History

The Hughes Company was a commercial photography studio in Baltimore, Md. which made photographs for corporations, the government, and private individuals. The company was founded by James F. Hughes (d. ca. 1903), who was first listed as a photographer in the Baltimore directory in 1877. In 1889, Hughes advertised his services as a "practical photographer" in the Daily News and operated from quarters at 1414 Patterson Ave. Many of the company’s photographs were made with an 8x10 inch view camera.

James Hughes owned the company until the time of his death ca. 1903, when company employee James W. Scott (1878-1953) bought the business from Hughes’ widow. The business eventually passed to Scott’s son, Gaither Scott. The Hughes Company existed until the late 1970s, when Gaither Scott retired. The company operated at numerous addresses over the years, including 1106 Riggs Ave (mid 1890s-1902), 17-19 E. Baltimore St. (ca. 1904, hence all negatives prior to that date were destroyed in the Baltimore Fire), 108 N. Liberty St. (1906-1907), 205 W. Fayette St. (1908-1929), 213 W. Monument St. (1930-1963), and 115 E. 25th St. (after 1963).

Collection Origin

Gift of Gaither Scott, 1981 (75752).

Scope and Contents

Note: There are three sections of the Hughes Collection. The first section, always known as PP8, covers dates ca. 1910-1926. The second section, formerly known as PP30, covers dates ca. 1920-1946. This section has now been added to PP8. Both sections now making up PP8 consist mainly of vintage glass plate negatives for which modern prints were made during the 1980s at the Maryland Historical Society, with some vintage prints and film negatives. The third section of the Hughes Collection, called the Hughes Studio Photograph Collection, will continue to be known as PP30, and covers dates ca. 1940-1956.

The Hughes Studio Photography Collection (PP30) consists of 37 boxes containing ca. 36,000 negatives, with dates spanning 1940 to 1956. The majority of these photos are black and white negatives.

The Hughes Company made photographs for corporations, the government, and private individuals. Large portions of the photographs were taken in the Baltimore area, however locations span the State and include Delaware and Washington, D.C. The collection provides an extensive professional documentation of many aspects of life in Baltimore city and County, St. Mary's County and Annapolis, including street scenes, buildings, shipping, industry, businesses, recreational and sports facilities, public buildings, residences, churches, schools, monuments, and transportation.

The subject matter varies widely with buildings, war rallies, machinery, employee identification photos, weddings and other special events making up a large portion of the collection.

Other topics identified include: advertising, display windows; posters. Women, African Americans, slaves.
Railroads, buses, automobiles. Ships, airplanes, aerial views. Funerals. Fires and firefighting. Grocers.
Architectural elements. Furniture, fashions, hospitals, and hotels. Native American implements.

Also copy negatives of many historical prints, paintings, and documents. Photographs of paintings, portraits, and print making; stained glass.

Arrangement

The photos are arranged in their original order as created by the photographers. For the most part this is a chronological order. The boxes are cataloged to the folder level. For the most part, each folder relates to a single job contracted to the Hughes Company. Each folder houses between one and twenty negatives. During the re-housing process some folders were divided into two folders due to the large number of negatives.

Container List  Top
Click on hypertext links throughout the Box Inventories to view full-sized digital images where available; click here to browse all digital images for this collection - in thumbnail and full-size images.

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BOX 1 1940-41	BOX 2 1941	BOX 3 1941-42	BOX 4 1942	BOX 5 1942-43	BOX 6 1942-44	BOX 7 1943
BOX 8 1943	BOX 9 1943-44	BOX 10 1944	BOX 11 1944	BOX 12 1944-45	BOX 13 1945	BOX 14 1945
BOX 15 1945	BOX 16 1945	BOX 17 1945-46	BOX 18 1945-46	BOX 19 1945-46	BOX 20 1945-47	BOX 20A 1945-47
BOX 21 1946	BOX 22 1942-47	BOX 23 1946-47	BOX 24 1947	BOX 25 1947	BOX 26 1947	BOX 27 1946-48
BOX 28 1947-48	BOX 29 1948	BOX 30 1948	BOX 31 1948	BOX 32 1948	BOX 33 1948-49	BOX 34 1946-49
BOX 35 1949	BOX 36 1949-50	BOX 37 1949-50	BOX 38 1950	BOX 39 1950	BOX 40 1950	BOX 41 1950
BOX 42 1951	BOX 43 1951	BOX 44 1951	BOX 45 1951-52	BOX 46 1951-52	BOX 47 1952	BOX 48 1952
BOX 49 1952	BOX 50 1952	BOX 51 1953	BOX 52 1953	BOX 53 1953	BOX 54 1953-54	BOX 55 1954
BOX 56 1954	BOX 57 1954	BOX 58 1954-55	BOX 59 1955	BOX 60 1955	BOX 61 1955