Vv

Photographic Treasures of the State Library Vv JBIOGRAPHIES OF PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHERSj By Heather Masqueda

Bradley & Thomas Houseworth & Company Eadweard J. Rulofson (1859-1880) Muybridge (1830-1904) (1863-1875) Th omas Houseworth (1828-1915), with George S. Born Edward James Muggeridge, the photographer Henry W. Bradley (1813- Lawrence (dates unknown), sailed from New York City moved from London to the in 1851 as 1891) and William H. to in 1849. Th ey were headed for Cali- a commission merchant on the eastern coast. Until Rulofson (1826-1878) joined fornia, where they would work as miners and jewelers 1867—when he moved to San Francisco for good—he forces in 1863, buying out the before settling as merchants of a San Francisco optical was forced to return to England, to nurse a severe head portrait gallery of daguerreotyp- shop. In 1859 Lawrence and Houseworth began selling injury he received after being thrown from a stagecoach. ist Robert Vance to establish stereographs from their store, and displayed them in At the age of thirty-seven, created the photographic art gallery of Bradley & Rulofson. the windows to attract more customers. Th ey worked a name for himself, literally, as we know him today. He Th e duo worked well together; Rulofson completed with local photographers to compile a diverse collection began his career as a commercial photographer, and the managerial operations, and Bradley the curatorial of images documenting California’s major landmarks: commonly worked under the pseudonym “Helios,” the tasks. Th eir strong advertising campaign proved suc- settlements, boom towns, placer and hydraulic mining Greek God of the sun. cessful when Bradley & Rulofson won a commission operations, shipping and transportation routes, and Muybridge worked contemporary to Carleton from the United States Quartermaster General. Th e such points of scenic interest throughout northern Watkins, and often with the same subject matter. He job was to develop views of San Francisco’s defense at California and western Nevada as the desired to follow the great landscape tradition—as well Fort Alcatraz and Fort Point. Because the fi rm believed and Calaveras Redwoods. Th eir views also included an as the new trend of panoramic . In the the over 2,000 negatives to be sanctioned under their extensive pictorial survey of mid-nineteenth-century nineteenth century, panoramas were luxury items; they name, many prints from the series were sold. Without San Francisco. Th e prints were mass produced and were expensive to produce and only sold to a limited the permission of the War Department, which prevents sold at a reasonably low cost, making Lawrence & market. Th e views of San Francisco were made all the the distribution of any illustrations of military installa- Houseworth’s published stereographs “popular collect- more precious after the complete destruction of the tions, Bradley & Rulofson struggled with a legal scandal ibles among the middle class.”2 city in the earthquake and fi res of April 1906. His that questioned their loyalty. Ultimately, the situation Capitalizing on the growing market for stereographs, anthology of prints, Panorama of San Francisco, formed was resolved and the company took the opportunity to in 1863 Lawrence & Houseworth decided to publish a scope of the entire city, “its picturesque suburbs and rebuild their reputation. the work of many photographers under their name surrounding ranges of hills.”3 It did not take long for the team of Bradley & Rulof- and made a public eff ort to acquire an impressive set of Yosemite also fascinated the photographer, and he son to equal and even rise above their previous status, prints. Lawrence & Houseworth’s inventory grew and created many scenes of the valley with his mammoth- most likely as a result of its assertive and inventive style the fi rm soon off ered the largest collection of stereo- plate . During this time, Muybridge developed of business. Bradley & Rulofson bragged about their graphs on the Pacifi c Coast, competing only against a “sky shade,” a shutter-like device allowing various gallery facilities, and advertised to the public their Carleton Watkins. Th e company was always in need of exposures to be made on a single plate. Th is method “magnifi cent Reception Room, Toilet Room, Sitting new to document the growth and change served to compensate for the wet plate’s over-sensitivity Room” and “Largest Sky Light in America.”1 Th e fi rm of the region, and at one point Houseworth commis- to blue light. Muybridge could then make a single nega- could also boast associations with photographers Isaiah sioned the photographer Eadweard Muybridge to make tive, instead of the combination printer’s two, and more Taber, and later Eadweard Muybridge, who left Th omas a set of mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite. accurately portray a range of tones. Meanwhile, in 1872 Houseworth & Company, at the time of their decline, In 1868 George S. Lawrence retired from the busi- Muybridge also realized his “fi rst attempts to capture to publish some Pacifi c Coast views with Bradley & ness and the fi rm was renamed Th omas Houseworth & the movement of a running horse, eff orts which would Rulofson. Company. eventually lead to Muybridge’s extensive investigations A striking blow fell upon the of animal locomotion.”4 business when the great Chicago fi re of 1871 created unredeem- able fi nancial losses. Th e two men worked together until 1877, when Bradley fi led for bank- ruptcy, and John H. Dall took his place. Upon Rulofson’s death in 1878, the company continued for some years under the name Bradley & Rulofson, unfortu- nately without the presence of either mogul.

Biographies continued on inside back cover. Exhibition Catalog

University Library Gallery Sacramento State University

March 3 – June 24, 2006

SACRAMENTO: California State Library Foundation, 2006

JFOREWORDj teach photography courses at Sacramento State University. My interest in nineteenth century photography began when I was a student many years ago and has, over the years, informed much of my photographic work, as well as my teaching. The appreciation and study Iof great works, such as the mammoth plate albumen prints of Carleton Watkins and Eadweard Muybridge, offers a great deal to students today—close attention to craft, ambitious pictorial strategies, rich tonalities not possible with modern materials. To this end, I have relied on the generosity of Gary Kurutz who, each year for many years now, has opened up the collection at the California State Library, one of the great artistic treasures of this community, to my students. With great enthusiasm he presents early from the California Gold Rush, ambrotypes, orotones, panoramic views of pre-earthquake San Francisco, autochromes, and platinum prints. These sessions eventually became the inspiration for this show, a greatly enlarged version, chosen by Gary with a bit of help from me. It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy what is presented here as much as we have.

ROGER VAIL Professor, Art Department, Sacramento State University J INTRODUCTION j

he Triumph of Helios”* exhibition grew out of Professor Roger Vail’s popular class “Art and Photography.” Th e Sacramento State Table of Contents University professor felt it important for his students to understand “Tthe methods and technologies from the pioneer era. Back in the early 1980s, he approached me about bringing a class over so the students could see examples of 1 Foreword BY ROGER VAIL early photographs. Professor Vail knew that the California State Library held many vintage 2 Introduction prints including works by Carleton E. Watkins, Eadweard J. Muybridge, and other masters. BY GARY F. KURUTZ Ever since then, at least one class a year, numbering anywhere from sixty to seventy students, has visited the Library to inspect up close a Gold Rush or to peer through a 3 Acknowledgments stereoscope to magically see Yosemite’s Glacier Point in three-dimension. As the professor 5 Catalog of the Exhibition stressed, it is one thing to see these images reproduced in a book or projected on a screen or COMPILED BY GARY F. KURUTZ behind a glass frame, it is quite another to see them as the actual daguerreian or wet-plate photographer saw them. In this era of , both Professor Vail and I em- INSIDE Biographies of phasized the diffi culty of making a daguerreotype in the hot but gold-rich ravines of Placer COVERS Principal Photographers BY HEATHER MOSQUEDA County or the challenge of coating a 24 x 28 inch sheet of glass with light-sensitive chemicals while standing 3,000 feet above the fl oor of Yosemite Valley. In addition to showing off great 28 Glossary of Terms treasures from the Library’s rich collections, it gave me particular satisfaction to bring out examples of more obscure forms of photography such as the autochrome, orotone, glass posi- tive, and even a wedding certifi cate adorned with actual .** Th e surprise and wonder expressed by his students added to the pleasure of these evening classes held in the State Library’s California History Room. When the University opened its beautiful and spacious University Library Gallery, Professor Vail suggested mounting an exhibit of the items we had shared with his students. It was a splendid idea. Professor Phil Hitchcock, director of the Gallery and director of the School of the Arts, was equally enthusiastic and he has been most generous in working with the two of us in assembling this exhibition. In addition, I wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Gerrilee Hafvenstein of the State Library’s Preservation Offi ce in preparing many of the items for display. In particular, two elephant folio volumes of Watkins’ mam- moth plates desperately needed conservation. Th eir leather bindings, marbled endpapers, and linen hinges refl ected generations of aging, and Mrs. Hafvenstein rose to the task by rejuve- nating these stately volumes. Preservation Offi ce volunteer L. J. Dillon used her considerable talents in box making to create Plexiglas containers for such challenging items as the seven and one-half foot long Muybridge panorama of San Francisco. Th e items included in this display were selected primarily for their signifi cance in the history of California photography, not necessarily for their beauty or amusement value. Im- portant, too, was the need to off er a variety of media. Th us, the viewer of the exhibit will see silvery daguerreotypes, brown-toned ambrotypes, pannotypes, tintypes, albumen mammoth plate prints, stereographs, blue-toned , autochromes, and silvertones. Th e show exhibits prints made from wet and dry-plate negatives, fl exible fi lm negatives of all types, and 2 elegantly framed glass positives. A special treasure is a two-volume large folio with 160 prints of the Crystal Palace in London made from wax-paper negatives dating from 1852 to 1854. These are some of the earliest photographs made from a negative process. This exhibition pays homage to the photographers themselves. It presents a liberal sprin- kling of photographs of photographers, their equipment, and their galleries. Pictures of “sun artists,” especially from the pioneer era rarely survive, and they offer a unique glimpse into the lives and working conditions of those men and women who did so much to preserve our historical memory. Other aspects of the exhibition feature representative examples from ma- jor single collections of a particular photographer’s body of work. Thus on display are two of about twenty thousand architectural photographs from the Mott Studios in ; one of ten thousand Gladding, McBean & Company photographs; and one out of 5,000 prints from the McCurry Collection of Sacramento and Northern California views. Of course, the works of great nineteenth century masters like Watkins, Muybridge, and I. W. Taber form a major portion of the display. Ever since its earliest years, the State Library realized the value of acquiring photo- graphs for its historical collections. Many came as donations as part of a larger manuscript or book collection. Some, such as the J. B. Starkweather daguerreotypes, were transferred to the Library from other state agencies. Staff purchased others one at a time or as entire Above: Self-portrait of Monterey photographer C. W. J. Johnson at collections. Because of its role as the library for the State of California and its longevity, his negative retouching stand. other photographic treasures arrived in surprising ways. In essence, Library staff developed a Below: Los Angeles and personal relationship with several of these giants of photography. In 1874, for example, the Independent Railroad Depot, Library purchased directly from C. E. Watkins 112 of his views for a dollar apiece and had ca. 1877. Albumen mammoth- plate by C. E. Watkins. the Office of State Printing bind them together in three folio-sized albums. Regretfully, the invoice shows a of Watkins and his family deleted from the purchase. Sometime in the nineteenth century, the Free Library of Philadelphia presented the Library with a stupendous two-vol- ume album of Watkins mammoth plates. No doubt, they saw these albums as more fully appreciated in the Golden State. Eadweard J. Muybridge, arguably one of the most famous photographers in the world, graciously donated and inscribed a copy of his wonderful book Descriptive Zoöpraxography to the Library. It is amazing to think that this legendary figure actually corresponded with the Library. In addition, the Library obtained his album of photographs of Central America that he presented to the wife of his defense attorney during his sensational murder trial. Another great picture man, I. W. Taber of San Francisco, worked with State Librarian James Gillis at the turn of the last century and planned to give the Library a series of portrait al- bums of major California personalities, but alas, the 1906 Earthquake and Fire swept away his archive. In the modern era, the Library continues to build upon the work of its predecessors. Through former Sutro Librarian Richard H. Dil- 3 lon, the Library acquired the Louis J. Stellman Collection of views of San Francisco’s China- town and the Mother Lode country. Mead B. Kibbey, an extraordinary patron of the Library and its Foundation, acquired on behalf of the Library a deluxe photograph album by I. W. CKNOWLEDGMENTS A Taber of the 1894 San Francisco Midwinter Fair. In addition Kibbey purchased the William Fletcher Collection of Southern California views during the boom years of the 1880s and 1890s as well as an amazing daguerreotype of railroad engineer Th eodore D. Judah. Th rough he creation of this exhibit at Sac- his eff orts, the collection continues to fl ourish as new opportunities are constantly spotted ramento State University and its by Mr. Kibbey. A gift from Mrs. Howard Jarvis enabled the Library to purchase an incompa- accompanying catalog received T rable collection of southern California landscape views created by Frederick Martin of Pasa- generous and enthusiastic support from the dena. Stephen Anaya, one of the great collectors of daguerreotypes, generously presented the University’s Art Department including Roger Library with a series of open-air half-plate mirror images of Benicia in the early 1850s. Mary Vail, Phil Hitchcock, Rachel Markgraf, and Swisher, a talented local photographer discovered the Gladding, McBean photo archive and Heather Mosqueda. Th e staff of the Cali- directed that great body of negatives to the Library. Th rough the work of Dawson’s Bookshop fornia State Library provided much eff ort in in Los Angeles, the Library hauled back to Sacramento a dozen fi le cabinets stuff ed with high , scanning, and cataloging the photo- quality architectural views done by the Mott Studios of and 1930s. graphs. Th e eff orts of Gerrilee Hafvenstein, Denny Kruska of Sherman Oaks presented the Library with the Clifton Smith Collection of Hiran Nakashima, L. J. and Dan Dillon of the vintage photographs that gave the Library coverage of the Santa Barbara area, a region known Library’s Preservation Offi ce, and Vickie Lock- for its scarcity of early images. Most recently, Tom Vano made available to the Library his hart and Anthony Martinez of the Library’s stupendous collection of prints and negatives documenting life in the San Francisco Bay Area California History Section are hereby gratefully from the 1950s to the early 2000s. It is an unbelievable treasure trove. Two of my favorite acknowledged. Mead B. Kibbey generously images are photographs of this aff able and talented Italian-American holding his Hasselblad loaned to the exhibit his antique camera. camera alongside baseball superstar Willie Mays and another of him with Imogen Cunning- ham, one of the most famous and eccentric photographers of the last century. A special word of praise must be directed to Roger Vail. He has long been an ardent supporter of the Library’s photographic collection and has made the eff ort to introduce liter- ally hundreds of students to the rich jewels to be found in the Library’s California History “Making Pictures” by Jack K. Hillers. Made in 1875, this view perfectly illustrates all Room. Professor Vail, a master of , follows in the footsteps of Watkins and the equipment needed by the wet-plate Muybridge. He is a brilliant photographer with an impressive resume of exhibitions. His prints photographer when operating in the fi eld. may be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Chicago Art Institute, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Professor Vail’s experiments with platinum-palladium prints, pin-hole photography, and are simply breathtaking. In short, for many decades, he has been a singular force for historical and contemporary photogra- phy. He has never forgotten the roots of his noble profession.

Gary F. Kurutz Executive Director & Curator of Special Collections California State Library Foundation and California State Library

* Helios is the Greek god of light. Eadweard J. Muybidge took the name Helios as his nom-de-plume. ** For a short glossary of photographic terms, please refer to the end of this catalog. 4 DAGUERREOTYPES THE “MIRROR IMAGE”

A CAMERA IN THE GOLD RUSH Joseph Blaney Starkweather (b. ca. 1822). Spanish Flat, Placer County. ca. 1852. Quarter-plate daguerreotype. J. B. Starkweather of Boston made what is arguably the finest surviving series of open-air daguerreotypes of the Top: Head of Auburn Ravine, 1852. gold country. The collection consists of eight cased images Quarter-plate daguerreotype of J. B. on permanent loan from the California State Depart- Starkweather. ment of Conservation, Division of Mines and Geology. Bottom: Spanish Flat, 1852. Starkweather returned to Boston and then moved back to Quarter-plate daguerreotype of J. B. San Francisco in 1867. He entered his daguerreotypes in Starkweather. the 1880 Industrial Exhibition at the Mechanics’ Institute and won a silver medal. His view of Spanish Flat, showing four gold seekers including an African American working a long tom, has been reproduced countless times. Spanish Flat is a half-mile above the city of Auburn.

Head of Auburn Ravine, Placer County. ca. 1852. Quarter-plate daguerreotype. This quarter plate is one of the earliest known views of Chinese in the gold fields. It records seven miners standing next to a sluice box including three Anglos. The Chinese came in great numbers to the gold fields in 1852.

In Auburn Ravine, Placer County. ca. 1852. Quarter-plate daguerreotype. Starkweather captured three men and one woman standing at a sluice box on a creek. The woman is holding a basket probably loaded with food and the men are holding shov- els, picks, mining pans, and wooden buckets in front of the sluice box. This is one of the rare instances of recording a “live” woman in the mines.

Nevada City. ca. 1852. Quarter-plate daguerreotype. Mining towns like Nevada City sprung up near rich diggings. This Starkweather view captures the transi- tory nature of the mining camp as most of buildings are constructed of wood and sail cloth. The appearance of a church (upper left) demonstrated that civilizing influ- ences were arriving in this rough and tumble town. This view documents a rebuilt Nevada City following the great fire of March 11, 1851. On July 19, 1856, another fire destroyed much of what is seen in this daguerreotype.

5 George Howard Johnson (b. ca. 1823). Henry Brown & Company Store, Sacramento. 1852. Whole-plate daguerreotype. 1852. Johnson, Sacramento’s premier pioneer photographer, took this whole-plate view of a prosperous Gold Rush mercantile operation located at 89 J Street. It is the largest daguerreotype in the Library’s collection and its earliest photographic view of the River City. An elaborate wood frame protects the mirror image indicating that it may have hung on a wall rather than being enclosed in the usual leather case. Before acquired by the Library, someone tried to clean the image resulting in unfortunate scratches. Nonetheless, because of its size, subject matter, and pho- tographer, it represents an important artifact of California’s early photographic history.

George Howard Johnson [attributed to]. Benicia from the Bay. 1854. Half-plate daguerreotype. Johnson’s daguerreotype depicts Gulick’s Wharf at Benicia. In the early 1850s, the ambitious town of Benicia hoped to supplant San Francisco as the leading port of the Pacific Coast. The daguerreian came to California in 1849 from New York during the Gold Rush and set up shop on Front Street in Sacramento and became one of the finest pioneer photographers in California. Sometime in 1853 or 1854 he reestablished his business in the more affluent and populous city of San Francisco. Noted daguerreotype collector Stephen Anaya donated this view and the two Above: Theodore D. Judah, ca. 1848. others of Benicia. Sixth-plate daguerreotype. Top: Middle: John A. Sutter, ca. 1850. The Gulick Brother’s in Front of the Knickerbocker Half-plate daguerreotype. Emporium on Gulick’s Wharf, Benicia, California. 1852. Half-plate daguerreotype. Bottom: John Gulick at his brother’s The daguerreotype was accompanied by a slip of paper grave, Benicia, ca. 1852. Half-plate inscribed “Benecia [sic] California. Millicent Gulick’s daguerreotype by George H. Johnson. birthplace, 1852.” Millicent was the first white girl born in Benicia. The motif of the daguerreotype case is a view of the Washington Monument.

John Gulick at His Brother’s Grave, Benicia, California. ca. 1852. Half-plate daguerreotype. The red velvet protective pad on the inside cover is embossed with the following: “Geo. H. Johnson / 83 J Street / Sacramento, Cal.”

THE BARON OF NEW HELVETIA Photographer unknown. Captain Sutter (John Augustus Sutter, on Whose Land Gold Was First Discovered). ca. 1850. Half-plate daguerreotype. By the time John A. Sutter posed for this daguerreotype, gold seekers had gobbled up virtually all of his land. None- theless, the charisma, power, and regal bearing of the man are immediately conveyed to the viewer. This half-plate may be the earliest known photograph of Sutter. 6 SACRAMENTO’S FIRST HISTORIAN George Howard Johnson. John Frederick Morse. ca. 1852. Sixth-plate daguerreotype. Dr. Morse (1815–1874) was a pioneer physician in Sacramento and wrote the first history of the city. Samuel Colville published his lively text in his Sacramento Direc- tory for the Year 1853–54. The embossed red velvet pad identifies the daguerreian: “Geo. H. Johnson / 83 J St. / Sacramento.” His salon stood strategically across the street from the fashionable Missouri Hotel which no doubt attracted customers.

BUILDER OF THE FIRST HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO Robert H. Vance (1825–1876). Captain William A. Richardson. ca. 1854. Half-plate daguerreotype. Appointed by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo as the captain of the Port of Yerba Buena, Richardson built the first habitation in what later became San Francisco. Richardson Bay near Sausalito recalls the memory of this pioneer. This half-plate, showing Richardson holding a spyglass is the finest daguerreotype portrait in the collection. R. H. Vance Top: Frederick F. Morse, is regarded as the foremost daguerreian in the Gold Rush. Sacramento’s pioneer historian. Sixth-plate daguerreotype. Photographer unknown. Theodore D. Judah.ca. 1848. Sixth-plate daguerreotype. Middle: San Francisco pioneer This is the earliest known photograph of Theodore Judah, William Richardson. Half-plate daguerreotype by Robert H. Vance. the civil-engineering wizard who discovered a way to build a railroad over the Sierra and link California to the rest of the nation. The daguerreotype was made by a daguer- Bottom: Lillie Hitchcock Coit, sixth plate daguerreotype. reian in the eastern U.S. before Judah came to California in 1854. Judah, in this portrait, dons an odd-looking hat. The hat, however, was typical of professionals who worked out of doors in the 1840s. Hand written on the protective velvet pad to the left of the image carries is Judah’s name. Mead B. Kibbey of the California State Library Founda- tion donated the daguerreotype.

Photographer unknown. Matilda C. Heron. ca. 1850. Half-plate daguerreotype. Heron was a well-known actress in Gold Rush California. She first performed in San Francisco on December 26, 1853, and entertained audiences in Sacramento, Marys- ville, and Stockton as well.

Photographer unknown. Lillie Hitchcock Coit. c. 1847. Sixth plate daguerreotype, tinted. Born in West Point, New York in 1843, she arrived in California in 1851. Coit was the mascot of the Knick- erbocker Fire Company in San Francisco. She so loved volunteer firemen that she left money for the construction of Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill in their honor.

7 8 THE AMBROTYPE THE PANNOTYPE OR DAGUERREOTYPE ON GLASS A PHOTOGRAPH ON FABRIC

RULOFSON’S PIONEER SONORA GALLERY Photographer unknown. Jerome’s Livery Stable, William Herman Rulofson (1826–1878). Volcano, Amador County. ca. 1860. Pannotype or William Herman Rulofson Displaying a Paper ambrotype on fabric. 9 ½ x 12 inches. Photograph, Sonora, Tuolumne County. ca. 1854–55. During the formative period in the Half-plate ambrotype. (1840–1860), imaginative artists experimented with fixing From the viewpoint of California photographic history, the images on a variety of materials other than clear glass or most important cased image in the collection is this view of sheets of metal. Compatible materials for light sensitive the interior of Rulofson’s Sonora gallery. The ambrotype or emulsion included leather, fabric, and porcelain. The ver- daguerreotype on glass depicts the bearded photographer satility of photography is demonstrated in this amazingly leaning over the shoulder of a customer, who, in turn, is well preserved “pannotype” or photograph made on fabric viewing the latest technological advance in the field, a paper depicting a street scene in the Gold Rush town of Volcano. photograph. This half-plate is reputed to be the only image Prominently featured is an unusually cooperative horse to survive from his early days in the Tuolumne County posed with its front legs resting on a chair. town. Later, Rulofson moved to San Francisco, and under the name of Bradley and Rulofson, directed the largest photographic business on the Pacific Coast.

Photographer unknown. Mining on Bogus Creek, Siski- THE you County. ca. 1854–60. Double half-plate ambrotype. Double-plate views such as this are quite rare. The ambro- WEDDING CERTIFICATE WITH TINTYPES types dramatically record the industrialization of mining in Photographer unknown. “This Is to Certify the late 1850s. No gold was found in Bogus Creek which that Frank F. Chase and Alice Harvey Were accounted for its sarcastic name. United in Marriage, May 12, 1891.” Sacramento, 1891. Tintype. O. B. Silver. Ambrotype Gallery of O. B. Silver, While was most Dutch Flat, Placer County. ca. 1863. common in the 1890s, the use of actual Half-plate ambrotype. tintypes of a happy couple in a certificate By the late 1850s, the ambrotype or daguerreotype on was rare. Furthermore, tintypes were out glass supplanted the daguerreotype as the primary pho- of fashion by the 1890s. The form for the tographic medium. Invented around 1851 by Frederick certificate was printed in 1882. Chase and Scott Archer, an ambrotype may be defined as a collo- Harvey both hailed from Sacramento. dion wet-plate negative placed in front of a dark surface to produce a positive image. Each is unique and housed Photographer unknown. James Wilson in a protective leather case similar to the daguerreotype. Marshall at Coloma. ca. 1870. Shown here is a rare and beautiful view of an ambrotypist’s Half-plate Tintype. gallery. The back of the building consists of his studio Pictured in this tintype is James Marshall, the discoverer of that he designed to gather the maximum amount of light. gold, along with several friends in front of Barney McBride’s The Library has two other O. B. Silver ambrotypes of this Saloon on Main Street in Coloma, El Dorado County. Mar- Mother Lode town. Silver was active in Dutch Flat from shall is the man standing to the right of the door. It was a 1863–ca. 1865. favorite hangout for the famed pioneer. Invented by Profes- sor Hamilton Smith of Ohio, the tintype or ferrotype con- Photographer unknown. Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis Hawley sisted of a sensitized sheet of metal (usually iron) that had & Twin Sons Charles H. & George Percy Hawley. ca. been coated with black paint, lacquer or enamel causing the 1859. Half-plate Ambrotype. negative to appear as a positive image when viewed against a Mrs. Hawley married Charles A. Hawley in San Francisco dark background. Consequently, each tintype is unique. in 1855. Their sons were born on April 11, 1859. Hawley opened one of the first hardware stores in San Francisco known as Hawley Brothers. The thermoplastic case, featuring the Washington monument in Richmond, Virginia, is a superior example of the case art developed Opposite page: Pigeon Point Lighthouse, San Mateo County. ca. 1875. to protect both daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. Albumen mammoth-plate print published by Bradley & Rulofson. 9 MAKING PICTURES IN THREE-DIMENSION: THE STEREOGRAPH

Jack K. Hillers, “Making Pictures.” 1875. Carleton E. Watkins. Camping in the Snow Albumen stereograph. 4 ½ x 7 inches. on Lassen’s Butte, Siskiyou County, Cal. 1867. Jack Hillers accompanied the celebrated explorer John Albumen stereograph. 3 ¾ x 7 inches. Wesley Powell on his expedition down the Colorado River This camping scene in the snow by Watkins is fascinating for and made the first photographs of the Grand Canyon. a number of reasons. The seated figure warming his hands This remarkable oversized stereo is a self-portrait of Hillers is possibly the famed geologist/mountaineer Clarence King. while photographing the Aquarius Plateau in southeastern The standing figure may be Watkins himself. To the left is Utah. It is particularly valuable for depicting an expe- Watkins’ dark tent. It must have been a challenge to coat, ditionary photographer and his equipment in the field, expose, and fix a wet glass plate in the freezing snow. including a mammoth-plate camera. Under the Upper Yo Semite Fall [hand-written caption]. William Henry Jackson, “Photographing 1861. Albumen stereograph. 3 ¾ x 7 inches. in High Places.” 1872. Albumen stereograph. In this unusual self-portrait, the great photographer is 3 ¾ x 7 inches. seated on a rock with the non-folding of his mam- W. H. Jackson of Denver, Colorado certainly stands as moth-plate camera to the right of the image and his dark one of America’s greatest landscape photographers. This tent behind him. The overhang under the fall provided stereograph superbly documents the precarious conditions excellent shelter for the photographer’s equipment. Wat- of the pioneer photographer. Use of wet-plate negatives kins made this stereo and others during his first campaign “Tip Top of the Sentinel Dome, during that era required each photographer to bring along to the valley. Note how the photographer wrote and signed Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Co,” a portable in order to fix the wet plate before it the caption by hand. With the establishment of his Yo- ca. 1865. C. E. Watkins, in this view, recorded his dark tent and dried. Jackson made this self-portrait on a rock escarpment Semite Gallery in San Francisco in 1867, his stereo cards non folding tripod for his of the Teton Range while with the Ferdinand V. Hayden carried a printed name and title. mammoth-plate camera. Expedition.

10 “Tip Top of the Sentinel Dome, Yosemite Valley, Downing, Rea & Raucher. “The Operating Mariposa Co.” ca. 1865. Albumen stereograph. Room of 3rd St., Gallery, Santa Rosa.” c. 1881. No. 1142. 3 ½ x 7 in. Albumen stereograph. 3 ½ x 7 inches. Watkins, in this stereograph, photographed his dark tent, In 1875 John Henry Downing, Thomas L. Rea, and Henry tripod, and a mule or horse high up on Sentinel Rock. Rauscher formed their Santa Rosa partnership by taking Notice how the tree provided a sliver of shelter. over a business established by E. Kraft. The collection of their stereos features this rare interior view of the photog- Eadweard J. Muybridge. “The Flying Studio.” raphers’ gallery. Rauscher stands by the camera and Rea sits 1867. Albumen stereograph. 4 ¾ x 9 ¼ in. in the portrait chair flanked by light reflectors on one side The logo of Eadweard J. Muybridge’s Known later for his motion studies, Muybridge captioned and a larger window on the other. “Flying Studio.” The famous photog- this view to reflect the mobility of his studio. In his early rapher used the nom-de-plume of days, he worked from a light horse-drawn vehicle. Taken in T. L. Rea & Co., Third Street Photographic Gallery. “Helios,” the Greek god of light. the Yosemite Valley, this stereo beautifully records the exten- [View of Third Street Gallery, Santa Rosa]. 1881. sive equipment a pioneer photographer needed in the field. Albumen stereograph. 4 x 7 inches. The exterior view, taken by Thomas L. Rea in April 1881, Alfred A. Hart. [Untitled View of California State records the façade of the firm’s business as well as the local Capitol Building under Construction]. Scenes in the and barber shop. Valley of the Sacramento. ca. 1867–68. Albumen stereograph. 3 ¼ x 6 ¾ inches. A. A. Hart, the prolific photographer of the Central Pacific Railroad, also made a rare series of stereo views of the capitol building under construction during the winter of 1867–1868. This stereo card depicts the front or west end of the building with the rotunda dome in progress. Hart then hauled his camera high up to the base of the dome and made a number of panoramic views of the city below.

Charles Bierstadt. “Our Party,” Yo Semite Valley. 1870. Albumen stereograph. 3 ⅜ x 7 inches. Charles Bierstadt of Niagra Falls, the older brother of the landscape artist Albert Bierstadt, toured Yosemite Valley in 1870 and secured a sizeable collection of stereo wet-plate negatives. Shown in this dramatic scene are his horses laden with boxes of glass plates, chemicals, and cameras. Bierstadt came to California to build his stock of marketable views.

Above: “The Operating Room of 3rd St., Gallery, Santa Rosa.” ca. 1881. Stereograph by Downing, Rea & Raucher, Santa Rosa.

Left: Rare stereograph of Eadweard J. Muybridge’s Zoöpraxigraphical Hall at the World’s Columbia Exposition, Chicago, 1893.

11 CARLETON E. WATKINS (1829–1916) CALIFORNIA’S PREMIER PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHER

A RARE SELF-PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST Cape Horn, Lower Columbia River. 1867. Albumen Carleton E. Watkins. Primitive Mining; mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. The Rocker Calaveras Co., Cal. New Boudoir Although beset by poor weather conditions in the sum- Series #B 3542. ca. 1883. Albumen silver print. mer of 1867, Watkins succeeded in creating a number of 4 ½ x 7 inches. breathtaking views along the Columbia. This playful boudoir card is the most famous self-portrait of the famed pioneer photographer. It may be the only inten- Castle Rock, Columbia River. 1867. Albumen tional self-portrait. The white shirt betrays his miner’s pose. mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. His traveling wagon rests in the background. According to The Rapids, Indian Block House, Cascades, his daughter, Julia, Watkins did not like to have his picture Columbia River. 1867. Albumen mammoth-plate taken but made this “staged” photograph for his children. print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. “THE SINGLE MOST BEAUTIFUL [untitled] Indian Sweat House, Mendocino County. PHOTOGRAPH EVER MADE” Albumen mammoth-plate print. c. 1863. Cape Horn near Celilo, . 1867. 15 ⅜ x 20 ⅛ inches. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Note the domed top of the photograph. Watkins’ In 1867, Watkins visited Oregon and, by rail and ship, earlier lens caused the edges of the prints to be distorted followed the Columbia River making at least fifty-nine or blurred; the Grubb-C lens was stretched beyond mammoth-plate negatives and one hundred stereographs. its capability for a mammoth-plate. The dome top The Cape Horn view has been proclaimed in recent years edges masked this defect. as “the single most beautiful photograph ever made in the 19th century.”

Above: A rare C. E. Watkins advertising card promoting his new series of photographs. In the mid-1870s, lost his entire negative collection because of financial difficulties.

Right: A rare self-portrait of C. E. Watkins. Note his photographer’s wagon in the background.

12 Mt. Broderick and Nevada Falls, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1865. Albumen mammoth-plate by C. E. Watkins.

HYDRAULIC MINING The National Flume, Nevada County. c. 1869–1871. Malakoff Diggings, North Bloomfield, Nevada County. Albumen mammoth-plate silver print. ca 1869 – 1871. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Flumes such as the one so dramatically portrayed by Watkins biographer Peter Palmquist wrote of this startling Watkins brought water to feed the monitors used to photograph: “In Malakoff Diggings, where arching streams blast away the hills in search of gold. This aqueduct of water serve as elements of design as well as actual measured 1,800 feet in length and reached a height of subject matter, Watkins has transformed a noisy, messy sixty-five feet. operation into a lyrical composition of lyrical lines.” In addition to this print made from a giant wet-plate nega- THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA tive, the Library has three other mammoth plate views Berkeley, Alameda County, California. c. 1875. Albu- showing the immense power of hydraulic mining on the men mammoth-plate silver print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Nevada County landscape. In this view, the great landscape photographer directed his mammoth plate camera toward the Golden Gate. Shown is a remarkably vacant East Bay dominated by the North and South Halls of the nascent University of California. 13 Right: Cape Horn near Celilo, Oregon,1867. Albumen mammoth- plate print by C. E. Watkins.

Below: “Viscata,” Disaster West of Fort Point, 1868. Albumen mammoth-plate by C. E. Watkins.

San Francisco: Presidio. 1875. Albumen State Prison, San Quentin, Marin County. No date. mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. In this sublime view, Watkins captured the Golden Gate Vallejo, Solano County. No date. Albumen and Mt. Tamalpais. In the center is Angel Island. mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. San Francisco from Russian Hill, Looking toward Watkins amazingly succeeded in enlisting the cooperation Telegraph Hill. c. 1872-73. Albumen mammoth- of several people to pose for this panoramic view even plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. though they stood hundreds of feet away. The steamship Washington Square dominates the center of this Sacramento waits on the left perhaps to take Southern photograph. Yerba Buena Island is plainly in view. Pacific Railroad passengers to San Francisco.

Southern Pacific Depot, 4th & Townsend, San Los Angeles and Independent Railroad Depot, San Francisco. Albumen mammoth-plate print. Pedro Street near Wolfskill Lane. ca. 1877. Albumen 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Because of long times, figures that moved as Watkins visited the Los Angeles area sometime in 1877. shown in this image appear as “ghosts.” Watkins was sin- This magnificent depot was closed in 1877 following the gularly successful in convincing people to stand still takeover of the railroad by the Southern Pacific. In 1888, it but not in this case. burned to the ground.

“Viscata,” Disaster West of Fort Point. 1868. Albumen Pacific Coast Mail Steamship Company Building and mammoth-plate print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Wharf, San Diego. ca. 1877. Albumen mammoth-plate Note Watkins’ stereo camera near the wrecked ship and print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. his dark tent, center right near the wagon. The Viscata was Watkins in this spectacular view captures the develop- wrecked in March 1868. ment of Alonzo Horton’s “New Town” San Diego. Horton built this long wharf at the foot of Fifth Street. The wharf became the center of San Diego’s commercial activity. Off in the distance is the sublime Point Loma Peninsula. 14 Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley. ca. 1861. Albumen PERIODICAL ILLUSTRATED WITH mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. ORIGINAL WATKINS PHOTOGRAPHS Fair Oaks. Residence of Hon. Thomas H. Selby, San Mt. Broderick and Nevada Falls, Yosemite Valley. Mateo County, Ca. [published in] The California ca. 1865. Albumen mammoth-plate print. Horticulturalist and Floral Magazine. (February 1873). 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Albumen cabinet print. 4 x 7 ½ inches. The editors wrote in reference to the Watkins photograph: Yosemite from Mariposa Trail (Yosemite Valley No. 1). “We wish to draw attention to our subscribers to the ca. 1865. Albumen mammoth-plate print. spirited photograph of the residence of T. H. Selby, Esq. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. which serves as frontispiece to our present number. It is a The Half-Dome from Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley. fair sample of ‘Christmas Photographing’ in California.” ca. 1865. Albumen mammoth-plate print. Watkins supplied original photographs for several other 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. issues of this rare California periodical.

To the left is a portion of North Dome; to the center left is SOLD TO THE STATE LIBRARY Mt. Watkins; and Cloud’s Rest is seen above . FOR ONE DOLLAR EACH Mammoth Grove Hotel, Calaveras Big Tree Grove. Photographic Views of One Hundred and Twelve of the ca. 1865. Albumen mammoth-plate print. Principal and Most Picturesque Places of California. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Sacramento: State of California, 1866. 3 volumes. James L. Sperry erected the hotel shortly after the discov- Acclaimed as California’s great pioneer photographer, Wat- ery of the grove of sequoias in the early 1850s. It burnt kins made available to the State of California a sampling down in 1943. of his extraordinary work. James J. Ayers, an appreciative state printer, bound 112 of the 8 x 12 inch albumen prints Summit Station, Central Pacific Railroad. ca. 1873-78. into three volumes with a specially printed title page and Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. table of contents. Volumes one and two cover Watkins’ At 7,017 feet altitude, Watkins recorded the highest favorite subject matter, the Yosemite Valley and the Big elevation of a railroad station in the Sierra. Shown here Trees. The third volume includes twenty-three magnificent are the snow sheds. The railroad constructed over twenty views of San Francisco as well as photographs of elegant miles of sheds. San Mateo homes. Watkins sold his prints to the State Library on September 3, 1874 for one dollar each! “A Storm on the Lake,” Lake Tahoe. ca. 1873-78. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Photographs of California and Oregon. The geologic feature known as Cave Rock is seen on the Volume 2. Mammoth plate album of 16 x 20 ½ inch Original 1874 receipt for the Library’s purchase of 112 C. E. Watkins views left side of this print. albumen prints. for one dollar each. The Library The album is open to Watkins’ brilliant mammoth-plate bound the albumen photographs Virginia City. (Two-part panorama). ca. 1876. Albu- of Rooster Rock on the Colubmia River. Note his dark into three volumes. R. O. Cravens men mammoth-plate prints. Each 15 ½ x 21 ¼ inches. text for coating and fixing his wet-plate negatives in the served as State Librarian at the time distance. Each mammoth-plate is identified in a cal- of the purchase. The Brunswick Mill—Carson River, Dayton District, ligraphic hand. Volume I contains nineteen views of Nevada Territory. ca. 1876. Albumen mammoth-plate Yosemite, and Volume II preserves fifteen views of San print. 15 ½ x 21 ¼ inches. Francisco, Mendocino, and Oregon. The views date Panorama of Monterey. ca. 1882. In four-parts. from the 1860s and 1870s. The Free Library Each silver print is 10 ⅝ x 11 ¾ inches or circa of Philadelphia presented these 42 x 46 inches. elephant folio volumes to the The State Library possesses the original negatives for the Library sometime in the late panorama. Very few Watkins negatives exist and the vast nineteenth century. It is possible majority burned during the April 1906 San Francisco Earth- that three of the prints may have quake and Fire. This panorama depicts Watkins’ traveling been created by Charles L. Weed wagon that he loaded onto a railroad flatcar when traveling for Thomas Houseworth. a distance from this San Francisco gallery. The name of W. H. Lawrence appears on the side of the wagon. Lawrence financed Watkins from 1878 to the 1890s.

15 EADWEARD J. MUYBRIDGE (1830–1904) A GIANT OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Opposite page: Falls of the Yosemite, Eadweard J. Muybridge. [Muybridge broadside ILLUSTRATED BY MUYBRIDGE from Glacier Rock. Albumen mam- advertising his bookselling business.] ca. 1858. John S. Hittell. Yosemite: Its Wonders and moth-plate by Eadweard J. Muybridge. Prior to embarking upon his sterling career in photogra- Its Beauties. San Francisco: H. H. Bancroft & phy, the English-born Muybridge made a living in San Company, 1868. Francisco selling books. This exceedingly rare broadside To illustrate the first guidebook to Yosemite Valley, Hittell documents this short-lived chapter in his life. commissioned Eadweard J. Muybridge to produce the photographs. Because photomechanical means did not exist Helios’ Flying Studio. Advertising card. in the late 1860s, the book was illustrated with tiny original Carte de visite. ca. 1869. photographs, each laboriously tipped-in. More than likely, With this card, Muybridge confidently pro- Muybridge rephotographed his larger views to obtain the moted his services. The back or verso reads: desired, smaller size. In choosing to illustrate his book with “Having the most complete PHOTOGRAPHIC photographs, Hittell wrote: “The illustrations are photo- APPARATUS in the United States; LENSES graphs because no engravings could do justice to the scenes.” constructed for every variety of subject, Hittell’s commission helped boost Muybridge’s reputation as embracing from 10 to 100 deg. of visual a talented landscape photographer. angle, and a WAGON completely fitted up as a PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK ROOM, I am “THE MOST MAGNIFICENT prepared to execute all descriptions of EVER TAKEN IN THE WORLD” OPEN AIR PHOTOGRAPHY, anywhere upon Yosemite Views. San Francisco, ca 1872. 40 albumen the Pacific Coast, in a manner guaran- mammoth-plate photographs. 16 ½ x 21 ¼ inches. teed to command perfect satisfaction.” Through the brilliant photographs of Muybridge and C. E. Watkins, Yosemite became an internationally known Left: A rare advertising card for natural wonder. Following upon the success of his 1868 Eadweard J. Muybridge. trip, Muybridge made a second visit to the great valley in 1872. Before embarking on this campaign, he confidently Below: San Francisco City Hall under promoted his work announcing, “This series of photo- Construction, ca. 1871. Albumen graphs will undoubtedly be the most magnificent ever mammoth-plate by Eadweard J. Muybridge. taken in the world.” Making forty-five mammoth glass plate negatives, he returned to San Francisco and sold positive albumen prints in sets of forty for $100. The title “Yosemite Views” is gold-stamped on the front cover along with the name Marietta Harmon. Harmon may have been one of his subscribers. Many of the plates have letterpress captions. In recognition of these views, Muybridge won the International Gold Medal for Landscape at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873.

A VIEW FROM THE RIM OF THE VALLEY Falls of the Yosemite, from Glacier Rock, (Great Grizzly Bear) 2600 Feet Fall. No. 36. San Francisco: Bradley and Rulofson, 1872. Letterpress caption and imprint in red ink. Albumen mammoth-plate. 21 ¼ x 17 inches. Eadweard Muybridge made this stunning mammoth plate from the Yosemite precipice on his second trip to the great valley. This image records a time when Muybridge attached himself to San Francisco and California’s largest photographic firm, Bradley and Rulofson. Proud of adding Muybridge to their staff, Bradley and Rulofson issued a catalog of his works modestly stating: “To most persons in California the name of this artist is as familiar as those of 16 the majestic scenes he illustrates.” 17 Yosemite Creek [above Yosemite Falls]. ca. 1872. Albu- Panorama of San Francisco from California Street Hill men mammoth-plate silver print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. by Muybridge. San Francisco: Morse’s Gallery, 1877. Muybridge made this photograph on his second trip to the Eleven panels, 7 feet 6 inches. valley. According to the San Francisco Daily Alta Califor- The already famed landscape photographer took his wet- nia (April 7, 1873), nothing would stop Muybridge from plate camera to the roof of the Mark Hopkins residence at obtaining the best possible views including cutting down the corner of California and Mason Streets and exposed trees by the score and by hauling his camera to such dan- eleven negatives to form this extraordinary 360-degree gerous places that even his guides refused to follow panorama of the city and bay. Protected in a cloth-bound cover, the panorama measures 7 feet, 6 inches in length. The Mills Seminary, Alameda.[Mills College] The two end panels each measure 7 x 6 ⅛ inches, and the San Francisco: Bradley and Rulofson, n.d. Albumen nine inner panels measure 7 x 8 ⅛ inches. This view from mammoth-plate. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Nob Hill ranks as one of the most famous and highly The ingenious photographer succeeded in convincing acclaimed examples of photographica made in California. scores of ladies to pose for his mammoth plate camera. The panorama includes a key identifying 221 principal Every window in Mills Hall is adorned with a student or buildings. A year later, Muybridge made an even larger staff member. The seminary moved to this location 360-degree study of San Francisco. in 1871. THE GODFATHER OF THE MOTION PICTURE San Francisco City Hall under Construction. Descriptive Zoöpraxography or the Science of San Francisco: Bradley and Rulofson. ca. 1871. Animal Locomotion. Pennsylvania, 1893. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. The famed landscape photographer ranks as the first to Displaying his talents for composition, Muybridge took a capture instantaneous motion on film. According to foreground massed with piles of bricks and a background Muybridge’s biographer, Robert Haas, the zoöpraxiscope of city hall foundations and transformed the scene into a “is the one [instrument] on which Muybridge’s fame as brilliant photograph. Ground breaking took place in 1871, an early exhibitor of motion pictures is founded.” By and it took over a quarter-century to complete the job. use of this machine that combined elements of a magic The April 1906 Earthquake and Fire reduced this public lantern projector and counter-rotating discs with images works project to a heap of rubble. projected on a screen, Muybridge successfully conveyed motion through photography. For his studies of animal The Pacific Coast of Central America and Mexico. and then human locomotion and success in projecting San Francisco, 1876. Album. Presentation copy. moving images, he has been acclaimed as the “godfather of Muybridge, following his sensational murder trial, the motion picture.” His book, Descriptive Zoöpraxography, traveled to the exotic Isthmus of Panama in 1875. provides a well-written and succinct summary of his stud- Commissioned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, ies of animal locomotion. Muybridge himself donated and he made hundreds of wet-plate views of cities, coffee inscribed the State Library’s copy. plantations, and natural wonders to demonstrate the area’s commercial potential. Upon his return to San Francisco, “THE WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL the photographer made up a series of five photograph MOTION-PICTURE THEATRE” albums that he presented to friends and associates. Zoöpraxigraphical Hall, World’s Columbia Exposition, The State Library acquired the album given to Mrs. Chicago, 1893. Stereograph. 3 ½ x 7 inches. Wirt W. Pendegast, the widow of Muybridge’s defense Muybridge demonstrated his studies of animal locomotion attorney during his sensational murder trial. The album at the Chicago World’s Fair. This is an extremely rare view contains sixty 6 x 9 inch albumen views, and the title of his Zoöpraxigraphical Hall where he gave lectures and page bears the artist’s inscription. sold photographs. Muybridge biographer, Robert Haas, stated that the Zoöpraxigraphical Hall “had the distinc- tion of being the world’s first commercial motion-picture theatre.” Magnification of the stereograph reveals a large portrait of the celebrated photographer. Located on the noisy and distracting Midway Plaisance, it was a commer- cial failure.

18 ISAIAH WEST TABER (1830–1912)

SAN FRANCISCO DURING THE GILDED AGE A CALIFORNIAN IN QUEEN VICTORIA’S LONDON Isaiah West Taber. California Scenery and London Studio, 1897. Silver Print. 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches. . Industries San Francisco: I. W. Taber, 1880. The noted San Francisco photographer had gained an The folio volume is open to a view of actress Lillie Langtry international reputation and Queen Victoria invited him at Glacier Point gracefully standing 3,300 feet above the to photograph her jubilee celebration on the occasion of valley floor. Illustrated with fifty-nine original albumen the sixtieth year of her reign. During his stay in the British photographs for dozens of San Francisco businesses, the Isles, Taber established a portrait studio on Dover Street, album represents one of the finest uses of photography in Piccadilly. Impressed by his work, Queen Victoria extend- a commercial publication during California’s pioneer era. ed an invitation to Marlborough House to photograph the Taber designed the folio to be placed in elegant hotels and Prince and Princess of Wales. After Victoria’s death, they steamships to advertise the delights of San Francisco. It became Kind Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Note the included images of wineries, railroads, newspaper offices, light reflectors and backdrop in Taber’s posh studio. hotels, an art dealer, bookbinder, and promi- nent businesses. Because of the large number of original prints required, only 150 copies were published. Even so, this required the printing and hand mounting of 8,850 original photographs! Presumably, those businesses featured paid the photographer a fee. The Library possesses a similar Taber album published in 1884 called Taber Photographic Album of Principal Business Houses, Residents and Persons.

TABER PHOTOGRAPHING THE ECLIPSE The Solar Eclipse January 1st 1889, Cloverdale, Cal. I. W. Taber Operating with Special 60-inch Focus Camera. Imperial size boudoir card, silver print; Taber # 3776, 8 x 10 inches and Taber # 4445; silver print. 7 ⅝ x 9 ⅝ inches. Taber loved to experiment with different techniques and the cre- ation of this incredible instrument to photograph the eclipse fully demonstrates his creative spirit.

I. W. Taber photographing the solar eclipse at Cloverdale, 1889.

19 A VARIETY OF HELIOGRAPHIC ARTISTS

A FLOATING PALACE AT DRY DOCK Thomas Houseworth & Company. P. M. S. S. Co.’s Steamer City of Peking, San Francisco. ca. 1875. Albumen mammoth-plate. 20 x 15 ¾ inches. This is one of a series of three mammoth-plate views show- ing the great steamship at the Hunter’s Point Dry Dock. San Francisco author B. E. Lloyd in 1876 described the City of Peking as “perhaps the nearest approach to a real floating palace.” This luxury ship that plied the Pacific between China and California was the largest vessel in the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s fleet. This very print served as the lead photograph for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition to commemorate the sesquicentennial of photography in 1989.

Bradley and Rulofson. “Notice to the Public.” Carte de visite advertising card. San Francisco, ca. 1883. The firm of Bradley and Rulofson ranked as one of the most successful commercial photographic establishments in the Far West. They issued this advertising card with an original photograph mounted on it to give notice of moving to a new location. The bearer of the card received a discount if it were presented at their gallery. The firm moved from 429 Montgomery Street to Geary and Du- pont [Grant], San Francisco. The 400 block of Montgom- ery Street included the galleries of a number of photographers.

[Untitled]. Seated woman hold- ing a stereograph viewer. ca. 1875. Albumen cabinet card. Shown in this view is an attrac- tive woman pensively holding a stereo view. On the table to the right (her left) is a group of stereo cards. This striking image illustrates how the relatively inexpensive stereo card was meant for view- ing/entertainment in one’s home.

Above: P. M. S. S. Co.’s Steamer City of Peking, San Francisco, ca. 1875. Albumen mammoth-plate published by Thomas Houseworth and Company.

Right: A Bradley & Rulofson advertising card.

20 “THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE UNITED STATES” [One dollar gold note] This will be received as an equivalent for one dollar gold note in payment for photographs of bearer by Bradley & Rulofson, San Francisco. ca. 1875. In the highly competitive market of San Francisco, photography galleries used a variety of means to advertise and lure potential clients including this coupon made to look like United States currency. It proudly touted that it received the gold medal in 1874 for the “best photographs in the United States.” It also advertised that its studio Above: A one dollar gold note used by Below: A woman holding a stereograph viewer, ca. 1875. boasted “the only elevator connected with photography in Bradley and Rulofson to advertise their This striking portrait was published by Bradley and Rulofson, the world.” photographic business. one of the leading photographic firms in the Far West.

[sheet music] Kalakaua March. Composed by Louis Bödecker. San Francisco: M. Gray, ca. 1874. Albumen photograph by Bradley and Rulofson. This photographically illustrated sheet music was dedi- cated to David Kalakaua, King of Hawaii, 1831-1891. In an era before the halftone and other photomechani- cal processes, publishers laboriously pasted in original photographs to illustrate their publications. Bradley and Rulofson and their contemporaries provided thousands of original photographs for sheet music, city directories, periodicals, and even menus.

Bridge at Clark’s. ca. 1867. Albumen mammoth plate-print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Bradley and Rulofson published this print and employed photographers like Eadweard Muybridge. Located at Wawona, this was the first bridge over the South Fork of the Merced River. Galen Clark, the famous Yosemite guide, built the bridge in 1857.

Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. 1872. Albumen mammoth-plate silver print. 15 ¾ x 20 ¼ inches. More than likely, Eadweard Muybridge took this exquisite view. The depth of field in this plate is amazing. Bradley and Rulofson secured his services in 1873 and published a catalog of his Yosemite views.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, San Mateo County. ca. 1875. Albumen mammoth-plate print. 15¾ x 20 ¼ inches. Unfortunately, the name of the photographer is not given. More than likely, Carleton E. Watkins made this gorgeous view. Note the posing of figures at the top of the 115- foot lighthouse tower, a characteristic Watkins technique. Located nineteen miles south of Half Moon Bay, the light- house was completed and lit on November 15, 1872.

21 Left: As demonstrated by this print, Monterey photographer C. W. J. Johnson combined a number of skills to make a living.

Albert H. Wulzen (1844–1917). Panorama of Oakland, Cal. Oakland, Calif.: A. H. Wulzen, 1879. Albumen prints consisting of seven plates. 8 ½ x 72 inches. The fifth panel shows a photographer’s tent and wagon and each panel includes a handwritten description by an unknown writer. Taken from San Pablo and 14th Streets the prints are as follows: (1) 13th Street?; (2) 14th Street looking west, roof of public library; (3) San Pablo Avenue; (4) San Pablo Avenue; (5) junctions of 14th, and San Pablo Avenue; (6) junctions of 14th, Broadway and San Pablo Avenue and the Grand Central Hotel; and (7) Wash- ington Street looking south. A native of Germany, Wulzen came to San Francisco in 1856 and practiced photography in Oakland beginning in 1874. Prior to this, he had worked for Carleton E. Watkins, the celebrated landscape photogra- pher. The two end panels measure 8 ½ x 8 ¾ inches and the five inner panels measure 8 ½ x 11 ⅛ inches.

THE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE HOTEL DEL MONTE Charles Wallace Jacob Johnson (1833–1903). [untitled] Self-portrait of the photographer at his negative retouching stand. ca 1888. Modern silver print. 8 x 10 inches. Johnson, for many years, made a living as the official photographer of the Hotel del Monte, the posh seaside resort on the Monterey Peninsula during the 1880s and DOCUMENTING MARE ISLAND 1890s. He came to California in 1857 working in the gold- Photographer unknown. Interior View of U. S. S. fields and the mines of Austin, Nevada. In 1868, he took Mohican. . 13 x 16 inch oval. Mare up photography and formed a partnership in Eureka with Island Photo Album, Solano County. ca. 1875. a William N. Tuttle. They called themselves “heliographic This amazing view is the first plate in an album containing artists.” Johnson continued photography in various locations thirty-eight albumen silver photographs of the Mare Island before securing work at the Hotel del Monte in the early shipyard. The large folio album provides a fabulous visual 1880s. He recorded the great fire of 1887 that consumed summary of the graceful ships its workers created and re- the hotel. In addition to photographing guests at the hotel, paired, as well as the dry docks, support buildings, military Johnson took his dry-plate camera around the Monterey housing, and background views of the city of Vallejo. The area recording Carmel Mission, city of Monterey, Carmel view of the frame of the hull of the Mohican demonstrates Valley, and the area’s sublime natural features. the photographer’s compositional skills. For added impact in the album, many of the prints are trimmed in oval [Untitled]. C. W. J. Johnson with his “one man band” shapes. Unfortunately, the photographer who created these invention. ca. 1890. Modern silver print. prints did not insert his name in the negative or anywhere Proving that photography was a sometimes-problematic in the album. It is possible that James G. Smith’s Solano business; the photographer of the Hotel del Monte also Photographic Art Studio, the principal photographic supported himself with his musical talent, playing his establishment in Vallejo in the 1870s, received a commis- instruments at night and taking photographs by day. In 22 sion from the Navy to make the views. addition, he also ran a dancing school. Above: “Honest John.” George Fiske used this mule and sleigh to transport his photographic equipment during the winter months at Yosemite.

Right: Johnson’s photograph parlors at the Hotel del Monte, Monterey Peninsula.

Photograph Parlors. ca. 1890. Modern silver print YOSEMITE’S FIRST YEAR-ROUND PHOTOGRAPHER made from Johnson dry-plate glass negative. George Fiske (1835–1918). “Honest John.” 8 x 10 inches. Albumen cabinet card. ca. 1885. Following the burning of the Hotel del Monte, Johnson Captivated by the beauty of the Yosemite Valley, George established his gallery in this secure brick building adjacent Fiske, a native of New Hampshire, built his home and to the hotel’s fire department. Shown in this picture is a studio on the valley floor in 1883. In so doing, Fiske flock of peacocks roaming in front of his business. Note became the first photographer to live in the valley year- the number of photographs displayed on the outside of the round. Honest John was one of his trusty mules that he front façade. Johnson operated in the Monterey area from used to transport his equipment (the other mule was about 1881 until 1898. In 1920, Mrs. Francis M. Hilby called “Bake”). During the winter, he put snowshoes on of Monterey donated to the Library Johnson’s glass plates, the mule so Honest John could drag his sleigh. In addition hundreds of his mounted and unmounted prints, diaries, to this print, the Library has an album of sixty-one 5 x 8 and business correspondence. It forms an extraordinary inch prints made from dry-plate negatives entitled Fiske’s archive of a pioneer California photographer. Photographs of Yosemite and Big Trees, c. 1885. 23 George Weingarth. Ferndale [photographic] Gallery, Pasadena. ca. 1882. Albumen silver boudoir card. 5 ¼ x 8 ½ inches. One of the earliest photographic establishments in the resort town of Pasadena, the Ferndale Gallery was located in one of the “instant buildings” that dotted the during the boomer era. Surrounded by young citrus trees, Weingarth’s family and friends optimistically posed on the steps of his gallery.

Photographer unknown. [untitled] California Camera Club. ca. 1900. Gelatin silver print. 8 x 10 inches. Taken at an unknown location, this striking photograph documents the popularity of photography with amateur “sun artists.” With George Eastman’s development of the easy to handle, hand-held camera and fast negative speeds, STOCKTON’S LEADING PHOTOGRAPHER everyman became his/her own photographer. J. Pitcher Spooner (1845–1917). Photograph Parlors. Albumen cabinet view. Photographer unknown. Cone Ranch, near Red Bluff, ca. 1876. 4 x 6 ¼ inches. Tehama County. Six-part panorama. ca. 1900. Gelatin Spooner was Stockton’s principal photographer with his silver prints. Six prints each 6 x 7 inches. gallery located at 171, 173, and 175 Main Street in the Yo- Joseph Spencer Cone purchased Rancho Rio de los Ber- semite Theater Building. Photographs of a photographer’s rendos, a 14,000- acre ranch located on the east bank of studio are quite rare. This cabinet size view documents the Sacramento River near Red Bluff in 1869. Evidently, how photographers in cities preferred the upstairs in order he commissioned this album of twenty-three photographs to capture as much light as possible. This was especially of his ranch that featured wheat, fruit orchards, cattle, and important in making portraits. Photographers used the sheep. Unfortunately, the photographer shown here with roof to make solar or contact prints from their negatives. his dry-plate camera is unknown. This panorama of six 6 x 7 inch photographs of the oak-shrouded ranch carpeted William H. Fletcher (1838–1922). Panorama with leaves dramatically captures the pastoral days of from Belmont Hotel, Los Angeles. ca. 1889. Three gela- California. tine silver prints. 5 x 7 inches each. Top: J. Pitcher Spooner’s photograph parlors in Stockton. A native of Vermont, Fletcher came to Los Angeles during Charles F. Lummis (1859–1928). The Home of the boom years of the 1880s. Captivated by what he saw, Ramona. Photographs of Camulos, the Fine Old Spanish he recorded with his dry-plate camera the mushrooming Bottom: Logotype of Stockton pioneer Estate Described by Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson. 1888. photographer J. Pitcher Spooner. growth of his adopted city. Fletcher took the view shown Album of cyanotypes (blue prints). here from the top of the observation tower of the Bel- Jackson’s famous novel, Ramona, inspired a nostalgic mont Hotel, and it depicts a virtually empty city looking interest in California’s Hispanic past. One of the supposed toward the Hollywood Hills. The far right shows Angelino places visited by the novel’ s heroine is Camulos, the Yg- Heights, the first suburb of Los Angeles. The far left view nacio del Valle adobe of Ventura County. It is an excellent stretches toward Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. example of how an author employed actual photographs Fletcher also took his camera to the developing beach to illustrate a book. Lummis, one of Southern California’s communities, interior towns of Pasadena and Monro- most important intellectuals and a fine photographer in via, and the Franciscan missions of Southern California. his own right, made these twelve cyanotypes from dry- Through the generosity of Mead B. Kibbey, the State plate negatives. Invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, Library acquired Fletcher’s archive of 900 glass negatives the was the first non-silver photographic process 24 and mounted photographs. and was noted for being simple and cheap to produce. INTO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Louis J. Stellman (1877–1961). [untitled] Candid Photograph of the Photographer. c1911. Silver gelatin print. 4 x 2 ½ inches. Shown here with his trusty detective camera, Stellman continued the work of Arnold Genthe in recording San Francisco’s Chinatown. As Stellman’s biographer Richard H. Dillon noted, he “is one of the few men who appreci- ated the and strange beauty of Chinatown and senses its evanescence.” From 1911 to the 1930s this newspa- perman made thousands of photographs of Chinatown’s people, festivals, schools, and businesses. Prowling its streets and alleys, he used his detective camera to capture a candid, unobtrusive look of this Cathay in El Dorado. The Stellman Collection is one of the largest in the Library created by a single photographer.

“THE CHINESE MARK TWAIN” Dr. Ng Poon Chew, Editor of the Chung Sai Yat Po. Silver gelatin print, no date. 5 x 6 ½ inches. Dr. Chew (1866 – 1931) the founder and editor of Chung SHAPES OF CLAY Home and Equipment of McCurry Foto Co., Official Photographers Sai Yat Po or Chinese Journal, the first and largest Chinese Gladding, McBean and Company, Lincoln Plant. [untitled] Gargoyle for Knickerbocker Build- California State Fair, 1909 –1925. daily outside of China, posed for this handsome portrait Thirteen cameras and four photog- by Stellman. Because of his keen sense of humor, Dr. ing, Los Angeles. Gelatin silver print by Mary Swisher raphers are recorded in this view by Chew was known as the “Chinese Mark Twain.” Stellman’s made from dry-plate negative. 16 x 20 inches. Sacramento’s leading photographer, portrait of the famed editor and lecturer is one of 16,000 In 1983, the famous terra cotta works donated to the State Harold James McCurry. views he made of San Francisco and its Chinatown, the Library its magnificent collection of over 10,000 dry plate Mother Lode, and parts of the American West from pre- and flexible film negatives. The archive documents the or- 1906 Earthquake and Fire days to the 1940s. namentation of thousands of buildings in the West includ- ing the State Library’s own building at 914 Capitol Mall. THE UNOFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Mary Swisher, a superb documentary photographer, made OF SACRAMENTO possible the acquisition of this magnificent collection. Harold James McCurry. Home and Equipment of McCurry Foto Co., Official Photographers California Mott Studios. Eastman Kodak Company [lab], State Fair, 1909 –1925. Silver gelatin print. 9 ⅛ x 13 ⅜ 6706 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Ca. ca. 1930. inches. Silver gelatin print. 8 x 10 inches. No less than thirteen cameras of all sizes and four photog- The Mott Studios of Los Angeles, for several decades, raphers are depicted in front of the McCurry Foto Compa- served as one of the primary architectural photography ny studio on 731 I Street in Sacramento. Founded in 1909 firms in Southern California. Its views of the and by Harold James McCurry, the company produced the zigzag moderne styles are particularly significant. They most important photographic record of Sacramento and recorded such important structures as Bullocks Wilshire, its environs, including pictures of politicians, state fairs, Mayan Theater, Los Angeles City Hall, Wiltern Theater, parades, businesses, street scenes, transportation, natural and Eastern-Columbia Building. In the late 1980s, the disasters, and farmlands. In addition to the thousands of Library acquired the Mott Studios’ archive from Bernard McCurry prints and negatives, the State Library also has a Merge which consisted of tens of thousands of prints and five-volume negative index that records photographs taken negatives documenting hundreds of interior and exte- by the company from 1909 to ca. 1950. rior photographs of businesses, resorts, hotels, theaters, apartment buildings, and shops. Many demonstrate the influence of Hollywood glamour on the area’s architecture. Merge, an architectural photographer, purchased the Mott Studios in the 1950s. 25 Mott Studios. [untitled] Bullocks Wilshire that the same paper will be used for both prints and text.” , 3050 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Approximately 1,300 original photographs were made for 1929. Silver gelatin print. 8 x 10 inches. this folio. Supported by philanthropist and collector Albert Over 400 images by the Mott Studios present a tour Bender, Taos Pueblo originally sold for $75. The Grabhorn de force of this “contemporary cathedral of commerce” Press printed only 108 copies of this handsome work and shortly before its opening in 1929. Designed by John and the State Library obtained copy number 86. Donald Parkinson, the building stood proudly on the south side of Wilshire Blvd. as the most exquisite ex- THE CHANGING FACE OF LOS ANGELES ample of zigzag moderne design in California. Its interior William Reagh. The Changing Face of Los Angeles, furnishings from cosmetic counters to the linoleum floors Third and Hill Streets. 1955–1986. Silver gelatin prints. reflected the architect’s vision. Bullocks Wilshire now 10 x 13 ¼ inches each. houses a law school. William Reagh was one of those remarkable documentar- ians who had the foresight to visit the same location over ILLUSTRATED BY several decades to record this world-class city’s ever-chang- Ansel Adams and Mary Austin. Taos Pueblo, ing face. Shown are three views he made of the same Photographed by Ansel Easton Adams and intersection taken at 1955, 1978, and 1986. The first Described by Mary Austin. San Francisco, 1930. photograph shows that famous landmark Angels’ Flight; 20 p., 1 leaf, 12 plates. the second depicts a barren hill at the same intersection A great photographer, Ansel Adams; a noted writer, stripped of its past glory; and the final print records a city Mary Austin; an accomplished printing house, The transformed crowned with sleek glass and steel skyscrap- Grabhorn Press; distinguished designer, Valenti Angelo; ers. Long a resident of Los Angeles, this skillful photogra- and a respected bookbinder, Hazel Dreis, all combined pher with an eye to history, visually recorded the advent to make one of the most distinctive photographically of towering office buildings, the leveling of Bunker Hill, illustrated books of the twentieth century. Additionally, street people, the city’s ethnic diversity, and the rise and fall noted photographer Will Dassonville made the printing of the business district. To obtain his views, he relied upon paper for Adams. Devoted to that ancient Indian village large-format cameras including 6 x 6, 6 x 7, and 6 x 9 inch in northern New Mexico, Taos Pueblo is embellished with instruments, as well as a Speed Graphic 4 x 5. The Library twelve original Adams photographs. According to the obtained Reagh’s archive consisting of over 40,000 prints folio’s prospectus, “a unique feature in book making is and negatives.

POSITIVE PHOTOGRAPHS ON GLASS

Photographer unknown. [untitled] California State Photographer unknown. Kratona, Hollywood. ca. 1910. Capitol Building. Glass positive. ca. 1877-78. Whole-plate autochrome. 11 x 14 inches. The autochrome was the first commercial form of color This beautiful and large glass positive depicts the north- photography. Invented in 1903 by August and Louis west side of the Capitol shortly after the second fence was Lumière, the process flourished from about 1907 to the installed. The white picket fence came from salvaged scaf- 1930s before being superseded by Kodachrome film. An folding and served to keep out wandering cows and horses. autochrome is a colored glass transparency. Each is unique. The come from layers of translucent granules of Photographer unknown. [Untitled]. Glass Transpar- potato starch dyed red, blue, or green. A diascope like the ency/positive of Southern Pacific RR Train on Bridge one in this display was used to view the color plate. The over River Canyon (possibly Canyon Diablo Bridge, diascope held the autochrome in place at the top allowing Arizona). ca. 1890. 9 ½ x 11 inches. Image surrounded light to pass through it to a mirror. The viewer would actu- by etched glass and metal frame. ally be looking at the image via the mirror. Protective sides The anonymous photographer of this glass positive bril- kept out ambient light. liantly captured the drama of the rugged desert landscape as the train rested on this seemingly precarious bridge that Arthur Clarence Pillsbury (1870–1946). straddled this precipice. Rocks and Snow. Yosemite Valley. ca. 1916. Full-plate silvertone. 12 ½ x 15 ½ inches. Rare when compared with the orotone, the silvertone was produced by the same method except that the back 26 TWO NON-CALIFORNIA TREASURES

Philip Henry Delamotte (1821–1889). Alexander Gardner, (1821–1882). Rays of Photographic Views of the Progress of the Crystal Palace, Sunshine from South America. Washington, D.C: Sydenham, Taken during the Progress of the Works . . . Philip & Solomons, 1865 . London: Crystal Palace Co., 1855. 2 volumes. Gardner, the famed American Civil War photographer, Housed in this two-volume work are the earliest paper created this album of seventy-one gorgeous albumen pho- photographs in the State Library’s collection. Adolph tographs of Lima, Peru and the Chincha Islands, thirteen Sutro, the great San Francisco bibliophile acquired the set miles off Peru’s southwestern coast. M. Moulton, prob- sometime in the 1880s, and it is one of the treasures of ably a Gardner assistant, actually made the negatives and the State Library’s Sutro Library Branch. The 160 prints Gardner made the prints. Moulton took a series of eerily made from wax paper negatives date from the prepara- beautiful views of the great island guano heaps, including tion of the site of the Crystal Palace in London in August the transport ships, loading of fertilizer, and men working 1852 until the reopening of the Crystal Palace in June on the heaps in this rainless region. Described in the text 1854 by Queen Victoria. Invented in 1851 by Gustave Le as “the richest fertilizing material known to agriculture,” Gray, this method improved upon the negative by Gardner worried that this seemingly unlimited supply waxing the paper before sensitization thus preventing the would soon be exhausted. Somehow, Philip and Solomons chemicals from sinking into the paper fibers. By wax- published produced this album during the final days of ing, Le Gray greatly increased the sharpness and clarity of the war. the image. Following the Great Exhibition of 1851, the sprawling exhibition hall known as the Crystal Palace was dismantled and reassembled at Sydenham Hill, south of London. A fire destroyed the great glass and steel build- ing in 1936. This particular set was previously owned by Matthew Digby Wyatt, himself the author of a great book of chromolithographs on the exhibition and co-director of the Fine Art Department of the exposition.

was painted with a silver pigment. Pillsbury gained fame for his striking views of Yosemite. A photojournalist, he moved to the great valley after covering the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. In addition to producing ortones and silvertones, he sold picture postcards under the name of the Pillsbury Photo Company. Ever inven- tive, he is credited with creating the first circuit panoramic camera and a time-lapse camera for photographing wild- flowers in Yosemite.

The Gates. Yosemite Valley. ca. 1910. Full-plate orotone. 16 ¾ x 19 ¾ inches. Also known as a goldtone, the orotone consists of a glass A spectacular glass positive of a Southern Pacific train perched on a bridge in Arizona, ca. 1890. plate coated with light sensitive gelatin silver. After the plate was exposed, the photographer painted the back of the glass with a gold pigment mixed with banana oil to give it its rich tonal qualities. For protection, the ortone was then placed in a protective frame. Edward S. Curtis, the noted photographer of Native Americans, also em- ployed this strikingly beautiful method. 27 GLOSSARY

Author’s note: O. Henry Mace’s Collectors Guide to Early Photographs (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1990) contains a useful glossary of antique photography terms and was most helpful in compiling the definitions below as well as several Internet sources. Gary F. Kurutz

Members of the California Albumen: The white of an egg, it was used by photogra- Dry plate: A gelatin-based glass negative is one that Camera Club posed for phers as a base for holding light-sensitive silver on glass or has been pre-sensitized. Becoming popular in the 1880s, this engaging photograph. paper. It was used extensively in the 1860s and 1870s. such negatives supplanted the slower and much more tedious wet-plate process. Ambrotype: Invented by Frederick Scott Archer in the early 1850s, the ambrotype consisted of a negative image Ferrotype: The more popular term for this photo- formed on a sensitized sheet of glass (collodion-coated). By graphic process is the tintype. However, the plates were painting the back black or putting black paper behind the actually made from sheets of iron and not tin. image, it appeared as a positive. For protection, it was put Gelatin: Becoming popular in the 1880s, gelatin made in a case. from boiled animal bones and skins was used as the base Boudoir print: Slightly larger than the cabinet card for photographic film and plates. (8 ¼ x 5 inches), this style was popular in the late 1870s Glass positive: The negative was printed directly and used by C. E. Watkins. onto sensitized glass. It was viewed by transmitted light. Cabinet card: Measuring 4 ¼ x 6 ½ inches, the Mammoth plate and print: Made famous by C. cabinet card usually supported an albumen print and was E. Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, and others, the mam- popular in the 1860s and 1870s. moth plate was made from a wet-plate negative 16 x 20 Caret de visite: Popular in the 1860s, the “CDV” inches or larger in size. or calling card photograph measured 2 ½ x 4 ¼ inches. Its Orotone: A positive image on glass with its back mount held an albumen photograph. The back or verso painted or backed in gold. The silvertone uses the same often was imprinted with a photographer’s logo. process. Yosemite photographer A. C. Pillsbury created Cased image: Daguerreotype, ambrotypes, and some- orotones and placed them in elegant, protective frames. times tintypes were placed in a protective cased made of Stereograph: Consisting of paired photographs of leather or plastic. The case also consisted of a glass covering the same image, stereographs were created by using two over the image, a mat usually made of brass, and a velvet cameras at slightly different angles or with a double-bar- pad on the left side. reled camera. By placing them in a stereoscope, the viewer Collodion: Used to sensitize glass for the wet-plate would see one image in three dimension. The stereograph negative process, collodion or gun-cotton is a highly gained popularity in the 1860s. flammable, viscous pale yellow liquid solution of nitro cel- Tintype: Also known as the ferrotype or melainotype, lulous, alcohol and ether. the tintype consisted of a sheet of iron with a Japan var- Cyanotype: Invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, nish. Popular during the Civil War era, it was used as late the cyanotype or blue print was the first non-silver photo- as 1930. graphic process and was noted for being simple and cheap Waxed negative: Invented in 1851 by Gustave Le to produce. Gray, this method improved upon the calotype negative by Daguerreotype: The first popular form of photogra- waxing the paper before sensitization thus preventing the phy and invented in 1839, the daguerreotype was produced chemicals from sinking into the paper fibers. By waxing, on a silver-coated copper plate. After the photographer Le Gray greatly increased the sharpness and clarity of the exposed the plate, it was then exposed to mercury vapors image. which, in turn, brought out the image. Consequently, the Wet-plate: The negative image was placed on a sen- daguerreotype is sometimes called a “latent image.” sitized sheet of glass coated with collodion. This type of 28 plate had to be exposed and fixed while still wet. Joseph B. Starkweather Isaiah W. Taber Carleton E. Watkins (b. ca. 1822) (1830-1912) (1829-1916) Joseph Starkweather (New York born) is identifi ed as Th e year 1830 produced the birth of yet another Watkins lived in Oneonta, New York from his birth a daguerreotypist by the inclusion of his collection of ambitious man to pursue photography, from New until 1851. He, like his contemporaries, moved to San work from 1852 in the Fifteenth Industrial Exhibition Bedford, Massachusetts. First, though, Isaiah Taber Francisco, California where he received an apprentice- of the Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco, in 1880. followed several entrepreneurial pursuits, includ- ship as a portrait photographer under daguerreotypist Starkweather worked as a fancy goods dealer in ing an 1850 voyage to Valparaíso, Chile, aboard the Robert Vance. At twenty-nine, Watkins established an Boston before offi cially embarking on the career that Hebe. While his friends stayed in California to mine independent practice, photographing mining opera- occupied him as far as can be traced—the career of for gold, Taber traded fi rearms for wild hogs, and tions and land claims for fi nanciers who were building photographer. From 1854-1863, Starkweather main- arrived back in San Francisco comparatively wealthy. their careers in the young state of California. tained residence in Boston as a daguerreotypist. He In 1852, Taber tried his hand at running a ranch in Just three years later, Watkins traveled with one then moved his work to San Francisco around 1867, the Sierra foothills; he worked hard and made a profi t, of his patrons to Yosemite and was struck by its vast to operate the T. C. Lancy and J. B. Starkweather but nonetheless prescribed the farming profession beauty. He then decided to return to the site with his California Photographic Gallery. Th ough the partner- for “someone with less imagination.”5 Taber’s return camera, in eff ect producing 20 mammoth-plates (18 x ship broke-up after only two years, Starkweather again to New Bedford brought on a third profession of 22 inches) and 100 stereo views. Watkins’s photo- teamed up from at least 1881-1893, this time with his dentistry, in 1854, which he considered “rather a dull graphs of the valley were among the fi rst to be sent son, Herbert J. Starkweather. profession.”6 Luckily his subsequent career choice to the east coast, where the stunning views became Th e photographer’s personal history remains highly endured and he began working as a photographer. famous. Th e 1861 suite of photographs launched elusive to the world today, completely dropping off He learned through the technique of ambrotype, Watkins’s career, and he was honored with the naming from public record in 1904. However, Starkweather but switched to daguerreotypes upon opening his of Mt. Watkins at Yosemite. does leave us with some incredible examples of early fi rst gallery in New Bedford. Taber ventured through Watkins established the fundamentals for American photography. many partnerships with family and friends before . His yearning to capture the making a seven-year commitment to the fi rm of entire span of imagery led Watkins, not surprisingly, to Bradley & Rulofson. Soon after, Taber introduced a the panorama format; he used this method to photo- Bibliography new format of photography, called the “promenade graph Yosemite, as well as the city of San Francisco. photograph” (4 x 7 inches), which better suited Over a 15-year period from the mid 1860s to the Andrews, Ralph W. Picture Gallery Pioneers. New standing portraits. Later he marketed a bas-relief late 1870s, Watkins concentrated on the 180-degree York: Bonanza Books, 1964. type of photograph that was invented by his brother. panorama using various photographic formats—from Th ese were just two of his many unique creations, all stereographs to mammoth plates—discovering which Haas, Robert Bartlett. Muybridge: Man in Motion. of which never provided him with the opportunity aesthetic result he preferred best. Th e remarkable indi- Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. he would gain from his 1876 acqusition of Carleton viduality in Watkins’s work comes from his unmatched Harris, David, and Eric Sandweiss. Eadweard Watkins’s negatives, equipment, and even studio. Th e clarity, and non-traditional composition. He com- Muybridge and the Photographic Panorama of San new gallery opened under the name I. W. Taber and bined with the “rigorous sense of pictorial structure Francisco, 1850-1880. Cambridge: Th e MIT Press, Company, giving him an edge to the title as premier a virtuoso mastery of the diffi cult wet-plate negative 7 1993. photographer of the west. process.” Watkins undoubtedly worked to fulfi ll a pas- Taber remained in the spotlight until San Fran- sion for the art, because not only did the artist delight Hendricks, Gordon. Eadweard Muybridge: Th e Father cisco’s 1906 earthquake that shattered an estimated in giving away his prints, he seemed almost opposed to of the Motion Picture. New York: Grossman Publishers, one hundred tons of his glass negatives. Rather than exchange his work for money. 1975. rebuild his business, he happily retired with a large repertoire and a great collection of views of the Hirsch, Robert. Seizing the Light: A History of Pacifi c Coast. Photography. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Th e Library of Congress Online. “Lawrence and Houseworth Collection.” Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/lawhouhtml/ lawhouback.html. (Footnotes) Th e Metropolitan Museum of Art Online. “Carleton 1 Peter Palmquist and Th omas R. Kailbourne, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 (Stanford: Watkins and the West: 1860s-1870s.” Timeline of Art Stanford University Press, 2000), 116. History. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phws/ 2 Th e Library of Congress Online, “Lawrence and Houseworth Collection,” Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://lcweb2.loc. hd_phws.htm. gov/pp/lawhouhtml/lawhouback.html. 3 Eadweard Muybridge, “Prospectus” (San Francisco: Morse’s Gallery, 1877), quoted in David Harris and Eric Sandweiss, Eadweard Muy- Nickel, Douglas R. Carleton Watkins: Th e Art of bridge and the Photographic Panorama of San Francisco, 1850-1880 (Cambridge: Th e MIT Press, 1993), 37. Perception. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999. 4 Ibid., 46. 5 Ralph W. Andrews, Picture Gallery Pioneers (New York: Bonanza Books, 1964), 63. Palmquist, Peter, and Th omas R. Kailbourne. 6 “Illustrated Interviews No. 1: Colonel I. W. Taber,” Camera Craft, October 1900, 342, quoted in Peter Palmquist and Th omas R. Kail- Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical bourne, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 538. Dictionary, 1840-1865. Stanford: Stanford University 7 Th e Metropolitan Museum of Art Online, “Carleton Watkins and the West: 1860s-1870s,” Timeline of Art History, http://www.metmu- Press, 2000. seum.org/toah/hd/phws/hd_phws.htm. 104