Posted 10 years ago
PhotoGuy
(14 items)
Original photograph of President Taft giving a speech at an unknown event/location. I am not sure what the word(s) on the back is but if anyone has any ideas please let me know!
Photograph of President Taft | ||
| Photographs2625 of 5214 |  |  |
That certainly is Taft!
Looks like "Geo H. Clapp", "Geo" is short for George.
scott
Thanks Scott. I found this information about George H Clapp:
George Clapp was born in 1859. He was extremely involved in the educational institutions that were located in Pittsburgh. He became a trustee of the Carnegie Institute in 1896 and continued to serve in this capacity for 53 years. This service ended only with his death. He also served as a trustee for the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie-Mellon University). The University of Pittsburgh honored him with a ScD in 1915 and named the biology department building, Clapp Hall, in his honor.
The first accession in Invertebrates at the museum was a collection of 546 specimens representing 60 species of shells from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. This donation was one of some 190 donations made by Clapp to the museum. Clapp was appointed honorary curator of malacology in 1900. Overall, he donated more than 15,000 lots to the section. Though his collection did contain marine, freshwater, and terrestrial mollusks from around the world, most of the material he donated represented terrestrial shells of North America north of Mexico. Clapp's service to the people of Pittsburgh ended with his death in 1949 at the age of 90.
Thanks aghcollect, vetraio50, and racer4four
If it is the same Geo H. Clapp-- He MAY be in the photo and it MAY help to ID the location and date of the photograph.
An email to Carnegie- Mellon library/ archives may get some results. I usually get very positive reactions to University queries.
scott
scott
Thanks Scott, I'll probably try that because it was difficult finding photos of Clapp on the Internet.
Good luck-- keep us posted.
scott
Really great!
Thanks Scott and Amber
I just heard back again from the library and they believe it would have been around the same time that he visited a local synagogue. This is what I have founderstood about the visit: Rabbi Levy’s invitation, President William Howard Taft visited Rodef Shalom on Saturday, May 29, 1909. This was the first time that a sitting United States president spoke from the bimah of a Jewish congregation during regular Sabbath services.
Exemplary information as always, scott!
PhotoGuy, wonderful photo, follow-up, and digging. You will find more information if you search for "George Hubbard Clapp." Here is the his photograph from the Smithsonian that states "George Hubbard Clapp (1858-1949) made his fortune in Pittsburgh's early aluminum industry, and then pursued lifelong interests in numismatics and conchology."
http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_296550
Here is the wikipedia page and photograph:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hubbard_Clapp
This is a photograph of President Taft during his visit to Rodef Shalom. His clothing is different than that shown in your photo:
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?sort=hpicrsc_nd;rgn1=ic_all;med=1;imgsrc=rsc;imgsrctxt=Rodef%20Shalom%20Congregation%20Photograph%20Collection;q1=hpicrsc;size=20;c=hpicrsc;back=back1402868750;subview=detail;resnum=7;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;cc=hpicrsc;entryid=x-20121102-hpicrsc-0006;viewid=20121102-HPICRSC-0006.TIF
This photo description for President Taft's visit to Pittsburgh says he visited for two days so that could account for the different clothes. It says "President Taft visited Pittsburgh on May 29, 1909, for two days. He attended a Pirate baseball game and participated in the dedication of Memorial Fountain in Arsenal Park."
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?xc=1;g=imls;sort=dc_da;q1=president%20taft;rgn1=ic_all;sid=1aeec44be0e723705b029a4d3c514418;size=20;lasttype=boolean;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;subview=detail;cc=hpiccma;entryid=x-84.88.74;viewid=1025323.TIF;start=1;resnum=2
Good to see you again solver-- and thanks for the emailed link!
scott
Thanks for all the help solver!