Scarce Early PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON POLITICAL PHOTO

Description

Scarce Early PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON POLITICAL PHOTO
Scarce Early
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
POLITICAL PHOTOGRAPH
-- EARLY UNDERWOOD PHOTO (unpublished?) OF WILSON & CROWD AT HIS NJ NOMINATION GATHERING
As follows:
--An interesting old photograph (about 10 x 10.5”) pasted along the top edge to a gray mat-board (about 12 x 15” – looks more brownish in scans), and in an inexpensive black wooden frame (NO GLASS). See scan below.
There is some foxing and discoloration on the back of the photograph, but it is otherwise in good condition and has good contrast. The photo is on paper of fairly heavy stock and has a nicely embossed stamp
“PHOTOGRAPH BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD, NY”
in the lower right corner.
There is also a DETERIORATED red & black sticker pasted on the old backing-board of the frame which reads in part:
“(COOPERS PICTURE SHOPS?) – 1430 N.Y. AVE – 1324 G STREET -- WASHINGTON, D.C.”
Next to this sticker there is an old ink inscription in a place where the black paper covering the backing board has peeled-off. However this inscription is also mostly illegible, though it may in-part read something like:
”Allen (Ristrion?) Porch on Right at (?) ”
.
The old photo appears to picture Woodrow Wilson standing on the porch of the GOVERNOR’S “SUMMER COTTAGE” AT SEA GIRT, NEW JERSEY.
About a dozen other men stand around Wison on the porch, and the yard is filled with a crowd of men whose backs are mostly to the camera.The crowd makes sort of a “sea” of STRAW HATS which were popular attire in this era!
This old photo quite possibly records the moments following Woodrow Wilson’s NOMINATION as the DEMOCRAT PARTY CANDIDATE to run for President of the United States in 1912.
The probable SETTING AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THIS OLD UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD PHOTOGRAPH may be detailed in the following descriptions:
“In addition to its primary military function, the National Guard Training Center at Sea Girt also played a vital role in New Jersey’s political history, since it was an attractive location for New Jersey governors eager to avoid the summer heat of Trenton . . . The governor’s “summer cottage” which once stood near the gate was the New Jersey exhibit hall at the Saint Louis World’s Fair of 1904, disassembled and then reassembled at the New Jersey shore.”
“It was here that Woodrow Wilson learned of his nomination for the office of President of the United States.”
And, for MORE DETAIL, a news report from the period:
“THIRTY MILES SOUTH of the Narrows, which divides New York’s Upper Bay from the sea, the wide sandy beaches of Sea Girt, New Jersey, welcome the cool winds off the ocean. The Governor’s summer mansion, paneled in white wood and dark shutters, rested on lawns set back 1000 yards from the water, behind the National Guard rifle range that intervened between house and sea.
Yesterday afternoon at 2:48 p.m., Governor Woodrow Wilson got a telephone call from Baltimore. Although he hadn’t yet completed two years as New Jersey’s chief executive, he walked upstairs to inform his wife, Ellen, that he was about to be named the 1912 Democratic Presidential nominee. . . .
WILSON STEPPED OUT ONTO THE WIDE FRONT PORCH OF HIS HOUSE TO FACE THE CROWD OF REPORTERS CAMPED OUTSIDE.
His acceptance speech was short, and devoid of triumphalism. “The honor is as great as can come to any man by the nomination of a party,” he said, “and I hope I appreciate it at its true value; but just at this moment I feel the tremendous responsibility it involves even more than I feel the honor.”. . .
Two weeks ago the Republicans had re-nominated President Taft at their Chicago convention. Now, in Baltimore, the Democrats had unanimously acclaimed Woodrow Wilson as their candidate. Former President Roosevelt still waited in the wings. The Presidential election campaign was about to begin.”
[IMPORTANT NOTE – This may be quite a rare or even unpublished photograph. It probably merits much further research.]
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