Biographical/Historical Sketch
Album Image List: On Board the United States Steamship “Olympia” Naples, August 1899
Processed by
Pamela Tranfield
March 1998
Revised by Dorothy Nicholson
5 March 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
1 box of photographs, 2 photograph albums, 1 box of manuscript materials, 3 trays of 120 black-and-white nitrate negatives |
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COLLECTION |
1897–1998 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Marion G. Harcourt, 8426 Viburnum Court, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46260 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
Negatives may be viewed by appointment only. |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
None |
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RELATED |
None |
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ACCESSION |
1996.0456, 1999.0119 |
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NOTES: |
Harry Goldthwaite (22 September 1874-27 April 1942) served as a shipwright on the USS Olympia during the Spanish-American War. Born at Converse, Indiana, and raised in Marion, Indiana, he was the son of Orlando and Georgiana (Street) Goldthwaite. He married Kitty Boroff (24 June 1886-24 April 1960) on 14 May 1901. Harry Goldthwaite was president of Motor Securities of Marion, and served as auditor of Grant County for four years. He was a member of the Fred D. Ballou Camp no. 32, United Spanish War Veterans.
John Louis Goldthwaite (17 March 1896-2 December 1991) served with the Army Signal Corps during World War I. Goldthwaite was the son of Edgar L. and Candace (Zombro) Goldthwaite of Marion, Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University in 1921 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering. He married Helen Whitehead and the union produced two children: Marion and Alice. Goldthwaite was an engineer at the Allison Engine Company from 1927 to 1964.
Charles G. Barley (born 5 April 1874) began manufacturing trucks in Marion, Indiana, ca. 1898. He formed a partnership that year with George C. Harwood and established the Harwood and Barley Manufacturing Company. The company made brass and iron beds, bedsprings, and trucks. Barley married May Harwood on 16 October 1902. He established the Indiana Truck Corporation ca. 1915.
Photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) was born in Grafton, West Virginia, to Anderson Donophon and Antoinette (Benjamin) Johnston. She attended the Julien Art Academy, Paris, from 1883 to 1885. She opened a studio in Washington, D.C., ca. 1890. Her family’s social position gave her access to the families of Presidents Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. Johnston also documented the activities of ordinary people, from coal miners and factory workers to students at the Tuskegee and Hampton institutes.
Johnston photographed the officers and crew of the USS Olympia in August 1899. The ship was docked at Naples, Italy, when Johnston came aboard as a correspondent for the Bain News Service. In 1913 Johnston turned to photographing architecture extensively and in 1933 began a seven-year pictorial survey of southern architecture. She retired to New Orleans in 1940.
Launched 5 November 1892, the USS Olympia was one of the United States Navy’s first steel warships. Under the command of Admiral George Dewey, she was the flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay, a major battle in the Spanish-American War fought 1 May 1898. The ship was decommissioned at Philadelphia in 1922, and transferred to the non-profit Cruiser Olympia Association in 1957. She is now on display at the Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia.
The “Indiana Truck Corporation Good Roads Booster” journey began in May 1919 in Marion, Indiana. The purpose of this trip was to draw attention to the need for better roads across the United States. Charles G. Barley, president of the Indiana Truck Corporation, May (Harwood) Barley, Harry and Kitty Goldthwaite, and driver Al Spranger journeyed in the “Helomido,” a camper truck made by the Indiana Truck Corporation.
Deemed an “auto parlor,” the Helomido contained sleeping accommodations for four adults, a built-in ice chest, a stove, and a 9 x 15-foot silk canopy. During the cross-county trek the truck moved at an average of fourteen miles-per-hour on a two-ton chassis with a 186-inch wheelbase. The vehicle was named after the four daughters of J. W. Stephenson, a stockholder in the Indiana Truck Corporation. The first two letters of their names were combined to create the word “Helomido.”
Sources:
Items in the collection.
“Harry Goldthwaite [sic] Dies at Marion. Served with Dewey in Spanish War,” Indianapolis Star, 4 April 1942.
Hepburn, William Murray, and Louis Martin Sears. Purdue University, Fifty Years of Progress. Indianapolis: Hollenbeck Press, 1925.
Indiana Booster 1, no. 8 (June 1916): 1.
Johnson, Carol (Assistant Curator of Photography, The Library of Congress, Washington D. C.), letter to Pamela Tranfield 24 March 1998 [accession file].
Marion G. Harcourt, interview with Pamela Tranfield, 6 November 1998.
“Must Enlarge Tires on Huge Barley Truck,” Marion Chronicle, 1 July 1919, p. 3, col. 7.
O’Toole, Patricia. “Frances Benjamin Johnston.” Civilization 3, no. 3 (May-June 1996): 62-73.
Rider, Harry A, ed. Indiana Book of Merit: Official Individual Decorations and Commendations Awarded to Indiana Men and Women for Services in the World War. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1932.
Who Was Who in America, 1897-1942. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who Inc., 1943.
Who Was Who in America, 1961-1968. Chicago: Marquis Who’s Who Inc., 1969.
Whitson, Rolland Lewis. Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana, 1812-1912. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1914.
The collection contains photographs, manuscript material, and ephemera made and accumulated by the Goldthwaite family of Marion, Indiana. The materials are related to the military careers and personal activities of Harry Goldthwaite and his cousin John Louis Goldthwaite. There are two albums of photographs with ephemera, clippings, and manuscript material.
Series 1: Contains materials related to Harry Goldthwaite. The majority of material is contained in an album with the title, On Board the United States Steamship “Olympia,” Naples, August 1899, stamped on the spine. This title is inverted in relation to the contents of the album. The first half of this album includes sixty-three photographs (platinum prints) of officers, crew members, and ephemera while he was aboard the USS Olympia between 1897 and 1899.
Most of these photographs are identified by hand-written captions, printed in white ink with a steady, legible hand. An image list in this collection guide notes the captions of the photographs in the album. The processor supplied captions for unidentified photographs in square [ ] brackets.
While the ship was docked at Naples, Italy, in August 1899, Frances Benjamin Johnston photographed the crew on board ship. Johnston’s photographs show the crew relaxing or performing various duties. One photograph shows Johnston joining members of the crew in a meal in the ship’s mess. Edgar L. Goldthwaite (1850-1918), editor and publisher of the Marion Chronicle newspaper, may have made this album for his nephew Harry Goldthwaite. It is not known how the Goldthwaite family obtained photographs made by Frances Benjamin Johnston. The Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection is owned by The Library of Congress in Washington, D. C., and includes the silver-gelatin prints, and original negatives that produced the photographs in the Goldthwaite album.
Photographs that were loose in the album include nine cabinet cards made in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The subjects are sailors and marines on the USS Olympia. The men are identified in ink on the back of each item.
Manuscript material from the album consists of a letter to Harry Goldthwaite from the Treasury Department, Office of the Auditor for the Navy, regarding payment of $71.63 for “destruction of an enemy’s vessel.” The letter is dated 17 March 1902. The ephemera enclosed in the album concerns social activities aboard the USS Olympia, and tributes paid to the officers and sailors on their return to the United States. A program titled “Minstrel Performance on Board the USS Flagship Olympia” is affixed to a page close to the end of the album, apart from the body of USS Olympia material. Other ephemera in the album includes; four poems written by sailors as a tribute to Admiral George Dewey, business cards (in English) from Hong Kong photographers, and newspaper clippings from the Marion Daily Chronicle concerning Harry Goldthwaite’s activities on the USS Olympia.
The second part of the album contains seventy snapshots that document a journey by truck to San Francisco, California, from Marion, Indiana in 1919. Charles G. Barley (president of the Indiana Truck Corporation), May Barley, Harry Goldthwaite, Kitty Goldthwaite, and Al Spranger journeyed in the “Helomido,” a camper truck made by the Indiana Truck Corporation. The purpose of the “Indiana Truck Corporation Good Roads Booster” journey was to draw attention to the need for better roads across the United States. The snapshots show the truck parked at various points on the journey, and often mired in mud. Two publicity photographs by Marion photographer Lawrence H. Beitler show the exterior of the vehicle, and interior sleeping accommodations. There is also an illustrated brochure, Trip to California via Indiana Truck Good Roads Booster that was made after the trip by the Indiana Truck Corporation and describes the features of the vehicle and chronicles the high points of a difficult and sometimes humorous journey.
Manuscript material in this series includes a portion of a letter from Harry Goldthwaite aboard the USS Olympia to his father dated 17 November 1898. Other manuscript material from Harry Goldthwaite consists of photocopied and original pages from candid personal diaries written in January and February 1932, and in 1936.
Series 2: The John Louis Goldthwaite material consists of photographs and negatives from his service in the army during World War I. The album contains 109 snapshots of soldiers training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, ca. 1917. The images show men rushing at straw bales with bayonets, assembling an artillery piece, digging trenches, socializing, exercising and preparing for drills or marches. Most portraits of individual soldiers in the album are identified. Twenty-six cellulose nitrate negatives correspond to some of the photographs in this album. Ten photographs in the album show a circular building under construction. Two photographs (one in color) are exterior views of Eliza Fowler Hall at Purdue University in Lafayette. It is not known if John Louis Goldthwaite made these photographs.
The other photographs related to John Louis Goldthwaite include fifty-nine loose snapshots made in Germany, ca. 1918. These photographs show groups of soldiers relaxing and interacting with townspeople. There are forty-seven black-and-white cellulose nitrate negatives that correspond to some of these photographs, while some of the negatives have no corresponding print.
Series 3 contains the Goldthwaite genealogy, compiled by the donor, Marion G. Harcourt in 1998.
[1] U.S. Flagship Olympia. Trieste, Austria.
[2] Admiral George Dewey U.S.N.
[3] Captain B. P. Lamberton U.S.N.
[4] Lieut. F. M. Brumby U.S.N., Admiral Dewey’s Aide.
[5] General Muster. Officers [sic] Line.
(a) Rear Admiral F. V. McNair
(b) Capt. Chas. V. Gridely.
[6] (a) Lieut. Commander G. P. Colrocoresses. Messengers, Bugler,Yeoman.
[7] (b) Lieut. Commander G. P. Colrocoresses. Messengers, Sentry.
[8] (a) Lieut. Montgomery.
[9] (b) Lieut. Upham.
[10] (a) Ensign H. H. Caldwell. Ensign W. Pitt Scott.
[11] (b) Lieut. A. G. Kavanaugh.
[12] (a) Officers. U.S. Flagship Olympia.
[13](b) “Shimmy” on the Upper Deck. [woman dancing with sailors]
[14] Petty Officers. U.S. Flagship Olympia.
[15] R. C. Mehrten. Chief Quartermaster.
[16] Bugler.
[17] Shipriters [sic]. Murphy. Nokes. Goldthwaite [sic].
[18] Boatswains [sic] Mate Spud Murphy.
[19] “8” Turret Crew. Phillips (center) Gunners Mate 1st. Class.
[20] “Interior 8” Turrett [sic].
[21] “Interior 8” Turrett. Phillip Gmisre.
[22] Sailmakers [sic] Mate. Chas. Amadon.
[23] “Dynamo Crew” (Electric Equipment.).
[24] Ships [sic] Tailors.
[25] Ships Tailors.
[26] Putting down for Pay.
[27] “Jimmy Legs.” Mail from the States.
[28] “Scrub and Wash” Period.
[29] Rest Period.
[30] Mess. Frances B. Johnston. Washington D. C. Photographer.
[31] The Cooks.
[32] Bag Inspection.
[33] Ships [sic] Official Decorator [tattooing].
[34] One phase of strenuousness.
[35] Fencing. A part of Sailors [sic] Training.
[36] [Sailors playing cards]
[37] Oil Paintings by foremost Masters. Bargain prices. Naples.
[38] Olympia Band. M. Valifuoco. Bandmaster.
[39] Stewards. These three Chinks [sic] represent an aggregate service of
45 years in the U.S. Navy. All participated in the Battle of Manila Bay.
[40] (a) Boatswains [sic] Mate.
[41] (b) B. F. Purdy. Captain of the Hold. Veteran of the Mexican, Civil and Spanish
American Wars.
[42] (a) “Fat” Larsen cutting plug for a smoke.
[43] (b) “Fat” Larsen “dolling up.” [shaving]
[44] (a) Crew Hoisting Boats.
[45] (b) One step on the Upper Deck. [sailors dancing with each other]
[46] (a) Air Bedding.
[47] (b) Marines making ready for Quarters.
[48] Talking it Over.
[49] [Sailors talking]
[50] (a) Serenaders. Naples.
[51] (b) Italian Vendors. At Ships [sic] Side. Naples.
[52] (a) Swimming Call.
[53] (b) One of the rewards for A.W.O.L. [men scrubbing ship]
[54] U.S. Flagship Olympia.
[55] (a) Sagasta. Mascot. [pet pig]
[56] (b) Chow. Admiral Dewey’s Dog.
[57] (a) Thomas Patricia Lookey Keeper. [men and cats]
[58] (b) Ships [sic] Pets.
[59] S.F.U. Nokes. Yeoman.
[60] [Sailor holding small dog]
[61] Sailor and Sagasta Taking Siesta.
[62] Mascots. [two small dogs on stairs]
[63] [Sailor and cat]
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[63 Photographs and ephemera, On Board the United States Steamship “Olympia” located at beginning of album] |
Album Storage, PAC |
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[9 cabinet card portraits of sailors on the USS Olympia] |
Photographs, |
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[Newspaper clippings from “Olympia” album concerning Battle at Manila] |
Manuscript Collections: |
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[Letter from Harry Goldthwaite to O.L. Goldthwaite, 27 Nov. 1898] |
Manuscript Collections: |
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[70 snapshots and ephemera of trip to California in “Helomido” camper truck in 1919, located in second half of album] |
Album Storage, PAC |
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[Diary of Harry Goldthwaite, 1–31 January 1932] |
Manuscript Collections: |
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[Diary of Harry Goldthwaite, 1–29 February 1932] |
Manuscript Collections: |
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[Diary of Harry Goldthwaite, 1936] |
Manuscript Collections: |
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[Newspaper clippings about Harry Goldthwaite, and trip to California in the “Helomido” |
Manuscript Collections: |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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[Training at Ft. Harrison, ca. 1917, 109 snapshots] |
Album Storage, PAC |
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[25 nitrate negatives from Ft. Harrison album] |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[Germany: soldiers posing in
front of Hdq. 3rd. Div. Educational Center located in “Gasthaus…”] |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: soldiers posing in
front of Hdq. 3rd Div. Educational Center, located in “Gasthaus…”] |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: wagons, troop trains, artillery practice, tanks] Images: 11-18 |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: tanks, soldiers with gear] Images : 19–21 |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[Germany: soldiers posing and touring, with puppies, street scenes, manor house and castle] Images: 22–31 |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: soldiers posing and touring, puppies, street scenes, castle, countryside] Images: 28, 29, 31–41 |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[Germany: soldiers with car, trucks, motorcycles, baseball game] Images: 42–52 |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: soldiers with truck, motorcycles, baseball game] Images: 43, 47, 49–53 |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[Germany: scenes along river, gunboat, barge, bridge, band onboard ship, ship at sea] Images: 54–62, 64 |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: scenes along river, gunboat, barge, bridge, band onboard ship, ship at sea] Images: 57–60, 62–66 |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[Germany: girls and women posing in gardens, women with soldiers, marketplace scenes] Images: 67–73 |
Photographs, |
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[Germany: women and men posing in gardens, women with soldiers] [Indiana: people on porch, West Baden Springs Hotel] Images: 69–85 |
120 Nitrate Negatives, |
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[two loose photographs of
soldier identified as C.W. Frost, duplicates of images found in album] |
Photographs, |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Goldthwaite family genealogy, complied by Marion G. Harcourt, 1998 |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://157.91.92.2/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P 0357).
5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.