Bernard Cone Photograph Albums

Bernard Milton Cone (1874-1956) was born in Baltimore as one of the youngest of Herman and Helen Cone's thirteen children. His elder brothers, Moses (1857-1908) and Ceasar (1859-1917), built Proximity Cotton Mills in Greensboro in 1895, and later launched Revolution Mill, White Oak Mill, and Proximity Print Works, creating one of the largest textile mill companies in the South. Educated at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia Law School, Bernard Cone worked as a lawyer in New York for seven years before settling in Greensboro in 1904. Over the next 45 years, he held various positions in the family's textile empire, including that of president of Proximity Manufacturing Company from 1917 to 1938. Cone was a skilled amateur photographer, and his photos provide a rich picture of life in Greensboro in the 1900s and 1910s. Images show: members of the Cone family and their mansions on Summit Avenue, the textile mills and their employees, the mill villages and their residents, and mill-sponsored schools and recreational activities. Cone also captured street scenes in downtown Greensboro and the city's 1908 centennial celebrations. In addition, the albums include several creative self-portraits.

Details

Who's responsible?: Greensboro History Museum (Repository)
Where can I find more information?: No finding aid available.
Topics: Business
Events
North Carolina
Jewish History
People
Subject headings: Greensboro (N.C.) -- History -- 20th century
Cone Mills Corporation
Textile industry -- North Carolina -- Greensboro
Contributing Institution: Greensboro History Museum

Pages

: A dog in the woods; View of a dog, probably a hunting dog, in the woods.

: A dog in the woods; View of a dog, probably a hunting dog, in the woods.

: A man and two children; An African-American man and his two young children pose with a wagon outside a mill house.

: A mother and her children; A mother sits outdoors with her three children.

: A mother and her children; A mother and her three children sit on the steps to a house.

: A&M College band in a wagon; A wagon carries the A&M College (now North Carolina A&T State University) band to a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. The wagon is decorated with fabric and may have served as a float.

: Actors on a stage; A group of actors pose on a stage set.

: Advertising carriage; A man poses while seated in a carriage with an umbrella that promotes a clothing and dry goods store in Greensboro, perhaps the Harry Belk Brothers Company. Another man is standing behind the carriage.

: African-American family; An African-American family poses in front of corn presumably in a garden.

: After the hunt; Jeanette Cone lounges beside a bale of hay with two men and a hunting dog.

: American Realty & Auction Company float; View of the American Realty & Auction Company float for a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. The float is parked in front of a house, decorated with star-covered banners, and has several men aboard.

: American Realty & Auction Company float; View of the American Realty & Auction Company float for a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. The float is parked in front of a house, decorated with star-covered banners, and has several men aboard.

: American Realty & Auction Company float; View of the American Realty & Auction Company float passing in front of First Baptist Church on its way to a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. The float is decorated with star-covered banners, and several men ride aboard.

: Athletic Park; People mill around an athletic park on Cone property. White Oak School is visible in the left background.

: Automatic Bed Company float; The Automatic Bed Company float passes along the 200 block of West Market Street in a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. Men riding on the float sit on examples of an automatic beds. The former Greensboro Patriot office and the Greensboro Motor Car Company are visible in the background.

: Automatic Bed Company float; A front view of the Automatic Bed Company float for a parade during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations.

: Baby in a chair; A baby is propped up in a wicker rocking chair outdoors.

: Baby in a crib; A toddler, probably Ceasar Cone II, peers through the bars of a crib standing outdoors.

: Baby in a crib; A toddler, probably Ceasar Cone II, peers through the bars of a crib standing outdoors.

: Baby in a pram; A baby sits in a baby carriage parked on the sidewalk in front of a house.

Bernard Cone Photograph Albums

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