Louis L. McAllister Photographs
Collection Overview
Louis L. McAllister photographed people and places near Burlington, Vermont for 60 years. He was born in Columbus, Nebraska on October 16, 1876, the son of Julius S. McAllister (born 1841 in Lincoln, VT) and Rosette Gould (born in Vermont in 1851)...
Show moreLouis L. McAllister photographed people and places near Burlington, Vermont for 60 years. He was born in Columbus, Nebraska on October 16, 1876, the son of Julius S. McAllister (born 1841 in Lincoln, VT) and Rosette Gould (born in Vermont in 1851). Julius McAllister worked as a photographer and dentist in Washington D.C., Bristol, Vermont and Columbus, Nebraska. Around 1895, Julius, his third wife Amy, and their children left Nebraska for the Union Soldiers’ Colony in Fitzgerald, Georgia. By 1900, Julius and Amy were divorced, and Amy and her stepson Louis were working as photographers in Thomasville, Georgia.
In 1907 Louis McAllister married Cora Shepard (born about 1872 in Vermont) in Holland, Michigan. By 1910, they were living in Queen City Park in South Burlington, Vermont, where Louis established a photography studio. The McAllisters moved to Burlington, and by 1919 they lived at 47 N. Winooski Avenue. They continued to occupy a summer cottage at Queen City Park, and were active in the Queen City Park Association, which held spiritualist camp meetings annually. McAllister conducted his photography business from home until his death in 1963.
McAllister’s “trademark” was his panorama camera which made him familiar to all sorts of groups ranging from graduating classes to state police to summer camp groups. In addition he did print 8 x 10 photos, many of which document building construction and Burlington Street Department projects, as well as group and individual portraits.
The L.L. McAllister Collection includes portraits, construction projects, buildings, businesses and events in the Burlington area covering the period ca. 1920-1960. The collection also includes photos of street, bridge, airport and sewer construction and repair, as well as group portraits of clubs, schools, etc.
Revised April, 2010
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Related Archival Collection
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- UVM Botany Dept.
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Group of young men, including an African-American, possibly UVM students and members of a fraternity, dressed in comic "hayseed" attire and carrying scythes and pitchforks. Housing in background suggests campus setting. Horse-drawn farm implement. Warm and sunny day; occasion unknown.
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- UVM Botany Dept.
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Students (and dog) assembled before the current Pomeroy Hall, which served as the first building for the medical college (1828), and then the Agricultural Experiment Station (1886). Affiliation of the group is unknown, but they may be agriculture majors in a particular botany course.
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- UVM Groups
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Young women and men, very likely college students, assembled in front of the Billings Library at UVM. Group type unknown but possibly a choral group or other student club.
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- UVM Groups
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8 men in front of the former gymnasium (built 1901), now the Royall Tyler Theatre, which has a restored entrance way but the same arabesque detail on both sides. Athletes seem to be runners. Photo #9.
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- UVM Groups
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UVM students (some Class of 1932?) in front of the Billings Library.
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- UVM Groups
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Group portrait of UVM Class of 1931; sophomore year. Three women and 37 men. Size of the group and John Dewey Hall as background indicate a Medical School class. Photo 7Mc
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- UVM Groups
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Group of women, very likely college students, in front of the Billings Library on an apparently chilly day. Perhaps a newly formed sorority? Several are wearing long ties. Other clothing suggests late 1920s or early 30s.
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- UVM Groups
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UVM students in academic regalia. Occasion or year unknown. Taken in front of the Billings Library.
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- UVM Groups
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Group portrait of young men and women, very likely UVM students, assembled before a replica of Old Mill. Very likely a student honor society. However, group identity, the event, date of the photo, and the site are unknown.
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- UVM Groups
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A group of young men and women assemble for a portrait with a view of University Row buildings in the background. Undated. 1920s?
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- UVM Groups
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A large group of men and women in costume assemble in a gymnasium type room, possibly in Southwick Hall on Redstone campus. Crepe paper streamers festoon from the ceiling. A group of musicians are seen on a stage in the background.
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- UVM Groups
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UVM students, very likely fraternity members, assembled before Sigma Nu fraternity house, 57 So. Williams St. Occasion might be an end-of-semester formal or the Winter Carnival ball.
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- UVM Groups
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Group portrait of UVM class of 1929 College of Medicine (outside on the steps of John Dewey Hall) Sophomore year. 1930? Photo #6.
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- UVM Kake Walk
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UVM Kake Walk couple. If these are the same as those identified in the UVM yearbook (Ariel 1929) as "The Winning Couple," they are: Nelson B. Gray, class '30 & Charles N. DeRose, class '30, members of Phi Delta Theta. Photo #4.
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- UVM Kake Walk
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32nd annual Kake Walk. University of Vermont. Feb. 22-23, 1929. Signed by McAllister, no. 3. Ten couples (all male), representing campus fraternities, competed in a blackface entertainment known as "walkin' fo' de kake."
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- UVM Newman Club
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1951 photo of the UVM Newman Club, which today is known as the Catholic Center at UVM. Newman Clubs (named after John Henry Cardinal Newman) provided spiritual guidance and social activities to Catholic students at secular colleges. At the time of this photo, which appears in the 1953 Ariel (UVM...
Show more1951 photo of the UVM Newman Club, which today is known as the Catholic Center at UVM. Newman Clubs (named after John Henry Cardinal Newman) provided spiritual guidance and social activities to Catholic students at secular colleges. At the time of this photo, which appears in the 1953 Ariel (UVM yearbook), the home of the Newman Club was at 118 Pearl St. The priest pictured here is Fr. William R. Mulligan. Seated next to him is faculty adviser Catherine F. Nulty, a professor in the UVM Education department. Photo #46.
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- UVM Sororities - Alpha Chi Omega
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Sisters of Alpha Chi Omega sorority (residence: 384 Main St., Burlington, Vt.). Dated 1953. Photo #17.
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- UVM Sororities - Alpha Chi Omega
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Sisters of Alpha Chi Omega sorority (residence: 384 Main St., Burlington, Vt.). Dated 1953. Photo #18.
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- UVM Sororities - Alpha Chi Omega
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Sisters of Alpha Chi Omega sorority (residence: 384 Main St., Burlington, Vt.). Dated 1945. Photo #2.
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- UVM Sororities - Alpha Chi Omega
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Sisters of Alpha Chi Omega sorority (residence: 384 Main St., Burlington, Vt.). Dated 1945.