California State University, Northridge Nineteenth
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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI IN PHOTOGRAPHS: TWO PERSPECTIVES A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts in History By Janet Bruce May 2012 The thesis of Janet Bruce is approved: _____________________________________ ________________ Professor James E. Sefton Date _____________________________________ ________________ Ronald L.F. Davis, Ph.D. Date _____________________________________ ________________ Joyce L. Broussard, Ph.D., Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii DEDICATION To Henry C. Norman, who took the photographs To Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy, who saw the history in them and To my parents, who gave me my first camera when I was seven years old iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I opened a slim volume of late-nineteenth-century photographs and historical essays at the CSUN library several years ago, I never imagined that I was beginning a journey that would take me many times to Natchez and Jackson, Mississippi, and to the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge. This has been very much a group effort, and I am ever grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way. For me, there would be no thesis – and no Natchez experience – without the patient guidance and inspiration of my advisor and mentor at CSUN, Dr. Joyce L. Broussard. I could happily have just wallowed in the photographs, but she pushed me to analyze them for their history as well. She was right, of course. She also sent me in the direction of Dr. Ronald L.F. Davis. “Impish” is not exactly an academic term, but it fits him. He would listen patiently to my progress updates, and then begin a sentence with, “You know, you should get in touch with . .” or “Have you thought of . .” It was at once energizing and terrifying. Dr. Davis and Dr. Broussard knew what they were talking about, however, since he originated the Natchez Courthouse Project, and she now continues the Natchez association as she takes students to that wonderful city. Dr. James E. Sefton taught one of my first (and favorite) classes when I returned to school in 2002 – in using photographs as historical resources. He has been a continuing presence in my academic life, and has advised me as I work with the family photographs that initially brought me back to school. It was Dr. Sefton who said one day, “You just have to finish this thing [my thesis], and then move on.” He was right, and here I am. Sue Mueller and Kelly Winkleblack Shea keep the CSUN History Department Office running smoothly. Their experience in navigating the labyrinthine process of iv getting an education has kept me on course and out of trouble. Their active support has been a frequent reminder to me that large institutions are only as good as the human beings who work behind the scenes every day. I thank them both for being there. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History in Jackson can be a daunting place. It is packed full of the “stuff” of history – everything from public documents and records, to once-private correspondence written in the days of ink bottles and dip pens. There is visual history, too, in the photographs and other artifacts that, to me, make history come alive. I spent many hours piecing together the story of the life and times of a late-nineteenth-century Natchez photographer, and of the twentieth-century doctor and his wife who recognized the value in the visual history left behind. At every step of the way, Anne Webster and her very gracious and knowledgeable Reading Room staff made the going not only easier, but fruitful indeed. I could not have asked for more. I also spent hours in the Hill Library Reading Room at LSU, submerging myself in box upon box of photographic file prints – their images first created by Henry C. Norman with his camera, and then revealed again by the hand of Dr. Thomas Howard Gandy in his basement darkroom. The images number in the tens of thousands. I did not see them all, but occasionally, it felt like it. I feel sure that there were times when the Head of Public Services, Judy Bolton, the Reading Room staff, and Mark E. Martin (Processing Archivist for the Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy Photograph Collection), winced when they saw me come through the door, but they never let on. Were it not for their patient help, I would still be trying to navigate my way through the database. Serendipity connected me with the Interim Head of Special Collections, Tara Zachary Laver, who suggested whole new search directions that “introduced” me to some v of the people in Henry Norman’s photographs. Connecting past with present, she also put me in touch with the great-granddaughter of Mary Britton Conner, a Henry Norman contemporary and frequent subject of his photographs. Lisa Ludwig then turned me toward Thomas H. Gandy, Jr., who graciously invited me to his Baton Rouge home for an unforgettable couple of hours of first-hand reminiscences about his father. I never knew Thomas H. Gandy, Sr., but I believe I glimpsed him then in his son. Natchez was always home base; more specifically, the Historic Natchez Foundation, where I could always count on a place to work, a surrounding gold mine of information, and someone to help me find it. The staff generously let me study their maps, city directories, photographs, and other records. They also put me in touch with local genealogist and historian Teri Tillman, who gave me important information on Natchez’s Jewish history. The staff at the Adams County Courthouse helped me to navigate a maze of court records and deed books. Secretaries at the Trinity Episcopal and Jefferson Street United Methodist Churches trusted me with aging, fragile membership records. The Armstrong Library staff made me comfortable as I searched their vertical files. A single phone conversation with a lady named Thelma Wallace Williams helped to unlock the mystery behind one of the photographs that was especially important in my work. I quickly learned that, to Natchezians, “hospitality” is a verb. The Historic Natchez Foundation Director, Mimi Miller, is a walking historical resource, and she often took her very valuable time to point me in some new direction, or to locate some source I had never thought about. I found friendships I truly cherish with Mimi and her husband, Ron, and cannot think of anywhere else I would rather stay when vi in Natchez than at Wensel House, their Bed and Breakfast. Natchez may have been “home base,” but the Millers’ was “home” whenever I was there. Crucially, the Foundation agreed to store and make available to me materials that were the crux of my research: the many boxes of unprocessed Gandy Papers that Joan W. Gandy kindly left there for me when she sold the Gandy home and went back to school herself. I am beyond grateful to her for graciously allowing me access to them, for answering my ongoing questions, and for taking time from her busy life to let me interview her. Were it not for her generosity, this thesis could never have been written. Were it not for the encouragement of my family and friends, however, I would never have gone back to school or stayed with it so long in the first place. My brother Bob, and sister-in-law, Donna, have been intensely proud of me all along, even when I have floundered. I have been reminded many times of my good fortune in having a family who are also my friends. In the steadfast support of friends both old and new, I am also reminded that I am fortunate enough to have friends who are “family.” Tangibly and intangibly, they have helped me with my work, fed me in body and spirit, and made me laugh. I haven’t words to thank them enough. That goes, too, for Portland, my frequent study companion and occasional muse. This thesis is partly hers as well. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Henry Norman’s Natchez 9 Chapter 2: Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy: Preserving Photographs as History 67 Chapter 3: Interpreting Photographs Across Time 124 Conclusion 148 Epilogue 156 Bibliography 159 Appendix A: Natchez Population, 1870 to 1990 170 Appendix B: Map of the City 171 Appendix C: Photographs 172 viii ABSTRACT NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI IN PHOTOGRAPHS: TWO PERSPECTIVES By Janet Bruce Master of Arts in History This study maintains that photographs expand and clarify the history of late- nineteenth-century Natchez, Mississippi in ways that documents alone do not. Visually, they reveal details and perspectives that are often overlooked in textual form. In the process, they personalize history by connecting their viewers intellectually and emotionally with the people, places, and events they represent. In so doing, they help to clarify how the past shapes and influences the present. Photographs also reveal the visions, intentions, and perspectives of their creators. This thesis will focus specifically on the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century photographs of the Natchez, Mississippi photographer Henry C. Norman, whose work represents a forty-year timeline of daily life in the small, Southern, river city. The details in Norman’s images often demonstrate small nuances and contradictions, and may reveal powerful dichotomies of race, class, and gender. ix The study will focus, too, on the work of Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy, Natchez residents who owned a collection of some 60,000 images created by Henry Norman, his predecessor, Henry Gurney, and Norman’s son and successor, Earl M.