Boston Studio Ledgers

The Boston Studio Ledgers database is based on the ledgers from the Harvey Boston Photographic Studio in David City, Nebraska, in business from 1893-1979. This searchable database contains the approximate 100,000 entries recorded in the ledgers, and includes entries both with and without available negatives. (Approximately 32,000 of the entries do not have negatives.) The complete ledger is provided because of its historic significance to genealogists and historians. To view only those ledger entries that have images, see the Boston Studio Image Collection.

The database can be searched using the name and address of the purchaser, date of the photograph, descriptive remarks, and negative number.

Search for a Ledger Entry

The Ledgers were handwritten by a variety of people over the years. The quality of the penmanship and spelling varies widely � within each ledger and across all ledgers. The entries were typed into the database as shown in the ledger, even if errors were obvious. You may want to use just a few letters when searching for a particular name, or use the �sounds like� search option if unsure of the exact spelling. Also, the Name field indicates the purchaser and does not necessarily refer to someone in the photograph.

Similar caution is needed when searches for an address. The town of David City was rarely written into the ledger but it can be assumed that for those entries where no town is listed in the address field, David City was probably their place of residence. The address might also be abbreviated, such as �Rising� instead of �Rising City�.

The Remarks field will sometimes list the name of the person(s) in the photograph, or give a word or phrase to indicate the subject, such as �babe� or �baby� if the photo is of a baby. This description was either taken from the ledger or added by the archivist while cross matching the negatives to the ledger entries. Not all the information contained in the original ledgers was entered in the database. Names of wedding attendants, birthdates of children, hair color, eye color and clothing descriptions were often included in the ledgers, but not always included in the database.

The original ledger pages have been microfilmed and are available for viewing at the Hruska Memorial Library. Copies of the original ledger page(s) may be ordered by contacting the Hruska Memorial Library by email at Hruskalibrary@alltel.net.