1901 Sailor’s Snug Harbor Photograph Album [Retirement Home for Seamen]; Staten Island, New York

[Staten Island]: E. T. Clegg, 1901. 14 " x 11 " Leather over hard boards, embossed with gilt lettering. All edges gilt. 10 leaves; 20 albumen print photographs mounted recto and verso, on heavy board. All prints measure 7 3/8 by 9 3/8 inches. The front flyleaf credits the photographer: Mr. E. T. Clegg. Twenty photographs feature the architecture, buildings, and grounds of the historic Sailor's Snug Harbor taken in 1901. The photographer, Edward T. Clegg, became a resident of the Sailor's Snug Harbor in April 1891 at the age of 65, and lived there until his death in November of 1910. Clegg was born in England and went to sea at the age of 18, serving on a British Man of War (1854-1857). In his early 20's, he became a seaman on an American whaling ship (1858-1864); Clegg spent his middle years in Michigan, fishing and sailing on the Great Lakes before moving to the northeast, and eventually settling in his retirement in the Sailor's Snug Harbor. Photographs taken by E. T. Clegg are held in museum collections including the Getty Museum, Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York, and The Collections Research Center (CRC) of Mystic Seaport Museum (the nation's leading maritime research facility). This album belonged to Captain David. A. Scribner, whose name is embossed on its cover, and was a fellow resident at the Sailor's, who died there in February 1911. The Sailor's Snug Harbor was established in 1801 by Robert Richard Randall, in his will (drafted by Alexander Hamilton). Randall bequeathed his fortune for the creation of a retirement home for "aged, decrepit, and worn out seamen" to be known as "The Sailors' Snug Harbor." The facility opened on Staten Island in 1831 and is one of the first retirement homes established in the United States. Beginning with a residence building which could accommodate 200 seamen, The Sailor's became one of the most lavish nursing homes in the world. Over the years 55 buildings, including a replica of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, a 30-room residence for the Harbor's Governor, a private morgue, powerhouse, chapel, music hall, and hospital; as well as a greenhouse and dairy farm, the Neptune Fountain, Victorian gazebo, stands of pine trees, walks lined with chestnut trees, flower gardens, ponds, and a cemetery (dubbed "Monkey Hill" by residents). The 'snugs' or 'inmates' had chores, went to events at the music hall, and participated in arts, crafts and other creative activities (one of the photographs show the inmates engaged in making fishing nets). From the beginning, it was made clear that all were welcome to the Sailors' Snug Harbor; no one was rejected because of 'race, creed or color'. The first group represented Americans, English, Irish, Scots, Dutch, Prussian and French, and this diversity continued.