Local photographers captured the four seasons in full bloom in the early 20th century on glass slides.
In his 1889 poem “An Indian Summer Reverie,” James Russell Lowell refers to autumn leaves as “visionary tints” and references the “squirrel on the shingly shagbark’s bough” as his verses herald a new season’s arrival.
Local photographers Jesse Lowe Smith and E.(Elno) E. Parratt captured the poetic four seasons in full bloom in the early 20th century on glass slides.
Parratt, whom a 1920 census identified as a traveling auditor for a railroad company, frequently accompanied educator Smith on his excursions. They traversed Highland Park, Lake County and beyond, documenting the flora and fauna.
Smith preserved numerous exemplars of Parratt’s photography in his photographic collection at Elm Place School.
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The novel medium of photography did not capture the vivid colors of nature, leading Smith and Parratt to engage Chicago artists, especially Grace E. Nichols and Charlotte Pinkerton, to color selected photographs.
Institutions such as the Illinois Biological Station and the University of Illinois College of Science also employed Nichols and Pinkerton as colorists.
The written word colors history too. Poets’ verses depict scampering squirrels, and a resident’s correspondence decries squirrels stripping bark off cherished maple trees to sustain themselves with the sweet syrup in the winter months.
Webster is the archivist at the Highland Park Historical Society. See highlandparkhistory.com for more information.