Sumpter Valley #14 and #15 Caption Problems: can we trust what we read?

I almost didn't share this image, because of its quality. However, I realized that it is a good example of something that historians, photo collectors and archivists run into from time to time. Back story on the photos is that they were donated to our SVRR Archive by a descendant of Sumpter Valley Ry. engineer Melvin "Peck" Hutchins. The first photo is the best I could do with the image in terms of photo editing. The second photo is an unedited scan of the same photo with the caption "SVRR Eng 14 1922" written on the border. I presume the caption was written by Mr. Hutchins. From the same group of photos, is the third image attached, again an unedited scan showing the same engine. The border caption says" 14 Switch Engine 1924. Finally from the same group of photos is the fourth image attached with the border caption "14 Switch Engine 1922 SVRR". Even if you are unfamiliar with the Sumpter Valley Ry. engine roster, you will quickly see the problem. The engine in the fourth image attached is clearly not the same engine in the previous photos. Also note that the two photos which appear to be the same engine have the dates 1922 and 1924. Let me help with the identification and time line. The engine in the first 3 scans is actually Sumpter Valley Ry. #15 which was used in switching service at South Baker in the late 19teens. It was out of service around 1920 and was replaced by the #14 as the designated switch engine. Further, #15 was one of the engines caught in the Jan. 1921 round house fire, and also shown as retired in the records of the ICC as of that month. So, not only is identity wrong as written on the first two photos, so is the date. The date had to be sometime in 1920 or earlier, not 1922 or 1924. The fourth photo from the group is correct in terms of the engine being #14, but can we believe the date? It could be right, but since the others are wrong, we are left with some doubt. These are not the only examples that I have run across where captions were likely put on photos many years after they were taken, perhaps by the person who took them. The person writing the caption may have been up in years, relying on memories from 40 or more years past, which is presumably the case here. Moral of the story then is don't believe everything you read on the back or edge of a photo. Don't be afraid to cross reference with other established facts. The scans are from the SVRR Archive.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2021 03:30PM by J.B.Bane.