15 sketchbooks (circa 1,200 paintings) : watercolor ; 17.8 x 26 cm and smaller.

4 scrapbooks (circa 50 paintings and circa 70 photographic prints) : b & w ; 30.5 x 40 cm and smaller.

The collection consists of watercolor sketchbooks and scrapbooks created and compiled by Henry Duncan Grant while he traveled in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia as an officer in the Royal Navy, 1866-1896, and with his family. Grant travelled extensively throughout his career. The geographic focus of his work seems to follow a few broad patterns. Most of his images made before 1889 depict European scenes, a trip to India in 1871-1873, and Greece and the Near East. His work from 1889 through 1891 includes extensive images of the Americas, including the Canadian and United States West. Much of his work after 1891 concerns England, Egypt, and the Caribbean. Duncan painted seashores, harbors, buildings, cemeteries, landscapes, animals, plants, and copies of other artwork. The scrapbooks contain watercolors as well as family photographs and clippings from The Naval and Military Record and from London newspapers about naval vessels and military topics.

The first of the four 3.5 x 5 inch volumes (1867-1888) includes images of a sugar mill in Barbados and of Chinese men smoking opium aboard a steamship of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. A second volume (1888-1890) depicts locations and people in South America, and several North American subjects, including a American Indian gravesite near Yale, British Columbia, and the Statue of Liberty. A third volume (1890-1892) depicts locations and people in South America, as well as England, Ukrainian Russia, and Egypt. The fourth volume (1892-1895) consists chiefly of imagery of Egypt and England.

The first of five 5 x 7 inch volumes (1866-1868) includes views of British warships and the Nordic region. The second volume (1867-1881) contains detailed drawings of fish and views of Estonia and the British Isles. The third album (1881-1883) depicts European colonies in southeast Asia, as well as views of France and Spain. The fourth album (1883-1886) depicts sardine processing and scenes from England, Spain, France, and Newfoundland. The fifth volume (1886-1888) includes depictions of a picnic and game of lawn tennis in Devon, England, and views of Greece, Turkey, and Syria.

The first of three 5.5 x 9 inch volumes (1889-1891) includes images of Europe, South America, and North America, and documents a journey on the Canadian Pacific Railway from the Great Lakes to British Columbia and Grant's continuing travel through Oregon, Utah, and Colorado in 1889. The second volume (1891-1893) includes depictions of England, the Caribbean Area, and Egypt. The third volume (1893-1896) also depicts England and the Caribbean region, including views of buildings in Jamaica.

The first of three 7 by 10 inch volumes (1884-1889) depicts England and harbors of European countries, as well as plants in pots. The second volume (1889-1894) includes images of Canada and the United States, as well as images of Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, and Turkey. The third volume (1894-1896) depicts England and the Caribbean.

A 14 x 20 inch scrapbook entitled "Sketches in India, 1871-1873," which Grant created while Captain of the HMS Serapis, chiefly includes scenes on the way from the Red Sea to India. It documents Elephanta Island and the railway between Bhore Ghat and Mumbai. The volume also includes an ink drawing of a British social club drawn by O. F. Mulloy. The second large scrapbbok (1893-1896) includes images of England, Egypt, and the Caribbean.

A scrapbook that measures 12 x 15.75 inches covers a period from 1894 to 1896, and consists mostly of London newspaper clippings and clippings from The Naval and Military Record discussing naval vessels or military topics. It includes an invitation to an afternoon party with Queen Victoria in July 1896.

A scrapbook that measures 9.5 x by 11 inches (24.1 x 27.9 centimeters), covers a period from 1894 to 1900, and was probably compiled by Agnes Harriet Elizabeth Grant (born circa 1835), the wife of Henry Duncan Grant. The scrapbook includes paintings and drawings by several amateur artists, pressed plant leaves, and about seventy photographic prints. Images include portraits of the Grant family; views of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France; and several photographs by an acquaintance, Sybil Williams, that show scenes in Scotland, October 1895.

England and Wales. Royal Navy > Officers.

Harbors > Pictorial works.

Navies > Officers.

Seashore > Pictorial works.

Africa > Pictorial works.

Asia > Pictorial works.

Canada, Western > Pictorial works.

Europe > Pictorial works.

North America > Pictorial works.

South America > Pictorial works.

West (U.S.) > Pictorial works.

Botanical illustrations.

Scrapbooks.

Watercolors (paintings)