Digital Exhibits

Clapshaw Children at Christmas

Two children, a boy and a girl, sit looking up at a Christmas Tree. They are most likely Dorothy and Harold Clapshaw, the daughter and son of the photographer, William Alonso Clapshaw. They would have been around 6-9 years old in 1914. The setting is the Clapshaw Home, which was probably in the Hillside neighborhood northwest of Forest Grove, although they may have been living in another location when this photograph was taken.

The children are dressed in nice clothing, with the boy wearing a tie and the girl wearing a large bow on her head. The tree is trimmed with ornaments and a garland made of popcorn; crepe paper decorations hang from the ceiling in the foreground. Envelopes and small presents also hang from the tree, while several larger presents are on the floor beneath it. The edge of a stove appears on the right. The same oilcloth rug on the floor also appears in many of the studio-style portraits that Clapshaw created.

This is one image from a set of glass plate negatives created by William Alonso Clapshaw. Clapshaw was a clerk and shopkeeper who lived near Forest Grove, Oregon for most of his life. He was born in 1880, probably at the family's home in the Hillside neighborhood of Forest Grove, on what is now Clapshaw Hill Road east of Gales Creek. Around 1910-1914, William took an interest in photography and created a set of glass plate negatives documenting scenes near his family's lands as well as images of himself, his friends and family members. He most likely used a silver gelatin dry plate process. The photographs were donated to the Pacific University Archives in 2023.

Clapshaw, William Alonso, 1880-2023

circa 1910-1914

PUA_MS154_044

Christmas

Christmas decorations

Holidays

Forest Grove, Oregon

Gales Creek, Oregon

Gelatin silver negatives

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Pacific University Archives