Union Printers Home album

Content Description

This material contains racist imagery of a person in blackface. This note aims to allow users to decide whether they need or want to view these materials or, at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials. This collection contains a photo album documenting the Union Printers Home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Union Printers Home was established for the care of printers sickened by the absorption of carbon-based ink into their bloodstream in 1892. This album includes images of patients in bathrobes relaxing on sunny, fresh-air “sleeping porches”; reclining in chairs; in bed; on the grounds of the home’s 200-acre complex; and in the company of nurses, staff, and administrators. Pictured extensively is the Union Printer's Home itself (called “The Mountain” by the printers and also referred to as the "the Castle"), which housed a 10,000-volume library, a sunny reading room, a 300-seat auditorium, a pool hall, Steinway grand pianos, and more. Pictured in the album are exterior shots and images of the billiards room, the in-house dairy farm, gardens, etc., and a picture of the arched entrance to the Home, which bears the slogan—“Its bounty unpurchasable.” Also included are photographs of the surrounding landscape, including mountains and other natural features. Several shots show the patients dressed up in formal attire. Another image shows a group of patients dressed up, some in cowboy garb and one man in blackface. Other group shots show men standing beside a water-fountain pedestal. Tipped-in is a 1931 Christmas program with numerous signatures of staff and patients, including patient room numbers and home towns.

Acquisition Type

Purchase

Provenance

Purchased from James Arsenault & Company, 15 December 2023.

Restrictions Apply

Yes

Access Restrictions

This collection contains photographs, and gloves should be worn when handling the item.