Historical dream account · English · published source text
The Photographs behind the Wardrobe Drawer
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · 1901 edition, chapter VI, printed pp.227–228; PDF pages 239–240; original scan leaves 243–244
Dreamer identified by the source: Mrs. Yates (as named in the source)
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'' About five years since I had sent me, by a friend, some unmounted photographs of " The Stations of the Cross," taken in miniature from frescoes at Rome, with the request that after inspection I would immediately return them, as they were valued. I placed them in an envelope, and, as I thought, in the secretaire, but on finishing a letter in which I intended to return them, to my dismay, they were nowhere to be found. We searched unceasingly, but fruitlessly. I submitted meekly to reproofs for my carelessness, and so the matter passed out of thought. " More than a twelvemonth after I dreamt I took out a top short drawer in a wardrobe that stood in a then unused dressing-room, and found the little pictures. It will naturally be asked, ' Did you not, the first thing in the morning, ascertain whether your dream had anything in it, by removing the drawer ? ' I did not. I mentioned it to my family, but it had no special interest for them, and it was no more thought of ; but several months after, on the removal of the wardrobe to another part of the house, the drawers being taken out to lighten it, there, snugly enough, lay the envelope and the little pictures ! I have them mounted and framed."
Source & context
A sleep-dream recollection reproduced in the 1901 edition’s chapters compiled by an unnamed collaborator, mainly from earlier Society for Psychical Research material. The quoted waking follow-up and supernatural interpretation are historical claims by the source, not independently verified events.
Mrs. Yates (as named in the source), reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Co., 1901), 1901 edition, chapter VI, printed pp.227–228; PDF pages 239–240; original scan leaves 243–244. Primary witness: original 1901 edition at Internet Archive. The compiler, dreamer, and separately credited earlier recorder are distinguished. Editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated narrative or new translation.
The publication year is not the dream date. No exact dream date or present-day person location is inferred. Dates printed in the narrative remain source wording.
Public domain in the United States (1901 edition) ↗
The original English 1901 edition is public domain in the United States by expired publication term; Archive metadata reports NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT. No new Archive license or Public Domain Mark grant is asserted. The linked NoC-US statement describes the US-only rights basis; blanket worldwide clearance is not asserted. Hutchinson’s own writing and named or unidentified contributors are distinguished; no contributor is assigned the compiler’s death date. Named or initialled historical contributor as printed; contributor death date not established here. US publication-term basis is used, not Hutchinson’s death year..
Source locator and text provenance
1901 edition, chapter VI, printed pp.227–228; PDF pages 239–240; original scan leaves 243–244
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Whitespace/linewrap normalization, witnessed end-of-line dehyphenation, and listed scan-verified OCR repairs only. No dream narrative, person, event, translation or stylistic rewrite added.
- Account text SHA-256
- f59e42eaf730379b60e84d0c590e3533344f54cd19026493f0d3cfe9b5537cb9
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Lost object
- Religious imagery
- Claimed clairvoyance
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.