Douglas Armsden Photograph Project
Douglas Armsden in his studio at 240 Whipple Road, Kittery, Maine, c. 1940s.
Between 2018 & 2021, the family of prolific photographer Douglas J. Armsden (1918-2009) donated his photograph collection to the Athenaeum. Born in England and raised in upstate New York, Armsden and his family settled in Kittery Point, Maine. He captured the essence of mid-20th century Portsmouth, the Seacoast region of New England, and beyond. His work included wedding photography, family portraits, early documentation of historic houses, commercial and scenic images of Maine and New Hampshire, and editorial work for local newspapers and magazines such as The Shoreliner, New Hampshire Profiles, and Down East.
This collection also documents Armsden’s years of service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and later, his daily life with his wife, Alice Decatur, and their three daughters, as well as family and friends in their “little piece of heaven” along Fernald Cove in Kittery Point.
The photographic images in the collection include print photographs, color transparencies, 35 mm film, and both medium- and large-format negatives.
In 2018, we estimated the archival supplies for the collection would cost $6,500. We reached our goal through a Thaxter Foundation grant, a Portsmouth Flatbread fundraiser, and generous donations from members of the Athenaeum, the local community, and Seacoast businesses. In late 2020 and 2021, we received additional Armsden material. We now need $2,500 to purchase archival supplies for the newer material.
When fully processed and available on our online catalog, this Armsden collection of roughly 30,000 images will nearly double the Athenaeum’s entire photographic collection!
If you would like to contribute to preserving this collection, click on the “Armsden Donate” button for PayPal. Remember, you don’t have to be a PayPal member to use PayPal. You can donate as a guest.
If you would prefer to pay by check, please make it out to to the Portsmouth Athenaeum with “Armsden” in the memo line and mail it to “Portsmouth Athenaeum, P.O. Box 366, Portsmouth, NH 03802.”
Thank you for your support!
Preserve Local History
Does Armsden Sound Familiar?
You may have come across Armsden’s photographs already in our collection. During his lifetime, Armsden donated a collection of negatives (P15 Armsden Photograph Collection). These invaluable historic images depict mid-20th century Portsmouth and other Seacoast locales. While there are duplicates in both collections, the images in P15 are an example of what the new complete Armsden collection will offer.
The existing P15 collection will also be reprocessed. Click here to view the P15 collection.
ARMSDEN PROJECT IN THE NEWS
![With the Portsmouth Historic House Associates Twilight Tour tonight, we thought we'd share this view of Market Square taken at night in 1956 by commercial photographer Douglas Armsden (1918-2009) of Kittery, Maine.
We cropped the full photo in sections so you can zoom in on two sides of Congress Street and those night scenes and neon signs. 👀 🌃 😍
On the left side, you can see the Economy Market and the Colonial Theatre. Later and for many years, Eagle Photo occupied this site. Further down are the Rogers Block and an adjacent building, which were destroyed by a fire in 1964. Today, a new block stands on this site, including Popovers and the Good Vibes Life Is Good store among other businesses on the first floor and condos above. Beyond is the extant National Block.
On the right, the buildings have remained, but the storefronts have changed. People are standing under the neon sign for the New China Restaurant (on the upper floor) and the Jarvis Restaurant on the ground floor. Today, this is the Best of British. In the foreground, there is a "ghost bus" in front of the Boston & Maine Transportation Co. bus stop and Green's Drug Store. Until this spring, there was a Starbucks here.
We tagged all the participating historic sites involved in tonight's Twilight Tour from 4 to 8 p.m.
Each Twilight Tour ticket is valid for one admission to the many participating sites on the night of the Twilight Tour. Tickets are valid for the balance of the 2024 season for admission to most of the sites if visitors are unable to tour the night of the event.
[P15.235]
#douglasarmsden #marketsquare #nightphotography #neonsigns #twilighttour #historicsites #portsmouthnh #collectpreserveshare📖 ##localhistory](https://portsmouthathenaeum.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
