Alice Austen Envelopes Collection (1893)

Overview

The Alice Austen Envelopes Collection is a digitized assemblage of paper envelopes associated with the correspondence of Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866‑1952), a pioneering American photographer from Staten Island. The collection, created in 1893, is housed by the Alice Austen House Museum in Clifton, Staten Island. It consists of scanned images of both blank envelopes and envelopes addressed to Austen, all dated within the year 1893. The materials are presented in JPEG format and are accompanied by metadata that records dates, locations, and the envelope’s status (blank or addressed).

Background

Alice Austen’s work and social life were deeply intertwined with the cultural milieu of late‑Victorian New York. Her correspondence network included friends, family, and business associates, and the envelopes in this collection reflect the physical medium through which these relationships were maintained. The Alice Austen House, now a museum, preserves her personal papers and photographs, offering scholars insight into the everyday life of a woman who balanced artistic practice with social obligations in the 19th century.

Contents

The collection contains two representative envelopes:

• Blank envelope (August 31 1893) – a plain, unaddressed envelope, likely used by Austen for sending letters or photographs.
• Addressed envelope (September 14 1893) – addressed to “Miss Alice Austen, Clifton – Staten Island – New York,” indicating a return or reply envelope.

Each envelope is scanned as a high‑resolution JPEG, with accompanying metadata that records the envelope’s date, type, and location. The images provide visual evidence of Victorian‑era envelope design, paper quality, and addressing practices.

Scope

The Alice Austen Envelopes Collection covers a single calendar year (1893) and is geographically focused on Clifton, Staten Island, New York. It is limited to physical envelopes used in Austen’s personal correspondence and does not include the letters themselves, photographs, or other related documents. The collection offers a snapshot of the material culture of communication in the late 19th‑century American upper‑middle class, illustrating how personal and professional networks were maintained through the exchange of paper envelopes.