The Harrison Family of Guilford

    Katherine ("Kitty") Fowler Harrison (1894-1986) married Louis Harrison, November 27, 1920, at the Episcopal Church in Guilford. Kitty appears in many of the photos and is recognizable by her delicate, angelic facial features and light hair. She was a graduate of the Guilford High School, class of 1914, along with her brother Harold L. Fowler and two of her friends Josephine (“Josi”) Scranton and Florence Adeline Norton (who are also in the photos).

    Louis Harrison (1893-1983) was born in Southbury, Connecticut. His parents were William H. Harrison and Anna Bates Harrison. At some point, he was adopted by Captain Louis P. Anderson (born 1852) and his wife Mary E. Anderson (born 1854) and lived in Guilford. After serving in the U.S. Army in World War I, he returned to Guilford in 1919, married 1920 and worked for 50 years as a yard foreman at the Knowles-Lombard Canning factory until his retirement.

    Louis and Kitty had three children, Lambert (born 1921), Anna Jo (born 1927) and Bruce (born 1931). They lived at 342 Water Street, where the box of negatives was discovered.

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Photographer

    We do not know who took each photo. The persons behind the camera, we presume to be Kitty Fowler and her brother Harold Fowler.

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Date

    The photos were obtained without any accompanying information or dates. However, we believe that they were taken between 1918 and 1920. Of all the photographs, only two have been positively dated as having been taken in 1920.

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History of the Collection

    A candy box with hundreds of film negatives was discovered by the realtors—Gordon Whiteman and his son Bradford Whiteman–in the attic of Anna Jo Harrison’s house on Water Street, when the property was put up for sale in 2002. The collection was offered to the Guilford Free Library, which selected about 40 negatives and the remainder was given back to the Whitemans who eventually handed them over to John D. Plant. When he joined the Guilford Keeping Society, he donated his part of the collection to the Guilford Keeping Society, whereupon the Guilford Free Library allocated its material to the Guilford Keeping Society. This resulted in joyful reunion of a once divided collection.

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An Open Request

    Many of the buildings and places, as well as the people shown, have not been identified. Anyone having further information should feel welcome to contact the Guilford Keeping Society (Library Committee).