CAMP ANAWAN GIRLS’ SUMMER CAMP, LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE – REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS AND SNAPSHOTS, CIRCA 1915–1925

Item #1737

A cohesive group of 25 photographs documenting Camp Anawan, an early girls’ summer camp in Meredith, New Hampshire. The collection consists of 13 real photo postcards and 12 snapshots of various sizes. Four postcards retain one-, two-, or four-cent postage stamps, although they appear not to have been mailed.

Images show campers and counselors in distinctive sailor-style uniforms; tent accommodations and interiors; the camp bungalow and its large rustic stone fireplace; canoeing, swimming, diving, and waterfront recreation; woodland grounds; and large groups assembled outside camp buildings. Several snapshots document a mountain excursion, apparently to Mount Washington, including groups posed outside the stone Tip-Top House and a view of the Mount Washington Cog Railway. One postcard depicts Smith College buildings in Northampton, Massachusetts, possibly suggesting an association between the original owner and the college, though this has not been confirmed.

Camp Anawan was established in the early 1910s at the head of Lake Winnipesaukee and operated as a summer camp for girls until approximately 1939. Contemporary advertisements promoted swimming, boating, canoeing, mountain climbing, athletics, nature study, and handicrafts—all activities represented in this unusually substantial visual record of women’s outdoor recreation and camp culture. The New Hampshire Historical Society holds Camp Anawan promotional booklets dating from 1913 and 1918. New Hampshire Historical Society

Generally very good, with occasional light fading, silvering, surface wear, soiling, or corner and edge wear.

Price: $200.00