TRAVELS THROUGH THE AMERICAN SOUTH, AND CUBA, 1904-1907, ON BOARD THE HOUSEBOAT "EVERGLADES," AS RECORDED IN OVER 760 PHOTOS, PLUS POSTCARDS, MENUS, INVITATIONS, AND A TYPED TRAVELOGUE. Various places including Memphis, TN; Helena, and Arkansas City, AR; Vicksburg, and Natchez, MS; Montgomery, AL; New Orleans, and Madisonville, LA; Pensacola, Cedar Key, Apalachicola, Punta Rassa, Fort Myers, Miami, Cocoa Grove, and Palm Beach, FL; Havana, Cuba, et al. ca

Large, heavy photo album, 15 1/2 x 16 1/2 in., brown pebbled leather over boards. Light grey paper album pages bound together securely, but detached from covers. The approximately 768 photographs are loosely inserted into corner slits cut into the album pages. The majority of the images measure 3¼ x 4 - 3¼ x 5½ in., while 18 large images measure 4½ x 6½ - 7½ x 9¼ inches with many identified either by locational captions or numbers. Interleaved in the album are 13 typed pages of a travel journal: "Extract from Judge Wallace Nesbitt's Journal - after Col. Thompson's arrival late on the night of December 10, 1904 at St. Charles Hotel." [ink caption]. The journal of over 6000 words begins in New Orleans, on 11th December,1904 and ends in Miami, FL, Jan 13, 1905, giving a highly detailed account of a portion of the trip documented by the photographs. In addition, the album includes approx. 50 postcards plus several other pieces of ephemera including invitations and menus. The album covers are worn and there is loss to the spine. Some of the interior pages contain light staining, but the photographs are exceptionally clean and clear. A printed invitation to a reception on board the "Everglades," sponsored by the Reception Committee for the Iron & Steel Institute, and Colonel and Mrs. Robert M. Thompson, Sunday, November 6, 1904, is laid down on the first page of the album. An ink caption above it reads: "Reception given before starting on trip." Thompson's houseboat begins its travels down the Mississippi River, at St. Louis, just at the close of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Presumably the joint reception held on board his boat with the Iron & Steel Institute marked a collaboration of his business interests with the fair exhibits. Over the next few weeks, the "Everglades" makes its way south to New Orleans, recording sights along the river (boats, towns, river scenes, locals, hunting camps, etc.), and providing uncommon photographic documentation of some of the small towns along the Mississippi at the turn of the twentieth century. The first 150 or so photos record this part of the "Everglades" trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans. There are photos of Thompson and his guests on board the boat, enjoying leisure activities, as well as scenes observed along the river. These include river and town views of Memphis, TN (8); a goose hunt (16); Mississippi River views of the coastline, houseboats, riverboats, paddle steamers (18), Helena and Arkansas City, AR river scenes, riverboats, downtown street scenes (22); Vicksburg, MS steamboats, cityscapes at a distance, a photo of two nuns walking across a muddy street on wooden planks, etc. (9); Natchez, MS shoreline, a downtown street scene, etc. (7); New Orleans, LA train station and street scenes (14); Montgomery, AL [evidently a side trip], including the state house, a few larger photographic views of the downtown area (12), plus several of African Americans (18), including what appears to be a river baptism, a black man in prison stripes, and a handicapped beggar on the street. Once the Nesbitt party joins the group in New Orleans, the next 150 or so photos include: Lake Pontchartrain (10); Madisonville, LA river views, a picnic, rural and downtown street scenes, a hunting party (37), and (5) of African Americans, including groups of school children; Pensacola, FL (5); Apalachicola, FL views of the town along the wharf (6); Cedar Key, FL town scenes and pictures of local residents (18), Suwannee River scenes (13); Tampa , FL (1); Punta Rassa, FL river views and wharf views (18); Fort Myers, FL water views (5); locals at the Plantation at Cape Sabel [sic: Cape Sable] (7); and Miami & Cocoa Grove houses, fruit trees, & palm groves (9). The houseboat "Everglades" is described in Nesbitt's journal as being 120 ft. long x 28 ft wide, with 9 state-rooms & 2 large bathrooms, a large dining room capable of seating 16, an observation car, sitting room, and a crew of 14 (including a Japane.…