Very rare: photographs of the Straits of Magellan and Patagonia are hardly ever seen on the market.
The photographs record the towns of Punta Arenas in Chile, and Rio Gallegos and Ushuaia in Argentina. Views of Punta Arenas include the “Hotel Argentino” and Ferdinand Magellan Monument in Muñoz Gamero Square. There are also views of the Strait of Magellan and the Chilean Magallanes Region, including Monte Sarmiento, “Canal Santa Maria,” Cockburn Channel, “Punta San Payo,” glaciers at the Beagle Channel, Lago del Toro, and Mount Balmaceda.
There are five portraits of the Selk’nam (Ona) people, featuring their tra- ditional fur clothing and hunting bows; a family group in one of the photos is pictured in front of their tent. Additionally, there are also several images of livestock farming, including a ranch at Lago del Toro, “dipping sheep to prevent disease,” and ranchers trying to brand cows.
The last photo in the album—dated 1937—portrays “J.L.W,” likely John Linzee Weld, the treasurer of “Suncook Mills”—a textile company from New Hampshire. Weld, who was possibly the album’s compiler, is shown in front of a Suncook Mills office. The loosely inserted photo might be of his wedding. In 1940, Suncook Mills was indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate antitrust laws, along with several other companies, for alleged price-fixing in the aircraft fabric industry.
