Creator
CHARLES R. SAVAGE (1832-1909)
Title
A Farm, possibly in Utah
Date
Between 1880 and 1890
Description
The Mormons began their westward migration in 1846 to escape religious persecution. They were largely responsible for settling the Utah Territory and had remarkable success as farmers there, despite the arid climate. In this photograph, likely of a Mormon farm, Savage surely intended to capture the affluence of his farmer-patrons, who wear their finest clothes. He places a girl sitting in a horse-drawn carriage at the center of the view and frames it with evidence of the family's wealth: a large wooden barn, a whitewashed stone shed, a brick house, a fence lined by fruit trees, and a cluster of plump chickens.
Format
Gelatin silver print
Source
Princeton Collections of Western Americana, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Purchase, J. Monroe Thorington Fund.