Browse Items (32 total)

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad described itself as "The Scenic Line of America," and hired Jackson in 1881 to illustrate the assertion for its advertisements. On commissions through the 1890s, Jackson traveled along the line on the railroad…

After Hayden's survey ended in 1879, Jackson established his own studio in Denver. Ever attuned to consumer demands, he specialized in portraiture and landscape photography. Jackson hired others to handle the portraits, but photographed the region…

Watkins achieved critical acclaim but had difficulty selling his photographs and often found himself unable to fund his photographic excursions. With a loan from American geologist J. D. Whitney (1819-1896), Watkins set out from California in 1867 to…

In 1872, Philadelphia photographer Bell replaced O'Sullivan for one year as Wheeler's expedition photographer. The repose of the figure in the photograph was surely intended to disarm the viewer. The figure calls attention to the scale of the…

O'Sullivan was also hired by military engineer Lt. George M. Wheeler's (1842-1905) as a survey photographer for the Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian in 1871, 1873, and 1874. He took the photograph…

In 1871, Jackson photographed the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho for Ferdinand V. Hayden’s (1829–1887) U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. His photographs were immediately lauded as visual evidence of the…

Among the earliest American landscape photographers, Watkins became instantly famous for his views of the Yosemite Valley, which he first photographed in 1861. In an influential Atlantic Monthly article, Oliver Wendell Holmes praised Watkins for his…

The U.S. government settled the West in part by promoting agricultural development, even in areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, that were not ideal for farming. Many settlers in the richly-timbered region often worked as loggers or in sawmills to…

The cowboy came to be the icon of the American West in the mid-1880s, precisely when his traditional way of life began to disappear. By then Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska had closed their borders to cattle being herded from the south, and the open…

The upper-class Cameron and her husband emigrated from Britain to Terry, Montana, in 1889 to try their hand at ranching. Cameron learned photography there and, when ranching proved unprofitable, was able to sell her photographic work locally to make…