Frederick Joy Fairbank cradles his son Chandler in this low-key interior view taken in the parlor of the Fairbank home. At the time the photograph was taken-possibly by his spouse Winifred Swarts Fairbank- it’s believed he was an instructor at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. A well-composed light and shadow interior study of fatherhood.

Frederick Joy Fairbank: 1875-1965

Part of Fairbank’s CV as published in the Catalog of Carleton College for the Academic Year 1906-07:

FREDERICK J. FAIRBANK, M. A., Acting Professor of the Latin Language and Literature on the Horatio Nelson Brinsmade Foundation. B. A., Illinois College, 1897; B. A., Indiana University, 1899; M. A., Yale University, 1901; Tutor in Latin, Indiana University, 1897-99; Instructor in Latin, Jacksonville, (Ill.) High School, 1899-1900; Graduate Student Yale University 1900-02; Instructor, Western Illinois State Normal School, 1902-06; Instructor in Carleton College since 1906.

After his 30-year career as Treasurer of Carleton College, Fairbank accepted the position of business manager at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL:

Frederick Joy Fairbank, recently retired treasurer of Carleton College, assumed the duties of business manager about September 1, replacing Mr. Clarendon Smith. Mr. Fairbank was graduated by Illinois College in 1890 and in 1891 he completed his work for a masters degree at Yale. Before going to Carleton in 1910, Mr. Fairbank taught at Indiana University. He then went to Carleton as professor of Latin and later was appointed treasurer, and continued in that position for thirty years. (1.)

Fairbank’s son, Chandler Davenport Fairbank: 1908-1994, would go on to receive his masters degree in landscape design at the University of Michigan in 1935, where his dissertation was: Principles of Landscape Design in Nature as Observed in Estes and Rocky Mountain National Parks.

1. Article: The Illinois College Rambler, Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, September 30, 1942, p. 1