Fred Payne Clatworthy collection This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit September 14, 2017 History Colorado, Stephen H. Hart Library & Research Center 1200 Broadway Denver, Colorado, 80203 303-866-2305 [email protected] Fred Payne Clatworthy collection Table of Contents Summary Information ................................................................................................................................. 3 Biographical/Historical note.......................................................................................................................... 5 Scope and Contents note............................................................................................................................... 6 Arrangement note...........................................................................................................................................7 Administrative Information .........................................................................................................................7 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................8 General note...................................................................................................................................................9 Collection Inventory.................................................................................................................................... 10 FRED PAYNE CLATWORTHY MANUSCRIPTS,............................................................................10 FRED PAYNE CLATWORTHY PHOTOGRAPHS,...........................................................................27 - Page 2 - Fred Payne Clatworthy collection Summary Information Repository History Colorado, Stephen H. Hart Library & Research Center Creator Clatworthy family Creator Clatworthy, Fred Payne Jr., 1912-1995 Creator - Photographer Clatworthy, Fred Payne, 1875-1953 Creator Gish, Barbara Clatworthy, 1921-2011 Title Fred Payne Clatworthy collection Date 1885-1993 Extent 41.5 Linear feet (1,019 autochrome screen plates; 20 lantern slides; 1713 photographic prints; 2,953 color slides; 35 cellulose acetate film negatives; 94 cellulose nitrate film negatives; 344 glass plate negatives; and manuscript material in 10 boxes) Location note The manuscripts in this collection are stored in the Manuscripts Collection in Mss.01794. The photographs in this collection are stored in the Photographs Collection in Ph.00560. Nitrate film negatives and glass plate negatives are stored offsite. See Conditions Governing Access for more information about accessing nitrate and glass plate negatives. Language English Abstract This collection is primarily composed of photographic images shot by Fred Payne Clatworthy (1875-1953), a photographer who operated primarily out of Estes Park, Colorado. It also includes the Clatworthy - Page 3 - Fred Payne Clatworthy collection family’s personal papers as well as Fred Payne Clatworthy’s business papers. Preferred Citation note Fred Payne Clatworthy collection, Ph.00560, History Colorado, Denver, Colo. - Page 4 - Fred Payne Clatworthy collection Biographical/Historical note Fred Payne Clatworthy (1875-1953) was a photographer and public lecturer primarily known for his mastery of the the autochrome screen plate process, an early color photography format. Clatworthy was born in Dayton, Ohio on August 30, 1875 to Emma Payne Clatworthy (1853-1936) and Frederick Clatworthy (1846-1905). He had one sister, Linda Clatworthy (1877-1933). Clatworthy received his first camera at 13 and began selling his images to family members. At 18, Clatworthy attended Dennison University in Granville, Ohio and later transferred to Stetson University in Deland, Florida. Clatworthy studied medicine and continued shooting photographs throughout his college years. An avid traveler, Fred Clatworthy conceived of a plan to bicycle across the continental United States while in college. After his graduation from Stetson University in 1896, Clatworthy traveled by steamship to Brooklyn, New York. From there, he bicycled to his parents’ home in Evanston, Illinois. He considered this the first leg of his cross-continental journey. He spent the next two years in the Chicago area working as an office boy and attending the University of Chicago Law School. Then, in June of 1898, Clatworthy embarked from his parents’ residence and spent the next year bicycling across the Western United States. Clatworthy’s route took him through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Washington. He documented much of the journey with a 4x5" view camera. In 1900, Clatworthy traveled across the Yuma Desert from Los Angeles, California to Flagstaff, Arizona via wagon and mule team. He sold some of the photographs that he shot at Grand Canyon National Park during the trip to the Atchison, Topeka, & Sante Fe Railroad. In 1902, Clatworthy returned to Colorado and bought a stake in a ranch near Loveland. Then, in 1904, he visited Estes Park and decided to relocate. Soon after his first visit, Clatworthy purchased two lots on the west end of Estes Park. He errected a tenthouse on the property and started a photography business. He used water from the nearby Thompson River to develop and print photographs. In 1905, Clatworthy built a small building on his property and named it Ye Littel Shop. In addition to serving as the base of Clatworthy's photographic operations, Ye Littel Shop also functioned as a curio store and sold a variety of items including furniture, produce, Kodak cameras, film, and Clatworthy’s own images of the area. In the coming years, Clatworthy would develop additional business interests in the Estes Park area including rental cottages, a Spaulding Athletic Agency, a Kodak store, and briefly, a zippy laundry service. Clatworthy also served as the official photographer for the Stanley Hotel, Covenant Heights, and the Rocky Mountain Young Men's Christian Association at this time. In 1911, Clatworthy married Mabel Leonard Clatworthy (1885-1971). They had three children: Fred Payne Clatworthy Jr. (1912-1995), Helen Clatworthy (1915-2001), and Barbara Clatworthy Gish (1921-2011). In 1912, construction was completed on the Clatworthy family home located on Riverside Drive in Estes Park. In the following years, the family would split their time between this residence and a second home purchased by Clatworthy in 1921 near Palm Springs, Calif. Clatworthy began to produce autochromes, the format for which he would become internationally known, in 1914. In exchange for image use rights to Clatworthy's autochromes, railways and transportation companies began to send him on all-expenses-paid photo assignments to various locations. He was sent by the Great Northern Railroad to Glacier National Park in 1925; by the Matson Navigation Company to - Page 5 - Fred Payne Clatworthy collection Hawaii in 1926; by the Union Steamship and Matson Naviagtion Companies to Polynesia (Hawaii, Tahiti, and New Zealand) in 1928; and by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company sto Mexico in 1929 and 1930. In 1917, Clatworthy presented autochromes of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo.) before members of the U.S. Congress. Held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., Clatworthy’s exhibition was part of an effort headed by Colorado senator John F. Shafroth to increase the area of RMNP. The senate passed Shafroth’s bill, which had been stalled for the past year, the day after Clatworthy’s presentation. It was also around this time that Clatworthy became acquainted with the National Geographic Society. Approximately 100 of his autochromes would appear in the pages of National Geographic magazine between 1923 and 1934. Finally, this 1917 trip also marked the beginning of Clatworthy’s career as a slide lecturer. For the next 17 years, Clatworthy would spend his off-seasons presenting his autochromes at packed venues throughout the country. Clatwothy’s most notable lecture venues included the Field Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Museum. Between Clatworthy’s lectures and published images, his work was seen by over ten million people in over 160 countries. During the 1940s, Clatworthy partnered with his son, Fred Jr., to produce chromogenic color images of the Estes Park area for calendar and postcard reproductions. In 1949, Clatworthy accompanied his daughter, Barbara, on a tour of Europe that included stops in England, France, Holland, Italy, and Switzerland. Fred Payne Clatworthy passed away in Estes Park in 1953 at the age of 78. Scope and Contents note This collection contains photographic material and papers primarily created by Estes Park photographer Fred Payne Clatworthy (1875-1953). The bulk of the collection consists of 1019 Autochromes made by Clatworthy from circa 1916-1932 that primarily depict landscapes of the western United States and areas located near Clatworthy's residences in Estes Park, Colo. and Palm Springs, Calif., as well as his trips to Hawaii in 1926, Polynesia (Hawaii, Tahiti, and New Zealand) in 1928, and Mexico in 1929 and 1930. Other photographic material in the collection date from 1885-1943 and include glass plate negatives and photographic prints that depcit a cross-country bicycle trip Clatworthy took between