François-Henri Lavanchy-Clarke

Children’s performance in Ukrainian costume in the garden of the Villa du Méridien in Cannes, next to Lavanchy-Clarke’s Villa Belle Rive. In 1904, Russian officers wounded in the war with Japan were convalescing in Cannes.

Two young girls in Ukrainian costume perform a dance near a palm tree in a garden.

Playful ramblers carrying Sunlight placards in a cow pasture in the Jura (Canton of Vaud). The respectable gentleman is none other than William Whiteley (1831-1907), founder of London’s first department store. Is this a home movie or advertising for the launch of the Sunlight Helvetia soap factory (Olten, 12 October 1898)? Maybe both.

Second pageant for the opening of the Swiss National Museum.

First pageant celebrating the opening of the Swiss National Museum.

Annual pageant commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Morat, the victory in 1476 of the Swiss Confederates over the Duke of Burgundy. The family of Emile Lavanchy watches the event from the left.

Advertising in the center of St. Gallen.

Scene filmed in the town of St. Gallen.

First part of a series documenting the Basel carnival.

Fourth part of a series documenting the Basel carnival.

Fifth part of a series documenting the Basel carnival.

Third part of a series of vues of the Basel Carnival.

Patriotic celebration in Lausanne marking the centenary of the independence of the Canton of Vaud.

View from a funicular train in the Montreux region.

View from a train in the Montreux region.

A children’s procession that is part of the Maienzug, a festival solemnly marking the end of the school year in Aarau.

Cadet manoeuvres at the Aarau Children’s Festival (the Maienzug).

Near a chalet in a cow pasture in the Jura, at Frohburg (Canton of Solothurn), Jenny Lavanchy-Clarke and her children Christine, Henri, and Bertha watch three lively pairs of boys doing an imitation of the lutte à la culotte (traditional Swiss wrestling). There is even a referee, stick in hand, and a judge noting the score.

Swiss Army gunners practicing.

A battery being set up.

The bear is the emblem of Bern, and the pit that used to house several of the animals was the most common motif in representations of the city, as well as a central tourist attraction.

The arrival of King Rama V, the king of Siam, in Switzerland.

A military horse show in Basel.

Military exercises in Basel.

A city view, rich in movement, shot at the corner of the Schauplatzgasse in Bern.

A battalion, preceded by three riders and a military marching band, parades in front of the crowd. A man is manoeuvring a handcart bearing the inscription "Sunlight Soap" in the foreground.

Three men are chopping and transporting firewood, among passers-by, on a square in Lausanne.

A view of the Mont-Blanc bridge in Geneva.