Oblong Folio album (ca. 25,9x33,6 cm). 18 card stock leaves. With ca. 46 original gelatin silver photographs, including three real photo postcards, from ca. 12,8x17,7cm (5 x 7 in) to ca. 7,5x10,8 cm (3 x 4 ¼ in); eight color printed postcards ca. 8,9x14 cm (3 ½ x 5 ½ in), and numerous newspaper clippings and printed cruise ephemera. Most photos with period white ink captions on the mounts, at least one photo with ink caption on the verso, one photo dated. Period brown papered boards fastened with a string; with gilt-lettered title “Photographs” on the front board. At least one photo missing, about five leaves detached, pages with loss of fragments at the margins, but otherwise a very good album with strong, interesting photos.

Historically important album with lively amateur snapshots taken by an American female tourist during two cruises to the West Indies in 1940 and 1941.  

The first cruise took place in March 1940, when the traveler (captured in several photos) and her friends departed New York aboard the SS Nieuw Amsterdam (Hamburg America Line) for an eight-day voyage to Haiti and Cuba. Launched in 1938, the Nieuw Amsterdam was the largest and fastest Dutch ship of its time. Shortly after this cruise, she was requisitioned as an Allied troopship, later returning to passenger service before her retirement in 1973.

The second cruise occurred a year later, in April 1941, aboard the MS Kungsholm—at the time, the only foreign-flagged vessel engaged in cruise service from the United States. According to the photographs, the compiler departed New York on April 14 for a seven-day voyage with stops in Nassau (the Bahamas) and Charleston (South Carolina).

The album opens with five lively vernacular photographs taken aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam, including a group portrait of the compiler and her companions on deck, and a bustling view of the ship’s dining room filled with passengers.

Around twenty images document Haiti just a few years after the end of the American occupation (1915–1934). Highlights include a sweeping view of the waterfront (with the Haiti Capitol building prominently visible), the city hall proudly flying the Haitian flag, and traditional houses with steeply pitched thatched hip roofs. Especially interesting are six candid urban scenes capturing locals engrossed in a cockfight, the compiler and her friends browsing outdoor market stalls, and street vendors balancing baskets and selling vegetables at a busy market. The Haiti section concludes with four scenic views of Kenscoff, including a wide shot of the bay.

The Cuban series opens with three well-executed images of the travelers at Havana’s iconic Morro Castle and a real photo postcard of the group posing at the site. There are also about seven excellent photographs from Havana featuring notable landmarks - the city’s cemetery, Gran Casino, the Maine Monument, Brewery Gardens, Columbus Cathedral, and the Spreckels Tomb.

The final portion of the album features eight snapshots from the second cruise, including scenes from a local market in Nassau and the compiler and her friends exploring Cypress Gardens.

The collection is supplemented with eleven original newspaper clippings from American newspapers, mostly highlighting Cypress and Middleton Gardens, and about twenty pieces of printed cruise ephemera. For the Nieuw Amsterdam, these include breakfast and luncheon menus, wardrobe suggestions for Southern cruises, an Easter dinner menu, a Fin De Siglo advertising brochure, a shore excursion program from Frank Travel Service (est. 1875), The Perfect Pocket Guide from Havana Weekly, and a baggage label. From the Kungsholm cruise, materials include three issues of the shipboard Kungsholm Cruise News, daily programs (Going on Today, Program), a Paradise Beach brochure, a shore trip itinerary, and a menu.

Overall, historically interesting collection of original gelatin silver photographs documenting two wartime cruises to the West Indies.