William Henry Jackson photograph collection, circa 1869-1900

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Title
William Henry Jackson photograph collection
Dates
circa 1869-1900 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.88 linear feet, (2 archives boxes)  :  30 items
Collection Number
P0329
Summary
The William Henry Jackson photograph collection contains photographs of various sites and people in Colorado and Utah taken by William Henry Jackson. Some are from the Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series. Others depict Indigenous people, primarily members of the Ute people.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

William Henry Jackson was born in Keeseville, New York on April 4, 1843 to Harriet Maria Allen and George Hallock Jackson. His mother was a watercolor painter and taught Jackson to paint in his youth; he began working as an artist as a teenager. In October 1862, at the age of 19, Jackson enlisted in the Union Army and served in Company K of the 12th Vermont Infantry during the American Civil War. When his regiment mustered out on July 14, 1863 after their participation in the Battle of Gettysburg, Jackson returned to Rutland, Vermont, where he worked as a painter until migrating to the American West in 1866. In 1867, he and his brother Edward Jackson opened a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska.

In 1868, Jackson was commissioned by the Union Pacific Railroad Company to produce photographs documenting the scenery along their railroad lines for promotional purposes. Through this job, Jackson's work was noticed by Ferdinand Hayden, who asked him to document an expedition through the Yellowstone River. Throughout the 1870s, Jackson worked on various federal expeditions with Hayden.

In 1878, Jackson opened a photography studio in Denver, Colorado. In 1883, he changed the name of the business to W.H. Jackson Photograph and Publishing Company. From 1890 to 1892, Jackson worked taking promotional photographs for various railroad lines. In 1893, he was commissioned as the photographer for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson was financially impacted by the Panic of 1893 and so sought additional commissions, including working for the World's Transportation Commission from 1894 to 1896 and traveling the world to photograph scenes and specimens for the Field Museum in Chicago.

In 1897, Jackson sold his library of negatives to the Detroit Photographic Company (later the Detroit Publishing Company), which had exclusive rights to the photochrom printing process. In 1898, he became president of the company. Jackson worked for the company until 1924, when he moved to Washington D.C. In the last decades of his life, Jackson returned to painting, and created murals of the American West for the United States Department of the Interior building. After his retirement, Jackson wrote two autobiographies: The Pioneer Photographer: Rocky Mountain Adventures with a Camera (1929) and Time Exposure: The Autobiography of William Henry Jackson (1940).

William Henry Jackson died on June 30, 1942 in New York City, New York.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

These photographs were purchased piecemeal, and so constitute an "artificial" collection that can be added to easily. The photographs were arranged first by format, then by the original series numbers. Others were numbered in hand-writing and these numbers were considered reliable. The captions, including spelling and punctuation, were copied verbatum.

It is difficult to date the photographs, as Jackson traveled so extensively in these areas both with the Union Pacific and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), as well as other projects. Additionally, throughout his career Jackson reproduced prints from earlier negatives for commercial purchases. While the prints may be dated with relative certainty based on print type and characteristics of the cards they are mounted on, the date at which each image was taken is more difficult to determine. Most images in this collection were taken between 1868 and the 1870s

The photographs are all albumen prints, with the exception of 1:2:50117, which is a "photochrom," a color lithographic process used by the Detroit Photographic Co. Many of the stereographs are quite worn and faded, but the 6.5 X 4.25 prints and the oversize items are in very good to excellent condition.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Collection is arranged by type.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Bill Lee and the Hank Baum Gallery in 1988-1993.

Processing Note

Peter F. Schmid in 1991 and Drew Ross in 1993. Photograph numbers, biographical note, and scope and content updated by Special Collections staff in 2024, legacy finding aid available upon request.

Click here to read a statement on harmful language in library records.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Western Landscapes and PeopleReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
1 1
Stereographs
  • P0329n01_01_001: Original Caption: "No. 89 West from Tunnel No. 4, Weber Canon" [Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series]
  • P0329n01_01_002: Original Caption: "No. 95 Weber Canon" [Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series]
  • P0329n01_01_003: Original Caption: "No. 101 Devil's Slide, Weber Canyon."
  • P0329n01_01_004: Original Caption: "No. 155 Great Salt Lake City" [Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series]
  • P0329n01_01_005: Original Caption: "No. 171 West Bank of Green River" [Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series]
  • P0329n01_01_006: Original Caption: "No. 176 Green River Butte, Wyoming" [Scenery of the Union Pacific Railroad series]
  • P0329n01_01_007: Original Caption: "441 Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, 350 Feet" [Scenery of the Yellowstone series, 1871 (U.S.G.S.)]
  • P0329n01_01_008: Original Caption: "4745. Provo Falls" [W.H. Jackson and Co., Photographers 414 Larimer Street, Denver, Colorado]
  • P0329n01_01_009: Original Caption: "4739. Lake Phoebe, Big Cottonwood Canon" [W.H. Jackson and Co., Photographers 414 Larimer Street, Denver, Colorado]
1869-1871
1 2
Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
  • P0329n01_02_001: Original caption: "804. The Royal Gorge"
  • P0329n01_02_002: Original Caption: "812. Suspended Bridge in the Royal Gorge"
  • P0329n01_02_003: Original Caption: "814. Across Royal Gorge"
  • P0329n01_02_004: Original Caption: "841. Echo Cliffs, Grand River, D. and R.G.R.R."
  • P0329n01_02_005: Original Caption: "1007. Marshall Pass"
  • P0329n01_02_006: "1009: Marshall Pass and Mt. Ouray"
circa 1878-1890
1 3
Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
  • P0329n01_03_001: Original caption: "4402. Black Canon of the Gunnison"
  • P0329n01_03_002: Original caption: "4404. Currecanti Needle"
  • P0329n01_03_003: Original caption: "4405. Curicante Needle, Canon of the Gunnison"
  • P0329n01_03_004: Original caption: "4408. Approaching the Black Canon"
  • P0329n01_03_005: Original caption: "5201: "San Jose. Ferro-Carril C.M.
circa 1878-1890
1 4
Utah Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
  • P0329n01_04_001: Original Caption: "4429A. Castle Gate"
  • P0329n01_04_002: Original Caption: "4430. Castle Gate, Price Canon, Utah"
  • P0329n01_04_003: Original Caption: "4603. Devil's Slide, Weber Canon"
  • P0329n01_04_004: Original Caption: "4828: "Great Salt Lake" [Black Rock]
  • P0329n01_04_005: Original caption: "Brigham Young's Grave, Salt Lake City" W.H. Jackson and Co. Rocky Mountain Scenery, Denver, Colorado.
circa 1883-1890
1 5
Copies: Chief Sevara and Family
  • P0329n01_05_001: Copy slide, negative, and print: Chief Sevara and Family. Original chromolithograph is in Rare Books (E99.U8 J3 1900)
1900
1 6
Unmounted albumen prints
  • P0329n01_06_001: Original caption: "389 Wasatch Mts, Salt Lake Valley"
  • P0329n01_06_002: Original Caption: "Mouth of Henry's Fork 1870 Utah"
circa 1870-1878

OversizeReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
2 1
Soda springs on Bear River, Wasatch Range
  • Photograph number 317: "Soda Springs on Bear River, Extinct Basins, Hot Springs Series." [U.S.G.S.]
  • Photograph number 50117: "The Wasatch Range from the Valley of the Jordan" [Color photochrom, copyright 1900 by the Detroit Photographic Co.]
circa 1883-1900

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Union Pacific Railroad--Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Colorado--Photographs
  • Utah--Photographs

Form or Genre Terms

  • Albumen prints
  • Stereographs