Drucker & Co. BANQUET IN HONOR OF WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - TENDERED BY YALE GRADUATES - WALDORF ASTORIA MARCH 19, 1909. Gelatin Silver photo in sepia tone, 1909. Titled lower center, and with the photographer's copyright, name and the number "725" lower left. Mounted to cardboard. A panoramic view of the banquet hall, with the dais at the back. President Taft is fifth from the left among those seated on the dais. 15 3/4 x 23 5/8 inches (photo), 16 1/8 x 24 inches (mount). In very good condition except for a small loss at the lower right corner, and a crease to the cardboard and the image, at right. The image appears to be uncommon. The New York Historical Society has a Menu booklet for this banquet. Ibilio.org provides the following information about the photographer, and locates two images of other banquets they photographed. Drucker & Co. was a New York City photographic firm (1912 address was 204 W. 43rd St.). Copies of their work in our collections are views of formal banquets, which appear to have been a specialty of the firm. https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/arttopic/photgphr/photog-d /drucker.htm Photo # NH 57386: "Banquet tendered as a welcome to the Atlantic Fleet by the City of New York, Hotel Astor, 14 October 1912" Photo # NH 105863: "First Annual Ball" held by Princess Matoika, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, 31 May 1919.
