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Guide to the Joseph Burt, Sr. Photographs 1768-1977 (Bulk 1905-1969) Control # B-21

Long Island Division
Queens Borough Public Library
89-11 Merrick Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11432

Phone: (718) 990-0770

© February 7, 2006
Long Island Division. All rights reserved.

Queens Borough Public Library, Publisher

Machine-readable finding aid derived from a Microsoft Word document dated: August 1, 2000. Machine-readable finding aid created by John Hyslop.
Description is in English.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Joseph Burt, Sr. Photographs, 1768-1977, (Bulk 1905-1969)
Control number: Control # B-21
Quantity: 23 boxes, 13 cubic feet
Repository: Queens Borough Public Library
Creator: Burt Sr., Joseph
Location: The material is located in the Long Island Division. The regular sized box number designates the regular sized box location. The location for oversized boxes is listed in the Manuscripts Shelf Location Register. Boxes containing photographic prints and negatives are listed in the Image Collections Location Register.

Provenance
The majority of the photographs were donated to the library by Joseph Burt, Jr. and a minority were purchased from Ron Ziel

Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions. Manuscripts are only available in the Long Island Division Monday through Friday 10am through 5pm. Manuscript users will be required to complete the division's Manuscript Usage Form and show their photograph identification or Queens Borough Public Library card. The identification will be returned to the user after she/he has returned the material. Manuscript users will deposit all their personal items behind the reference desk. Manuscript users must use the division's loose sheets of paper for note taking. To reiterate, no pen of any type is permitted. Paper and a pencil are available upon request. Manuscript users may be required to use special handling procedures depending on the conditions of the material.

Use Restrictions
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the: Long Island Division Queens Borough Public Library 89-11 Merrick Boulevard Jamaica, NY 11432 Phone: (718) 990-0770

Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form: Creator of item, date of item (if known), identification of item, if a photograph its control number. The Joseph Burt, Sr. Photographic Collection, Long Island Division, Queens Borough Public Library

Historical/Biographical Note

Joseph Burt, Sr., a prolific commercial photographer, who also pursued photography as an avid hobbyist, expertly and beautifully captured the people, buildings, machines, land, villages, towns and coastline in and around Long Island. His photographs document this constantly transforming landscape from a bucolic county of heterogeneous, small towns each with its own unique character to one of the largest, fastest growing, homogeneous, residential, commercial, and industrial suburbs in the United States.

Born in 1886, in Nassau County, New York, Burt, Sr. spent most of his life in Mineola, NY. In the first decade of the twentieth century Burt, Sr. began taking photographs as a hobby, in his hometown Mineola, of family, friends, and trips around Long Island.

Around 1918, Burt, Sr. went into business as a commercial photographer. In the ensuing years Burt's clientele was varied, including the Long Island Rail Road, insurance companies, local and county governments, businesses, hospitals, organizations, real estate developers, individuals, and more. He was hired to photograph his clients' products, buildings, employees, and members. A few of his important clients were GLF Fertilizer, the Long Island Power Authority, a number of insurance companies involved with the Long Island Rail Road incidents, the Long Island Rail Road, the Nassau County Farm Bureau, and the Latham Family.

Throughout Burt's life he pursued his hobby of photography, capturing some of the most historic events in the area including most of the early aviation events occurring on the Island; the Hudson-Fulton Celebration; some of the shipwrecks on the South Shore; and politicians' visits to Long Island.

Joseph Burt, Sr. passed away in 1971.

Scope and Content Note

Joseph Burt, Sr. Photographic Collection contains photographs that document Long Island's constantly transforming landscape from bucolic counties of heterogeneous, small towns each with its own unique character to one of the largest, fastest growing, homogeneous, residential, commercial, and industrial suburbs in the United States.

The Box, Wood, (1 box, 1920s) is a 9½ inch x 5¼ x 11 inch wood box, Joseph Burt, Sr. used to house his photographs. On one side is written “Jos. Burt Mineola…Glass;” another side has three cards tacked onto it describing the boxes’ contents; another side has a very dirty label; and another side has writing that is eligible.

The Correspondence Received Series (1 folder, 1931, 1960) contains two letters Burt, Sr. received from clients requesting photographs, including the aviator George Boyd.

The Genealogical Material Series (1 folder, 1768-1969) contains a family tree of the Burt family from 1768-1969).

The Photographs Research Materials Series (2 folders, 1905-1970s), contains material Burt, Sr. collected from events he photographed (i.e. 21st Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America Roslyn Blue Troop #1, 1911, program and the Carle Place School Track and Field Meet, 1923, program), his old photograph sleeves, and newspaper articles and written notes collected by researchers of the collection.

The photographs contain a wealth of information documenting the development of almost every village and town in central and northern Nassau County, 1905-1960. The collection also contains some images from southern Nassau, Queens, and Suffolk Counties, 1905-1960. A significant portion of the collection contains images Burt, Sr. created as a hired photographer when he began his business in 1912. A smaller portion of the collection is of photographs he took for his own enjoyment.

For the most part the photographs were taken by Joseph Burt, Sr. as a hired photographer. They document buildings, people, businesses and events all over Long Island, 1918-1960. For example, the collection contains images of downtown Roslyn 1930s and 1940s, houses in Hempstead 1930s and 1940s, commercial districts, school graduation classes, school sports teams, and school special events. Also included in the collection are photographs of different estates from around Nassau and Suffolk Counties from the 1920s and 30s, the Glenwood Landing power plant, 1930s, and the employees and volunteers of the Nassau County Chapter of the American Red Cross, 1917-1935.

Another significant part of the collection documents Nassau and Suffolk’s vibrant agricultural industry with images of farms, workers, products, and the Nassau and Suffolk County Farm Bureaus. In one group of photographs, Burt, Sr. was hired by the Nassau County Farm Bureau to document their tour of Nassau and Suffolk County farms along the Sunrise Highway, in 1923. Another group of photographs, 1930s and 40s, he was hired by a fertilizer company to document their product's utility in growing potatoes. He photographed various Long Island potato farms, including Froelich’s farm in Woodbury and its owner, workers, fields, and potatoes, 1936-1944.

He took photographs of significant events such as the corner stone laying for different buildings, including Adelphi College, 1928, parades, park dedications, groundbreakings, horse races, and golf tournaments. A number of photographs in the collection are of the beached steamship Nicholas Cueno, 1913.

He took photographs of local, national, and international politicians. Included are images of Theodore Roosevelt standing with Boy Scout Troop 1 from Lawrence, LI, 1917, at the cornerstone laying of Doubleday, Page, and Company’s offices, 1910, and walking down the steps of the Nassau County Courthouse coming from jury duty, 1912. He took photographs of two of Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt's trips to Long Island, a 1931 visit to the New York State Agricultural and Technical Institute in Farmingdale, and a 1932 campaign stop at the Mineola Fairgrounds. A small but interesting group of photographs are of Japanese Naval Officers standing on the steps of the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola, 1935.

The most heavily documented village in the collection is Mineola. The collection has hundreds of photographs of houses, commercial buildings, churches, people, government buildings, and streets. The largest group of photographs from Mineola are of the Mineola State Fair and Fairgrounds, 1900s-1940s. The photographs document the Fair's buildings, grandstands, the racetrack, races, fair animals, and fair attendees. He took a number of photographs of the Nassau County Courthouse and the old Queens County Courthouse. He took a number of photographs of the Nassau County Hospital and its nurses documenting their graduation from nursing school and some of their activities. The collection has many images of downtown Mineola including Krug's Corner, 1928, a number of banks, and businesses. He also took photographs of Graves Garage, 1913, on Searing Avenue before it was destroyed.

The collection contains a number of photographs Burt, Sr. took as a Long Island Rail Road photographer, of its track, engines, cars, stations, and grade crossings, 1920s-1950s.

One of the most significant groups of photographs in the collection is Burt, Sr.'s images of early aviation on Long Island from the 1900s to the 1940s. The collection has photographs of Glenn Curtiss' airplanes, 1909-1930s, including the June Bug, Golden Flyer, many photographs of the JN-4 "Jenny," and others. The collection contains a series of images of the British Army’s dirigible R34, at Roosevelt Field after its transatlantic crossing, 1919. The collection contains images of Comdr. Richard E. Byrd’s two planes, the Fokker Tri-Motor, America, 1927, at Roosevelt Field before he flew to Paris, France, and his Fairchild FC-2W2, Stars and Stripes, 1928. The collection has images of the Fokker monoplane Old Glory, 1927, before its unsuccessful crossing of the Atlantic. Also included are photographs of the Geary Circular Triplane, Howard Huntington’s experimental planes, different images of Bleriot type monoplanes, images of Moissant’s monoplanes, and images of the filming of the silent film Pearl of the Army with Pearl White. In addition to the ones mentioned above, the collection has a number of images of airplanes, hangars, and people on the Hempstead Plains airfields.

Arrangment
The series are are arranged in alphabetical order. The Photographs Series contains three sub series: Village or County (1905-1960) and is organized in alphabetical order by the town or county the image documents and then in chronological order, Aviation, (1905-1940s), in chronological order, and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), (1910s-1940s), in chronological order. This arrangement was created because of the large amount of aviation and LIRR photographs. Each different image has been assigned a control number, JB 1 - JB 3,052, and any additions will be given the next control number in the sequence. All the images are available through the Long Island Division's image database.

Access Points

Subject Names:
Burt Sr. Joseph, 1886-1971.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Curtiss, Glenn Hammond, 1878-1930.

Subject Organizations:
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation.
Long Island Railroad Company.

Subject Topics:
Aeronautics, Military -- United States.
Airplanes
Railroads
Agriculture

Subject Places:
Long Island (N.Y.)
Nassau County (N.Y.)
Queens County (N.Y.)
Mineola (N.Y.)

Document Types:
Photographs

Inventory

[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]

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