Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
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)18691900
- 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.
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Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Western Landscapes and PeopleReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | ||
| 1 | 1 | Stereographs
|
1869-1871 |
| 1 | 2 | Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
|
circa 1878-1890 |
| 1 | 3 | Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
|
circa 1878-1890 |
| 1 | 4 | Utah Prints, 6.5 X 4.25
|
circa 1883-1890 |
| 1 | 5 | Copies: Chief Sevara and Family
|
1900 |
| 1 | 6 | Unmounted albumen prints
|
circa 1870-1878 |
OversizeReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | ||
| 2 | 1 | Soda springs on Bear River, Wasatch Range
|
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
