Boynton Collection on Exhibit
for Inauguration of Chancellor

Lyceum with students, 1860

In celebration of the inauguration of University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat on April 11, 1996, the Center, with the department of Archives and Special Collections of the John Davis Williams Library, mounted an exhibition of photographs from the negatives of E. C. Boynton. The photographs will be on display in Barnard Observatory through the summer.

Born in 1824 in Windsor, Vermont, and a graduate of West Point Military Academy in 1846, Boynton fought in the Mexican-American War with Zachary Taylor. He taught Chemistry and Mineralogy at West Point and at the New York State Normal School at Albany. In January of 1856, he was named Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology at the University of Mississippi. Like many other photographers of this period, Boynton came to the medium of photography through the sciences.

Using the wet plate collodion process that Frederick Scott Archer invented in 1851, Boynton made glass plate negatives of campus architecture, portraits of his family and friends, and several self-portraits. Samples of these various subjects are represented in the current exhibition.

University Gymnasium, ca. 1859-1861

Boynton was a supporter of F. A. P. Barnard's attempts to make the University a leader in scientific research and education. His negatives remained in Oxford mainly because of his unfortunate departure from the University and the region. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Boynton's sentiments were decidedly in favor of the North. He was placed under house arrest, dismissed from the University, given a pass by the governor, and ushered to the state border with his family and three trunks of possessions. He never returned. He left his house, furnishings, and many other personal belongings, including the negatives.

Boynton's images are a lasting legacy of his time at the University and are a powerful reflection of the early years of the institution. The exhibition was produced by Tom Rankin and Karen Glynn of the Center, with assistance from the U.S. Military Academy Library and the Newburgh Historical Society.