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Unattributed photographs from the Tyrrell Collection

Made
These photographic negatives were taken by an un-attributed photographers between the late nineteenth century and 1935 and are part of a larger collection of 7,900 negatives once owned by Sydney bookseller, James Tyrrell.

Included in this section of the collection is a wide variety of subject matter including Sydney Streets, New South Wales landscapes, World War I portraits and images of the Harbour Bridge from the early 1930s. While many of these images remain un-attributed at present it is …

Summary

Object No.

85/1286

Object Statement

Negatives, various subjects, silver gelatin / glass, published by unattributed studios, part of the Tyrrell collection, New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, 1890-1917

Physical Description

Negatives, various subjects, silver gelatin / glass, published by unattributed studios, part of the Tyrrell collection, New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, 1890-1917

Production

Made

Notes

The Tyrrell Collection of glass plate negatives includes images from Charles Kerry and Henry King's studios. Charles Kerry's studio operated from 1884-1917 and Henry King's studio operated from 1880-1923

History

Notes

These 795 un-attributed photographs are part of a larger collection of 7,900 negatives once owned by Sydney bookseller James Tyrrell. Also included in the Powerhouse Museum's Tyrrell collection are around 2900 photographs published by the famous Australian studio of Kerry & Co. (85/1284) and around 1300 glass plates by the Sydney based photographer Henry King (85/1285).

While these images remain un-attributed at present it is likely that some of them were in fact part of the Charles Kerry and Henry King collections purchased by Tyrrell around 1929. There is a series of World War I portraits which have the names of the soldiers etched onto the negative but which are not credited to any particular studio but which may have been taken by Kerry & Co. studio.

Amongst this group are photographs of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, taken after both Kerry and King had died, and acquired at a later date either by Tyrrell or somehow included in the material from Australian Consolidated Press.

James Tyrrell used the images by Kerry & Co. and Henry King to produce his own booklets and views of New South Wales but although full of iconic Australian images, the collection does not appear to have been fully utilised by Tyrrell.

In 1980 the collection was purchased by Australian Consolidated Press who published a limited series of 2000 contact prints from the collection. Housed in boxes copies of these were given to the State Library of New South Wales and the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney.

In 1985 Australian Consolidated Press donated the collection to the Powerhouse Museum. The collection at this time consisted of 7,903 glass plate negatives and 7,916 contact positive prints, and of these 493 glass plates were damaged but usable, 13 plates totally broken.

Source

Credit Line

Gift of Australian Consolidated Press under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, 1985

Acquisition Date

18 July 1985

Cite this Object

Harvard

Unattributed photographs from the Tyrrell Collection 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 30 May 2023, <https://ma.as/31795>

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/31795 |title=Unattributed photographs from the Tyrrell Collection |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=30 May 2023 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}

Incomplete

This object record is currently incomplete. Other information may exist in a non-digital form. The Museum continues to update and add new research to collection records.