The heart of the Nathan F. Davis Photography Collection is the wide-ranging collection of photographs taken by Nathan Davis himself. A member of Bucknell’s class of 1895 and a long-serving professor of biology, Davis used his enthusiasm for photography to document Lewisburg and Bucknell, as well as local covered bridges, scientific sites, and vacation destinations. Special Collections & University Archives holds these images as lantern slides and had them digitized in 2025.
In addition to images captured by Davis, the collection includes groups of digitized lantern slides produced commercially and collected by Davis and his family. Subjects include Yellowstone National Park, Palestine, and the construction of the Panama Canal.
Digital images of Pennsylvania covered bridges reproduced from slides, negatives, and original photographs taken between 1936 and 1937 by Dr. Nelson F. Davis, Professor of Biology at Bucknell University from 1898 to 1939.
“The Story of the Yellowstone” is a collection of 100 lantern slides that were commercially available around 1930. The descriptions of the slides have been taken from the descriptive lecture that accompanied the slides. The slides were published by the Haynes Picture Shops, Inc. The Haynes family were the official photographers of Yellowstone National Park. This collection was purchased by Nelson Davis.