The Henry Family photographs contain 123 black-and-white photographs, ambrotypes, and daguerreotypes of the family and shipping associates of William Wyman Henry (1820-1886). The majority of photographs are portraits of the Henry and Kidder families, associates of William Wyman Henry in the shipping industry and their families, and reverends from local churches. There is one illustration of the ship “The City of London” and one illustration of the Henry family. The collection also contains unidentified photographs from William Wyman Henry’s photo album. The backs of the black-and-white portraits indicate that they were taken in studios in Boston, Portland (ME), San Francisco, New York, Savannah, Paris, London, Liverpool, and Hamburg. Black-and-white photographs were sorted into groups by the creator, and this system of organization and original folder titles have been maintained. Ambrotypes and daguerreotypes had no original order, and were organized by family. Numbers (001-123) in titles are identification numbers used to locate the items in Digital Commonwealth. This collection is organized into three series.

Series I. Henry Family Photographs contains photographs of the family of William Wyman Henry (1820-1886) as well as his coworkers in the shipping industry and local clergymen. Frequently pictured are Henry’s mother Pamelia W. Henry (1788-1885), wife Evaline Kidder (1817-1877), children William Linzee Henry (1854-1930) and Evaline Augusta Henry (1848-1910), Reverend George E. Ellis (1814-1894), shipbuilder Thatcher Magoun (1775–1856), Captain James Hunnewell (1794-1869) and several others identified as captains. An illustration of the steamship “City of London” and cabin plan is included in this series.

Series II. Kidder Family Photographs contains photographs of the family of Evaline Kidder (1817-1877), wife of William Wyman Henry (1820-1886). Subjects include poet Mary A. Kidder (1820-1905), Adrianna W. Kidder (1829-1911), and her son Hosmer W. Kidder (1853-1875), among others. Several photographs of reverends and their families were included in these folders and not removed so as to maintain the organization of the creator.

Series III. Unidentified Photographs contains undated black-and-white photographs, ambrotypes, and daguerreotypes, all of which are portraits of unknown individuals, including men, women, and children.