James D. Grabow photograph collection

The collection primarily contains photographs of Maryland’s Eastern Shore taken by James D. Grabow during the 1980s through 2000s, and is divided into three series: Exhibit Photographs; Eastern Shore Photographs; Vacation Photographs; and, D.W. Grabow Photographs. Marinas and skipjacks are Grabow’s most photographed subjects, but he also documented the many churches of the area. These photographs were taken with a Hasselblad 500 C with 50 mm and 150 mm lenses on verichrome pan 120 film and printed on double weight Kodak N surface paper. Grabow intended to showcase the mounted photographs in Series I in an exhibit, but this never came to fruition.

Series III contains Grabow’s family vacation photographs. He and his children visited Maryland landmarks, including the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and the Army Ordinance Museum in Aberdeen, in the early 2000’s. Grabow thoroughly documented the locations they visited in color photographs.

Photographs taken of Washington, D.C. by Grabow’s father, D. W., are also included in the collection. D. W. Grabow and his wife, Louise Liebich, visited the capital before their marriage in 1937. Famous landmarks, such as the United States Capitol building and Washington Monument, are the main subjects of these photographs.