Andrew J. Sordoni Sr.'s 19th century Photo Album of Hannover, Germany
Collection
Identifier: 50-14-001
Scope and Content:
The photo album consists of an ornate cover that is composed of metal sculpture and ivory reliefs with gemstones inlaid outlining the edges, and thirty-two photographs from various towns and locations across Hannover, now Lower Saxony in Germany. The thirty-two photographs consist of town squares, town halls, castles, cathedrals, and landscape views of cities and waterfronts in, as they appear, Hannover, Hamelin, Polle, Hildesheim, Loccum, Hann-Münden, Harz, . There are no portraits of living subjects, with the only people being shown were most likely caught in the photo, walking past as it was taken. The photographs date most likely pre-1900, as one of the photos contains a suspension bridge that was destroyed in 1892, with the cover showing the years 1867 and 1873. Researchers can expect to find various architecture styles as well as a glimpse into daily life for someone living in late 19th century Germany. There are no dates nor signatures within the actual pages except for the last 5 pages, consisting of various government and religious institutions in the towns and areas where the photos were taken.
Dates
- ca. 1867-1873
Access:
Open for research.
Biographical Sketch of Andrew J. Sordoni Jr.
Born Andrew J. Sordoni to Nikola and Maria Sordoni in Nanticoke on the 11th of February, 1887, he was a local to Luzerne County in which he would eventually preside over in the State Senate from the years 1927 to 1938. He also founded the Sordoni Construction Company in 1910 that still remains today. This construction company would go on to build the 40 W. Northampton Street location of the YMCA in Wilkes-Barre, the Blue Cross Blue Shield building in downtown Wilkes-Barre, various projects for Wilkes University (including the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center beginning in 1964), Kings University, and the University of Scranton, among others. He would go on to receive an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Bucknell University in 1950, becoming president of the American Automobile Association from 1954 to 1956. He would eventually pass away on February 23, 1963 from a heart attack in Miami, Florida. His grandson, Andrew J. Sordoni III would go on to name the Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University after his grandfather.
Historical Sketch of Hannover, Germany:
The Kingdom of Hannover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, succeeding the Electorate of Hannover and eventually joining the German Confederation in 1815. It had a union with the United Kingdom which ended in 1837 upon the accession of Queen Victoria, but the Kingdom of Hannover remained ruled by British aristocracy. The first leader was Ernest Augustus, uncle of Queen Victoria, until the Austro-Prussian War. It became a Prussian province as a result in 1867, and was eventually annexed into the German Empire in 1871. There was drawn out contention as to who was the rightful heir to the throne of Hannover, with George V, son of Ernest Augustus, still laying claim to the throne despite fleeing in 1866. From 1867 to 1871, Hannover was annexed into the Prussian Empire and became the Prussian Province of Hannover. The years following the Austro-Prussian war would be met with fierce and varying opposition by their newly conquered citizens to Prussian nationalism, with King Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck at the helm of the Prussian government. In an attempt to quell an uprising, Bismarck appointed Otto Graf zu Stolberg-Wernigerode to become Hannover’s chief president. Prussian rule over the Germanic Empire proved to be very tumultuous as various worldwide economic depressions in the late nineteenth century affected German provinces. The Panic of 1873, which saw widespread economic depression that was only exacerbated by payments to France from Germany following the Franco-Prussian War, led to an ever-changing and evolving social and physical environment for the Hannoverian public. This economic decline had varying levels of consequences for German common people, with the net national product declining for six consecutive years and the market being flooded with imported American and Russian grain. Depressed provinces in rural Prussia saw mass emigration during the 1870s with approximately 600,000 people leaving for North and South America and this number doubled in the following decade (Strauss et al on Brittanica). Following the end of WWI, the Prussian empire as it had been known for over 50 years began to fade into obscurity. This was a result of its annexation into the new Weimar Republic, the governing body of Germany in between the world wars which was created at the tail end of 1918 following the German Revolution. The Prussian empire now the Prussian state furthermore lost almost all of its political and legal importance following a coup in 1932 by Franz von Papen, and it was eventually dismantled under the Third Reich in 1935. After the collapse of the Third Reich, Hannover was again given its own stateship in 1947 and eventually merged with other smaller German states to form Lower Saxony, as it is presently.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
English
Provenance:
The photo album belonged to the family of Andrew J. Sordoni Sr. and was donated to Wilkes College at some point in the 1940s through 1950s prior to the building of Eugene S. Farley Library in 1968.
Processed By:
Anthony Elms, Archive work-study, Fall 2023-Spring 2024, edited and supervised by Suzanna Calev, Archivist, Fall 2023-Spring 2024.
- Language of description
- No linguistic content; Not applicable
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu