William James Stillman collection

Letters, Papers & Postcards

The collection is comprised of a wide range of materials reflecting Stillman’s long and prolific career in journalism, as well as his intimate ties to literary, artistic and political circles of the nineteenth century. In addition to close to six hundred letters and documents between Stillman and family, friends, colleagues and associates, there are several unpublished manuscripts by Stillman: essays, articles, stories and poetry. Several large photograph albums contain Stillman’s photos of Greece, Italy, the Adirondacks, the countryside of Cambridge and the Charles River in Boston; and a smaller album contains Julia Mitchell Cameron’s costume photos of Stillman’s second wife Marie Spartali. Other loose manuscripts are Stillman’s own manual on the science of photography, personal photographs of Stillman, his first wife and his country home in Surrey, reminiscences of Stillman in old age by his granddaughter, and a woodblock drawing of Stillman by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.