Jackson, W.H. (William Henry), 1870-1878

Series — Box: 1

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This stereograph collection is comprised of 513 stereographs that date from approximately 1846-1940. There are stereoviews from 24 different publishers and photographers, made up of donations from a many different donors, many unknown. Additionally, there are 21 images with no identifying information at the end of the finding aid. Stereograph publishers often bought other photographers’ negatives, and there was much sharing and republishing of the work of certain photographers, sometimes making it difficult to identify the original creator.

The collection is comprised of smaller, Bay Area-based photographers like M.M. Hazeltine and O.V. Lange, as well as larger, more established East coast-based stereograph publishers like Keystone View Company and Underwood and Underwood. Thus, the views represented vary widely and include views as far ranging as Alaska, Panama, and Seoul, Korea. The predominance of Bay Area and West coast photographers in the collection means that the majority of images are of California and related subjects such as Yosemite and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath. There are numerous views of San Francisco and its notable features, including the Cliff House, the Baldwin Hotel, Woodward’s Gardens, and Golden Gate Park. There are also views of other California cities, such as Sonora, Eureka, and Mendocino, and views that document the growth of railroads and of industries such as mining and lumbering. There is a series of views by M. Rieder documenting Southern California locations such as Long Beach, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Catalina Island. Additionally, there are some whimsical, difficult-to-categorize stereographs of President and Mrs. McKinley, a “skeleton leaves” arrangement, and a playful series depicting a wedding.

Dates

1870-1878

Creator

Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942 (Photographer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) was a pioneering landscape photographer from Keesville, New York. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and, having been interested in photography from a young age, opened his own studio with his brother Edward in 1867. In 1870, he left his studio and his family behind to document the growth of cities and railroads out west.

That was the same year that he was hired as a photographer with the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey - where he would work for the next 8 years. During this time, he took many photographs and stereograph images of western states like Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Jackson is also responsible for the first published photographs of the Yellowstone region. After the survey expedition ended, Jackson opened a studio in Denver, Colorado and continued photographing Western landscapes, in addition to commission work for railroad companies and hotels.

Around 1893-1894, Jackson was offered a job as a photographer with the World Transportation Commission, which flew him to New Zealand, Australia, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Asia. He produced more than 900 photographs for this project. Upon his return, in 1897, Jackson began working for the Detroit Photographic Company. He began to experiment with color photography and colorized some of his new and old photographic negatives, issuing numerous postcards and prints. However, postcard sales declined after World War I, and Jackson decided to retire. He published two autobiographies about his adventures as a photographer and died at the age of 99 in New York City.

Information taken from:

"Guide to the William Henry Jackson. Photographs 1870-1878." The University of Chicago Library Special Collections Research Center. Accessed February 12, 2019. https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.JACKSONWH#idp107712328.