Photographs, negatives and papers of the Middleton family made by Clara (Case) Middleton, her husband William Elwell, and her son Forest, circa 1892–1920.
The majority of the images document the Middleton family in and around their apartment on 22 East Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisconsin but also include images of the extended Middleton family; members of the Gunsolus family, Clara's relatives; and friends of Forest from his childhood and his time at college. Images in the collection also document Madison, including the Wisconsin State Capitol and the dome construction, Capitol Square, public buildings and businesses, churches, residences, Tenney Park, Lakes Mendota and Monona, and buildings and grounds on the University of Wisconsin campus. There are also images of Middleton family pets, some of which show the pets dressed in human clothes. Also included are photographs taken by Forest Middleton while he and his wife Leonore (née Judkins) lived in Japan from 1920-1923. Includes pictures in Yokohama after the April 26, 1922 earthquake (magnitude 6.8)
The papers include an essay “The Middletons [sic]: Amateur Photographers 1890-1915” written circa 2004. This includes a short history of the family, documentation of Clara's second prize win in 1908 for a photo contest celebrating the founding of the University of Wisconsin and an article she wrote that year entitled “Amateur Photography in a Flat,” as well as a typed transcript of references from Forest Middleton's diary to photographs in the collection. Another essay entitled “Forest ‘n Leonore” (2008) includes reproduction photographs from their travels starting in Madison, to San Francisco and then to Japan (circa 1920-circa 1923); transcripts of incoming and outgoing correspondence (1920-1925, 1973-1975); and copies of newspaper clippings about the Middleton’s shop in Madison selling Japanese goods. Also included is a pamphlet on the September 1, 1923 earthquake which destroyed Yokohama and Tokyo.
