Caves

Puck directs a large floodlight to illuminate a cave. Charles H. Dietrich, Joseph R. Burton, and J. Edward Addicks shy away from the light. Pennsylvania governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, as a court jester, holds up a large sheet of paper labeled “Press Gag Law.” A man running to the right holds a paper labeled “R.R. Rebates.” Another man, possibly John D. Rockefeller, stands next to containers labeled “Paper Trust, Oil Trust, [and] Gas Trust,” and a diminutive figure, possibly New York State Senator Thomas F. Grady, stands behind Pennypacker, holding up a paper labeled “Anti-Cartoon Bill.” An octopus labeled “Mormonism” is visible at the entrance to the cave on the left.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1905-01-25

Theodore Clay Northcott sent an album of photographs depicting the Luray Caverns, which he asks William Loeb to present to President Roosevelt and his family. He is unsure if Roosevelt has visited the caves during his many travels. Northcott believes they are impressive creations of nature, comparable to Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. The caverns are convenient to Roosevelt’s Virginia estate, and the community would be honored should he visit.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-11-13

Creator(s)

Northcott, Theodore C. (Theodore Clay), 1844-1941

Colorized postcard showing a multi-colored rock formation, Cupid’s Cave in Yellowstone National Park. The number designation on the front indicates the postcard is part of a series.

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Colorized postcard showing two men standing in a chamber in a cave, Cave of the Winds.

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

1903

Creator(s)

Van Lacken

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Language

English

Period

Unknown

This postcard shows a group of people clustered around a cave mouth by the side of a river. The high cliff walls of the area are covered in heavy vegetation.

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

Creation Date

1910

Creator(s)

Unknown

Forest Inspector Peavy reports on the Pinnacles Rocks in California, giving a description of their physical characteristics and the surrounding area. Peavy recommends setting aside the area as a National Monument and having a mineralogist from the Geological Survey assess nearby mineral claims.

Collection

Pinnacles National Park

Creation Date

1907-09-09

Creator(s)

Peavy, George Wilcox, 1869-1951

John Campbell Greenway reviews the proposed itinerary for Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Arizona.

Collection

Arizona Historical Society

Creation Date

1913-06-20

Creator(s)

Greenway, John Campbell, 1872-1926

Members of the 47th Congress carry on their shoulders large money bags labeled “Surplus $150,000,000” and “Appropriations,” and a sign that states, “No large appropriations for the Navy whilst Robeson is mixed up with it.” At the lead are three men, one dressed in armor labeled “Folger” carrying a sword labeled “Trust” and a shield labeled “Integrity,” another carrying a large ledger labeled “Chandler Navy Department,” and the third carrying a paper that states “Sen. Harris’s Exposure of Robeson.” John Sherman and John A. Logan are among the congressmen that follow. They are walking past George M. Robeson as an ogre sitting on a pile of skeletal remains of ships with skulls as figureheads and labeled “U.S.N.,” at the entrance to a cave labeled “Naval Committee.” Robeson is biting his fingernails. A notice at the entrance to the cave states, “$180,000,000 squandered and stolen during Robeson’s management of the Navy 1868-76.” Caption: “…He is, by reason of age, also of the many shrewd brushes that he met with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he can now do little more than sit in his cave’s mouth, grinning at Appropriations as they go by, and biting his nails because he cannot come at them.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-05-03

Creator(s)

Gillam, Bernhard, 1856-1896

Jay Gould appears as a giant holding a large club labeled “Monopoly,” sitting on rocks, gleefully watching a line of downtrodden people entering a cave labeled “Western Union Telegraph Company – All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here.” On the horizon, the sun is labeled “Strike.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-08-29

Creator(s)

Opper, Frederick Burr, 1857-1937

Vignettes show messages sent from various cities to philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, along with the scenic postcard views each is requesting: a mountain for Chicago, caves in Philadelphia (where the sun is too bright), a river connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean, a fountain of beer for Milwaukee, a sun in Pittsburgh (where the smog is too thick for the natural sun to penetrate), a “Palm Beach” oasis for the Eskimos, and a “natural bridge” crossing the East River into Brooklyn, New York. Caption: His gift of a lake to Princeton suggests other deficiencies of nature which Carnegie may supply.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1907-01-30