COLLECTION SUMMARY

Repository: Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University

Collection number: MWM2010.0001

Creator/ Collector: Daniel “Dan” A. Noel

Collection title:  Daniel A. Noel White Mountains Collection

Dates: 1831-2000 [bulk 1870-1980]

Extent: 121 boxes (46.04 linear feet), and 1 flat file drawer

Abstract:

The Dan Noel Collection is the Founding Collection of the Museum of the White Mountains. In 2010, the late Daniel Noel, a life-long New Hampshire resident, White Mountains photographer, and collector, gave Plymouth State University his lifetime collection of White Mountains related materials. The collection includes thousands of archival materials and images, including rare glass-plate photographs, stereoscopic images, hotel ledgers, postcards, early and first edition books about the region, bird’s-eye views and maps, framed Bartlett prints, paintings, and other significant White Mountains ephemera.

Acquisition information:

The collection was presented to Plymouth State University by the donor in February 2010.

Language(s): Collection materials are in English

Processed by: MWM Staff, 2011-2015. Finding aid written by Rebecca Enman, 2021.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Daniel “Dan” Noel of Invervale, New Hampshire, was born on January 2, 1941. Noel attended Kennett High School and graduated from North Yarmouth Academy. He went on to attend R.I.T. where he would pursue his life-long passion of photography. After college, Noel returned to the Valley and worked as a freelance photographer. He was a dedicated volunteer to the North Conway Fire Department, and retired as the Captain of Engine 3 after 26 years of service.

Over the course of his lifetime in New Hampshire, Noel’s passion for the White Mountains grew and he built an impressive collection of photographs (including rare glass-plate and stereoscopic images), postcards, hotel ledgers, first-edition and other early books, maps, prints, and paintings—all relating to his beloved White Mountains.

Shortly before his death, in February 2010 Noel presented his collection to Plymouth State University. The gift of this founding collection to the Museum of the White Mountains inspired other collectors to donate of books, photographs, artwork, and White Mountain memorabilia of the grand hotels and other tourism destinations.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Noel collection is arranged in 121 boxes of varying sizes and is a total of 46.04 linear feet, plus 1 flat file drawer. The collection is organized into 6 series

SERIES I. GENERAL WHITE MOUNTAINS, contains view books and illustrated pamphlets, as well as guides mostly pertaining to the Eastern Slope region, in addition to exhibition catalogs featuring White Mountain art and painters, unframed lithographs, souvenirs, and sheet music. Select materials have been digitized and uploaded to the Museum’s online digital collections page. Also includes issues of the following magazine publications:  Eastern Slope Regionnaire, New Hampshire Profiles, White Mountain Outlook, The Enterprise of the North Country of New Hampshire, AMC Outdoors, The New Hampshire Troubadour, and Northern NH Magazine.

SERIES II. WHITE MOUNTAIN HOTEL RECORDS contains various White Mountain hotel ledgers, receipt books, inventories, letters, and registers. The earliest item in this series is the Samuel Thompson Tavern Ledger, 1862-1864. Many items are undated, but the bulk of the materials date from between 1891- 1945.

SERIES III. PHOTOGRAPHS AND POSTCARDS, contains photographs, postcards, stereoviews, glass plate negatives, and lantern slides depicting the White Mountains region. Accession included original glass plate transparencies from the studio of noted North Conway photographer, Thomas Edward Milliken White, which arrived in their original wooden storage crates. Materials in this series are being digitized and uploaded to the Museum’s online digital collections page: http://digitalcollections.plymouth.edu/digital/collection/p15828coll7

SERIES IV. FRAMED WORKS. This series contains framed artworks and drawings. Part of MWM’s Teaching Collection.

SERIES V. BOOKS. Materials in this series are being cataloged by Plymouth State University’s Lamson Library, and can be found by searching the library’s online public access catalog: http://library.plymouth.edu/

SERIES VI. OBJECTS. This series contains a vintage camera, traveling case, film, and other related objects. Miscellaneous additional materials are located in the flat file drawer in the Museum.

CONTENTS LISTING