A life in Peking: The Peabody albums (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts)

The author examines two photograph albums found in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts). The albums contain 125 albumen prints depicting people and places associated with Peking (Beijing), China in the late-nineteenth century. Through a close analysis of the individual images, in the context of a detailed understanding of the historical period, the author is able to attribute the topographic views of Peking to Dr John Dudgeon (a missionary doctor from Scotland) and the ownership of the albums to Hugh Fraser (a diplomat in the British Legation).