Archives West Finding Aid

Thomas H. Rutter was born on January 1, 1837 in Truro, Cornwall, England and worked as a veterinarian before immigrating to the United States. During the Civil war, in July, 1861, he enlisted in Company M of the 1st New York Cavalry as a farrier. He was honorably discharged by February 1862 because of a disability. Enticed by reports of a gold rush, he moved to the Montana Territory in 1864 and established mining claims in and around Bannack, Butte, Highland and Last Chance Gulch, Montana.

By 1867, Rutter became fascinated with the art of photography and started a photography studio with R. J. Nesbitt in Glendale, Montana. In 1870, Rutter opened his own studio in Butte, Montana as "Thomas H. Rutter, Portrait and Landscape Photographer." He married Lydia Lymburner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 26, 1882 in Butte.

Rutter and his wife moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1888, where he opened a photography studio on 1346 Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. He operated the Tacoma studio until 1900, when he moved to North Yakima where he worked as a photographer until at least 1906 and possibly longer. During his time in Tacoma and Yakima, Rutter photographed the city, as well as the surrounding area and most notably the members of Yakima Indian tribe. He apparently sold off most or all of his negatives before his death. Some of his photographs were incorporated with other photographers' work and are not attributed to Rutter.

In 1915 Rutter and his wife moved to the Veteran’s Home in Orting, Washington where they remained until their deaths. Rutter died on August 21, 1925 at the age of eighty-eight.