I wrote a while ago about Hilah Paulmier and of the trail of documents that led me to verifying her identity. Recently I discovered another photographer who sparked my interest: William M. Van Der Weyde who captured the above image which is part of the Photographic Views of New York City Collection. While working on the images from the rest of New York I found some amazing photographs from Camp Black, a recruitment center for the Spanish-American War, also by Van Der Weyde. I will write again when these are available digitally.
Interested to find any published biographical information on him, I checked the catalog and various other biographical databases only to discover he isn’t a subject heading (though he is an author). After some research I found the 1910 and 1920 census records which list Van Der Weyde as a photographer married to a Katherine, who is also listed as a photographer (I wonder where her photographs are…). He was born South America, his father was Dutch and his mother was a New Yorker. How curious! Well, I found another Van Der Weyde in the process, Pieter Henry Van Der Weyde, a New Yorker and renaissance man of sorts (read his obituary to see what I mean) for whom we have a collection of papers. The collection guide mentioned correspondences with Pieter’s children, one of whom is John Van Der Weyde, a photographer living in Uruguay – ah-ha! While there is so much more I could explore I have to learn where to draw the line. It’s hard though, I still find myself wondering about the mysterious Algot Lange.
PH Van Der Weyde
Sachi: Thank you for mentioning the talented Van Der Weydes. I have been reading PH's memoirs and many of his magazine articles and I am stunned by his wide-ranging career and interests. He wrote a wonderful defense of evolution.
I just discovered your blog and I'm enjoying all your postings.
Regards,
Joe Thompson ;0)
Thanks so much for your
Thanks so much for your interest - they are quite an incredible family, aren't they?
Willaim van der Weyde
Hello - boy am I happy to see this thread! I am an academic working on the final stages of a manuscript to be published by Bucknell Univ Press on the visit of Henry James to the US in 1904-05. During his stay, two photographs taken by Van der Weyde were published; one, on Feb 11, 1905 p 198 of Literary Digest (which eventually was absorbed by Time in 1938); and a second on 5 Feb 1905 page 365 in Reader magazine to accompany an article by H.M. Fielding. The publisher wants high quality photographic images, and all i have are smudgy photocopies! I can get these on microform, but scans from that source are also of too poor a quality to use in the book. If anyone can help me with this, in terms of who i can contact to purchase the images--even negatives would be fine-- i would be eternally grateful! Btw, the primary author of the book is Robin Hoople, now deceased but who was a prof in American studies and literature at the University of Manitoba, in Canada, where I work. Thanks very much!
Van der Weyde Photos
Hello, Thanks for reading our blog!
I noticed we have a photograph of Henry James taken by Van Der Weyde in our Digital Gallery: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?102641
If you are interested in using this photograph in a published work you will want to contact Photographic Permissions: http://www.nypl.org/permissions/newpermissions.html
Best,
Sachi Clayton
Henry Van der Weyde.
I am a bit confused, as I found a reference to a photographer named Van der Weyde, who was in England in the 1880's, but who was indicated to have been a major in the United States Army, and in the Civil War. His first name is not shown in the article, but he was also stated to be a photographer, and I have found one reference to a photographer first name of Henry, and I assumed that that was him, until I came upon this particular thread. Any idea if the Civil War major and later photographer was Henry or William?? Thanks for any help.
Henry is William's uncle
This is a good question - William came from a family of photographers. Henry Van der Weyde is actually William's uncle. If you look at the finding aid for Pieter Henry Van der Weyde's papers, under family letters, you will see Henry and John listed as Pieters' sons, John being William Van der Weyde's father.
Pieter Hendrik Van der Weyde 1813 - 1895
Hello. I am a great-great-great-grand-daughter of Pieter Hendrik Van der Weyde 1813 - 1895, living in England. I have been researching my family history and am fascinated by Pieter Hendrik and the Van der Weyde family. His great-grandfather, father and son had the same name!
His son Pieter Hendrik Van der Weyde 1838 - 1924 was an artist, society photographer and inventor. He served in the Union Forces 7th New York Militia as a cavalry officer during the American Civil War. In 1872 he emigrated to England. In 1877 in London he opened the world's first studio designed to use artificial light for photography and later a studio in Paris. Some of his portrait photographs are in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Harry Faulkner Van der Weyden 1868 - 1952, son of the latter, was an artist in France and England and served in the British Army in WW1. He was related via his mother to the artist George Faulkner Wetherbee. Note that he altered his surname to avoid confusion with previous generations.
I hope that this information is helpful.
I would be very happy to give or receive further information. I am interested to hear of the existence of William M and John, about whom I know nothing.
Pieter Van der Weyde
Thank you for this useful information - feel free to email us with specific questions concerning the Van der Weyde family at histref(at)nypl(dot)org
If you happen to be in New York City at some point, you may want to contact the Manuscripts and Archives Division since they have a collection of Dr. Pieter Van der Weyde's papers (1813 - 1895), which include letters from his sons Henry Van der weyde (1838 - 1924) and John Van der Weyde.
Sachi Clayton
m van der wayden
Dear Sir ,
I have a painting called 'The Coastwise Lights' by the above painter. It is dated 1923.
Unfortunately I can find nothing about him.
Any ideas?
Cheers
ted.
The Coastwise Lights
Hello Ted,
The Vander Weyde family is a very artistic one and William actually descended from the Dutch painter Roger Vander Weyde (I discovered this through his grandfather, Pieter's obituary, included above) so it is possible that there is a relationship between the two. I don't think it is William M Van der weyde since he always spelled his name the same way. My sense is that it is a different family.
You may want to contact the Art and Architecture Collection with this question.
Sachiko Clayton
Harry Faulkner van der
Harry Faulkner van der Weyden was born 08 Sept 1868 in Boston, USA. He was the grandson of P H van der Weyde and the son of Henry van der Weyde [artist, inventor (in particular, inventor of successful artificial light photography at his studio in Regent Street, London.) and a Union officer in the Civil War as mentioned in one of the blogs above.]
Harry was one of the American artists in France from the 1890s to after WWI. He lived in Montreuil-sur-Mer in the Pas de Calais. One of his later paintings, "The Coastwise Lights" was apparently painted near Rye where he lived in England after the war. The lights on the left of the picture are said to be Dungeness Lighthouse while the lights of the small town on a hill to the right is supposed to be Rye. The original was in the possession of his daughter Helen van der Weyden where I saw it and discussed it with her.
Harry seems to have been co-patenter with his father of a collapsible car which could be narrowed for travelling down tight-squeeze country lanes - it seems not to have caught on!
Harry died on 23 Sept 1952 in England where his ashes were scattered.
The artist who painted
The artist who painted "Coastwise Lights" was Harry Faulkner van der Weyden, son of Union Officer, artist, inventor and photographer, Henry vander Weyde. So he was a grandson of P H vander Weyde.
Harry was born in Sept 1868 in Boston MA and died in London in Sept 1952. He lived before WWI in Montreuil-sur-Mer in the Pas de Calais, France where he had a studio.
After the war he and his large family moved to England where he lived in Rye for a while. The "Coastwise Lights" apparently depicts Dungeness Lighthouse on the right and the lights of Rye on the little hill on the left.
Hi I'm a student in
Hi
I'm a student in photography and i just did an essay on Van Der Weyde, I found some good informations in the Spring 2009 issue of the magazine Aperture no. 194
Maybe it can interest some of you.
It is - thanks! Sachiko
It is - thanks!
Sachiko Clayton
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