1891_11-25-Nov 3002 copy.jpg

Austen Family Wedding Invitations Collection

PI

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 12/9/2025, 9:38:32 PM | Created: 12/9/2025, 7:24:47 PM

Added description

Description

Austen Family Wedding Invitations Collection

Overview

The Austen Family Wedding Invitations Collection is a small, digitized set of two Victorian‑era wedding invitations created in 1891. The items are scanned images of original paper invitations, each accompanied by machine‑read OCR text. The collection is housed in the Alice Austen House Museum’s digital archive and is part of the broader Austen Family Papers, which document the social and personal life of Staten Island’s Austen family during the late nineteenth century.

Background

The invitations were produced by two members of the Austen family: Junius B. Alexander and Amedée Castaing. Junius B. Alexander, father of Maria Louisa Alexander, sent an invitation to Reuben Francis Richards for his daughter’s marriage at St. John’s Church in Clifton, Staten Island. Amedée Castaing, a resident of Napa, California, announced the marriage of his sister, Claire Le Franc, to Henry J. Wright. Both invitations reflect the formal, ceremonial customs of the period and illustrate the family’s social connections across New York and California.

Contents

  • Invitation 1 (Nov 25 1891): “Mr. Junius B. Alexander requests your presence at the marriage of his daughter, Maria Louisa, to Mr. Reuben Francis Richards, on Wednesday, November the twenty‑fifth, at two o’clock. 1891. St. John’s Church, Clifton, Staten Island.”
  • Invitation 2 (Dec 17 1891): “Mr. and Mrs. Amedée Castaing announce the marriage of their sister, Claire Le Franc, to Mr. Henry J. Wright, on Thursday, December seventeenth, eighteen hundred and ninety‑one, Napa, California.”

Each invitation is presented as a JPEG image (≈440 KB) with accompanying OCR text extracted from the scanned image. The collection thus provides both visual and textual records of the family’s matrimonial announcements.

Scope

The collection covers two specific wedding events in 1891, one in Staten Island and one in California, and represents the Austen family’s engagement with Victorian social customs, marriage announcements, and interregional family ties. It does not include other family correspondence, photographs, or ancillary wedding documents; those are found elsewhere in the Austen Family Papers. The collection is limited to the two scanned invitations and their OCR transcriptions, offering a focused glimpse into the family’s celebratory practices at the turn of the century.

Raw Cheimarros Data

@alice_austen:person {full_name: "Elizabeth Alice Austen", birth: @date_1866, death: @date_1952, occupation: "photographer", residence: @staten_island}

@alice_austen_house:organization {type: "Museum", location: @staten_island}

@austen_family_wedding_invitations_collection:collection {creator: [@junius_b_alexander, @amedee_castaing], institution: @alice_austen_house, created: @date_1891, language: "en", subjects: ["Weddings","Social events","Marriage announcements","Victorian-era social customs"], description: "Collection of wedding invitations from the Austen Family Papers, including invitations to the marriage of Maria Louisa Alexander and Reuben Francis Richards, and the marriage of Claire Le Franc and Henry J. Wright."}


@junius_b_alexander:person {full_name: "Junius B. Alexander"}

@amedee_castaing:person {full_name: "Amedée Castaing"}

@maria_louisa_alexander:person {full_name: "Maria Louisa Alexander", parent: @junius_b_alexander}

@reuben_francis_richards:person {full_name: "Reuben Francis Richards"}

@claire_le_franc:person {full_name: "Claire Le Franc", sibling_of: @amedee_castaing}

@henry_j_wright:person {full_name: "Henry J. Wright"}

@st_johns_church:place {name: "St. John's Church", location: @clifton_staten_island}

@clifton_staten_island:place {city: "Clifton", borough: "Staten Island", state: @new_york, country: @united_states}

@napa_california:place {city: "Napa", state: @california, country: @united_states}


@marriage_alexander_richards:event {when: @date_1891_11_25, where: @st_johns_church, participants: [@maria_louisa_alexander, @reuben_francis_richards]}

@marriage_claire_wright:event {when: @date_1891_12_17, where: @napa_california, participants: [@claire_le_franc, @henry_j_wright]}


@file_pinax:file {type: "file"}

@file_pinax -> documents -> @austen_family_wedding_invitations_collection

@file_1891_11_25_nov_3002_copy_jpg:file {type: "file"}

@file_1891_11_25_nov_3002_copy_jpg -> contains -> @marriage_alexander_richards:event

@file_1891_12_17_dec_5002_copy_jpg:file {type: "file"}

@file_1891_12_17_dec_5002_copy_jpg -> contains -> @marriage_claire_wright:event

@junius_b_alexander -> parent of -> @maria_louisa_alexander

@amedee_castaing -> parent of -> @claire_le_franc

@marriage_alexander_richards:event -> held at -> @st_johns_church

@marriage_claire_wright:event -> held at -> @napa_california

@date_1866

@date_1952

@date_1891

@date_1891_11_25

@date_1891_12_17

@new_york

@united_states

@california

Metadata

Files (2)

1891_11-25-Nov 3002 copy.jpgJPEG
429.58 KB
OCR Text

Mr. Junius B. Alexander requests your presence at the marriage of his daughter, Maria Louisa, to Mr. Reuben Francis Richards, on Wednesday, November the twenty-fifth, at two o'clock. 1891. St. John's Church, Clifton, Staten Island.

1891_12-17-Dec 5002 copy.jpgJPEG
433.96 KB
OCR Text

Mr. and Mrs. Amedée Castaing announce the marriage of their sister, Claire Le Franc, to Mr. Henry J. Wright, on Thursday, December seventeenth Eighteen hundred and ninety one, Napa, California.

Version History (4 versions)

  • ✓ v4 (current) · 12/9/2025, 9:38:32 PM
    "Added description"
  • v3 · 12/9/2025, 8:25:40 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v2 · 12/9/2025, 7:47:16 PM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v1 · 12/9/2025, 7:24:47 PM · View this version
    "Reorganization group: Wedding_Invitations"

Parent

01KC28TNTAT9MD96JMQCVGYQ2Q

No children (leaf entity)