Blakeslee Lane, Incorporated Photographs
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Scope and Contents
This collection contains 181 still images created by Blakeslee-Lane, Inc. between 1930 and 1966. Collection includes photographs and five glass-plate negatives showing Baltimore City, Maryland buildings, monuments, landmarks, street scenes, and panoramas. The collection also includes 180 digitized copies of images in the collection. Some images of note include aerial photographs of the city, city skyline photographs, images of Druid Hill Park, row houses, churches and places of worship, Memorial Stadium, the Washington Monument, images of the harbor, and others.
Dates
- Creation: 1930-1966
Creator
- Blakeslee Lane, Inc. (Organization)
- Lane, Horace P. (Person)
- Blakeslee, George W. (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials are mainly visual.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Gloves are recommended when handling photographic material. Selected items have been digitized and are available online in a digital exhibit.
Historical
Blakeslee-Lane, Inc., a well-known photography agency in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded during the Great Depression in 1931 by two newspaper photographers, George Walton Blakeslee, Sr. (b. 1911 - d. 1999) and Horace P. Lane. Blakeslee and Lane opened a studio at 106 East Pleasant Street in 1931, selling photographs at a flat rate to their former employer, the Baltimore News.
In addition to illustrating news stories, the studio supplied photographs for advertising copy and soon gained the trade of the city’s major department stores: Hecht’s, Hutzler's, Stewart's and Hochschild-Kohn. As a result of their success, they moved to 343 St. Paul Street and took on a third partner, Theodore C. Andersen. After World War II, the studio became a Midtown fixture at 916 North Charles Street. The studio was known for their commercial photography of Baltimore businesses and their large-scale mural versions of regional photography which decorated restaurants, banks, and other businesses.
George Walton Blakeslee sold the business in 1980. Today the advertising agency is known as 'Blakeslee' and is still located at 916 North Carles Street.
Extent
1.67 Linear Feet (4 containers) : Photographic prints and negatives (including five glass plates)
Arrangement
Materials are arranged in an inventory. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by title in Boxes 1-3. Five glass plate negatives are housed in Box 4.
Custodial History
The collection was donated to the University of Baltimore in 1980.
Accessing Digital Copies
Digital versions of items in this collection are available online. Locate records by using the "Print" button above, or browse records in “Collection Organization." Records with associated digital objects are identified with a Red Digital Object icon. A digital exhibit is also available online.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Finding aid for the Blakeslee Lane, Incorporated Photographs
- Author
- Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives staff. Revised by Aiden Faust (2011). Revised by Laura Bell (April 2020). Revised by Fatemeh Rezaei and Laura Bell (March 2021).
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Baltimore Studies Archives Repository
H. Mebane Turner Learning Commons, Room 104
1415 Maryland Avenue
Baltimore Maryland 21201 USA
410-837-4253
specialcollections@ubalt.edu