Scope and Contents

200 x 142 mm. A view showing the hall and staircase in the new Vailima. The photograph shows Robert Louis Stevenson leaning against the staircase, Fanny Stevenson (blurred) seated and holding a lute, Lloyd Osborne (Fanny Stevenson’s son by a previous marriage) sitting beside a piano, and Joe Strong (Fanny Stevenson’s son-in-law) standing behind the piano. Photograph signed ‘Andrew’.

Scope and Contents

244 x 181 mm. View looking towards the circular thatched building, with a group of Samoan nobles seated on the ground in front and a group of soldiers on parade in the foreground. The caption reads 'This is the King of Samoa's Palace. The soldiers are the Kings of Honolulu who went to Samoa and endeavoured to take the island. I got it mostly to show the Kings Palace'.

Scope and Contents

A view of the memorial tombstone with the names of the 12 men from USS ‘Philadelphia’ and HMS ‘Royalist’ who were killed in action in April 1899. Print number 41.

Scope and Contents An album containing mounted photographs of various sizes showing scenes in Australia, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. The collection of amateur photographs is by members of the tour and professional work mainly by Burton Bros. of Dunedin (but see a note on the photography below). The most interesting and historically important photographs are those showing scenes from, and participants in, the Samoan Civil War of 1899. There is also a good portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson, and pictures of...

Scope and Contents This file contains a large number of detailed notes by Smedley on his various visits throughout New Zealand and beyond, including a lengthy report on a visit to the Pitcairn Islands, Tahiti and Samoa, as well as visits to Taranaki, Manawatu, South Island, Ashburton, Waioru, Hawkes Bay, Northland, Rotorua, South Canterbury, Palmerston North, Nelson, Waikato, Auckland, Stratford, Southland, Tauranga, Kawerau and Gisborne. This material is accompanied by two colour maps of New Zealand (circa...

Scope and Contents

100 x 58 mm. A view showing two typical Samoan houses with walls partially hung with mats and thatched roofs.

Scope and Contents

57 x 100 mm. A studio portrait of two Samoan men, one seated and one standing; the standing warrior holds a serrated club.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

Scope and Contents

A view looking over the heads of spectators towards a company of soldiers and officers grouped around the flag-draped tombstone. Print number 40.

Scope and Contents

A full length studio portrait of Chief Uo dressed in ceremonial skirts. Uo was a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Scope and Contents

A coloured view looking across a pool of water towards the bungalow, with an American flag flying on a mast in front of the building. Print number 37.

Scope and Contents

A view showing the three wrecked ships in Apia harbour after the 1889 hurricane. The loss of these ships highlights the chaos of the storm; in the overcrowded harbour ships battered each other uncontrollably. 43 men died from the ‘Vandalia’, only one from ‘Trenton’.

Scope and Contents

83 x 55 mm. An amateur snapshot showing the home of Robert Louis Stevenson. The name in Samoan means ‘place of five streams’, although in fact there were only four.

Scope and Contents

195 x 135 mm. The building on the left, which Robert Louis Stevenson moved into in 1890, was the original Vailima. The building at the right, which eventually became larger than the first house, was added in 1893. The enclosed portion of the upstairs verandah was his workshop and library.

Scope and Contents

156 x 110 mm. Photographer unknown. An aerial view of the former home of Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa.

Scope and Contents

A studio portrait of Vau in elaborately decorated clothes. Vau was the daughter of Chief Seumanutafa, a great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson. Print number 45.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

Scope and Contents

Smithson has pencilled '28/12' next to '21. View from road to Vailima'.

Scope and Contents

Smithson has pencilled '30/2' next to '80. From main street in Apia'.

Scope and Contents

A view looking along the beach at Apia showing the ferocious surf, with merchants’ premises in the background. ‘W. Blacklock’, owner of a hotel in Pago Pago, can be read on the roof of a store near the shore. Print number 21.

Scope and Contents

A coloured lantern slide showing the Apia waterfront. The steep hill behind the town is Mount Vaea, on which Robert Louis Stevenson is buried; his grave lies at the summit directly above the white building at the furthest left of the picture. A duplicate in black and white, reversed, is at 40A. Print number 40.

Scope and Contents

A view showing the Apia waterfront. The steep hill behind the town is Mount Vaea, on which Robert Louis Stevenson is buried; his grave lies at the summit directly above the white building at the furthest left of the picture. A duplicate of Y309993A(LS)/2, reversed and in black and white, Print number 22.

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...

Scope and Contents From the Fonds: A collection of glass lantern slides, 82 x 82 mm, mostly of Samoa, taken by John Snowden Smithson. Smithson visited Samoa on holiday and presumably the remaining slides (5 of them unidentified, 13 of Yosemite National Park and 10 of Ceylon), together with a map, date from the same period. None of the slides are captioned, but the first 91 slides have numbers on their left hand corners, running from 20/10 to 30/9, with a few gaps, and presumably represent the sequence in which the...