Cache of Historic Photos Shows Black Life in Turn-Of-The-Century Rye
The lives, labors, worship and tourism of Black Americans on the New Hampshire Seacoast are strikingly illustrated in a trove of photos recently acquired by Historic New England. The 375 photos date from the turn of the 20th century during the golden age of grand hotels.
According to Lorna Condon, senior curator of library and archives at Historic New England, the acquisition of these photos aligns with a new approach Historic New England is taking in building its collections. A new formal collecting plan released in 2023 acknowledges that “a key limitation of the collections is that they reflect the collecting history of mostly elite, white, Protestant residents of New England, and those primarily residing in Massachusetts.”
As Historic New England looks to expand the diversity represented in its collections, it also seeks to “create more opportunities for community collaboration, and to empower more people to tell their own stories.”
Condon hopes the publication of a sampling of these photos in 603 Diversity may lead to more information about the people pictured and the lives they led.
“Photos like this are going to allow us to look back and tell the stories that we haven’t told in the past,” she says.
The photos were taken by Clarence Trefry (1870-1958), who lived in Rye for several decades. Many of the photos are annotated in Trefry’s handwriting.
According to the description of the lot provided by James E. Arsenault & Company, from whom Historic New England acquired the collection, “Although there are records of a small number of enslaved people of color in Rye during the 1700s and early 1800s, and there has been an established Black community in Portsmouth dating from the same period, it is unclear whether there was a permanent Black community in Rye when Trefry was active there in the late 1800s and early 1900s.”
In addition to the African Americans shown here, the collection also includes images of Native Americans, likely Penobscot people, other residents of the region, and Spanish prisoners of war as well as landscape and architectural photos.
The collection is currently being cataloged and digitized. Readers will be able to see it on Historic New England’s website (www.historicnewengland.org) in the spring of 2025.
If readers have any information about the images, they can send an email to archives@historicnewengland.org.
This article is featured in the winter 2024 issue of 603 Diversity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.
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