of the Illinois Republican state central committee that in 1860 nominated Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate for President of the United States. Judd made the nominating “speech” for Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, and was instrumental in averting a plot to assassinate Mr. Lincoln on his passage through Baltimore to his inauguration. Following Lincoln’s election, Norman Judd was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary, Kingdom of Prussia to the court of Wilhelm II, and served until 1865. (According to primary documents in the form of personal correspondence, Mr. Judd had expressed hope of becoming Secretary of State or Secretary of the Treasury in the Lincoln cabinet. But apparently Mary Todd Lincoln “detested” Judd and made sure he was “sent to the hinterlands” of Europe instead of retained in Washington, DC.) During their five year tour of duty, Mr. and Mrs. Judd with their young daughter, Mary Mitchell Judd, traveled to various European capitals where they were entertained at ambassadorial dinners. As was the custom, each dinner guest received a “favor,” often a photo print of the host or guest of honor. Mrs. Judd’s collection of these photographic images, along with prints of various European “tourist sites,” was preserved in a large, leather-bound album with brass closures. Also enclosed was a handwritten list of names of foreign dignitaries, presumably provided by Adeline Judd as an inventory of guests they met. Following Norman Judd’s tenure as a cabinet minister in Prussia, he and Mrs. Judd returned to Chicago where he once again engaged in law practice and was elected for two consecutive terms as a U. S. Congressman from Illinois. Their daughter, Mary Mitchell Judd was married to Seabury Smith Gould, Jr. of Seneca Falls, New York. They subsequently had three sons, one of whom was Barbara Judd Gould’s grandfather, Seabury Smith Gould III. Barbara along with her husband, James Pelowski, discovered the album in the attic of her deceased grandparents, Seabury Smith Gould III and Ana Fulton Gould. Having learned about Judd/Gould family history from her parents who died prematurely, Barbara was especially intrigued by the stories reflected in the album’s contents. And as the eldest surviving family member, Barbara with Jim became the self-proclaimed steward of the album. Together they have perpetuated the legacy of Norman Buel Judd, Adeline Rossiter Judd and their daughter, Mary Mitchell Judd; e.g. by supporting their daughter Elizabeth’s research efforts when she chose the Judd story as the topic for her eighth grade family history project many years ago. The three Judd family portraits painted by George Peter Alexander Healy currently hang in the Pelowski living room. Condition: Very good.