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Cronise Studio records, 1867-1973

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Cronise Studio
Title
Cronise Studio records
Dates
1867-1973 (inclusive)
1902-1973 (bulk)
Quantity
3.52 cubic feet , (6 boxes and 1 oversize box)
Collection Number
Mss 2692
Summary
This collection contains financial ledgers and other business records of the Cronise Photo Studio in Salem, Or., started in 1902 by portrait photographer Thomas Jefferson Cronise and continued by his son, Harry W. Cronise, until circa 1973. There is also one volume of business records of another well-known Salem photographer, Myra E. Sperry, as well as records from Thomas Jefferson Cronise's first career as a printer and some personal papers kept by Harry W. Cronise.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

Thomas Jefferson Cronise was born on October 11, 1853 in Peru, Ill. to Henry and Louise Hosmer Cronise. The family later moved to Seville, Oh., and when Thomas was fourteen, he apprenticed as a printer with newspaper owner John Clark in Wadsworth, Oh. and later worked for newspapers in Seville and York, Oh. In 1875, Thomas’ older brother, Harry H. Cronise, moved to Oregon. Five years later, Thomas followed his brother west and moved to Spokane, Wash., later moving to Salem, Or. in 1882. He first worked in Salem for a printing business owned by Mrs. A. L. Stinson and later for R. J. Hendricks, owner of the Oregon Statesman.

In 1884, Thomas Jefferson Cronise married Nellie Riggs, daughter of Oregon pioneers Rufus and Evelyn Nicklin Riggs. By 1886, Thomas operated his own print shop in Salem in the State Insurance Building on Commercial Street, and from 1891-1893, he partnered with Gaylord W. Cooke in a commercial printing firm. However, due to an allergy to printer’s ink, Thomas eventually ended his career as a printer and took up photography. In 1893, he joined his sister, Anna Louise, who had moved from Ohio to Salem the year before, at her photography studio at the corner of State and High Streets, and the two advertised themselves as “Cronise & Cronise, The Photographers.”

In 1893, Anna Louise Cronise married Howard D. Trover, a photographer who worked in the Cronise & Cronise studio. After that year, Thomas Jefferson Cronise left the partnership, and Anna and Howard continued to operate the business as Cronise Photo Studio. Thomas did not pursue photography again until 1902, when he opened the Tom Cronise Photo Studio in the Bush-Brey Building at Commercial and Court in Salem; to avoid confusion, Anna and Howard Trover renamed their studio in 1907 as the Trover-Cronise Photo Studio. The location for Thomas' new studio was one used previously by other influential Salem photographers, including William P. Johnson; portrait photographer Myra E. Sperry, also known as “Sperry the Artist"; and Preston M. Hart and Martha F. McLennon's Elite Studio.

Thomas Jefferson Cronise died in 1927, and his youngest son, Harold ("Harry") W. Cronise, helped Nellie Cronise run the business for the next few years. In 1930, Harry Cronise assumed sole ownership of Cronise Photo Studio. He ran the business until circa 1973.

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Content Description

The collection consists mostly of financial ledgers, correspondence, advertising material, photo notebooks and formulas, and other business records kept by the Cronise Photo Studio from 1902-1973. These records also include printed material about photography used by the studio, including published instructions and formulas, equipment catalogs and advertisements, photomechanical examples of portrait photography, and two serial journals about photography. Additionally, there are some photographs taken by the Cronise Photo Studio included in the business records.

The collection also contains business records documenting Thomas Jefferson Cronise's previous career as a printer, as well as financial ledgers belonging to two unidentified printers in Salem. Harold W. Cronise's personal papers are also represented, including a set of six notebooks on the art of photography kept while he was enrolled at the Eastman School of Professional Photography, circa 1914. Additionally, there is one photo order ledger kept by photographer Myra E. Sperry from 1892-1894, and other papers, business advertisements, and catalogs not relating to photography that were kept by the Cronises.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library prior to any use of reproductions. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use of reproductions may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright holders.

Preferred Citation

Cronise Studio Records, Mss 2692, Oregon Historical Society Research Library

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series:

  • Series A: Cronise Studio business records, 1885-1973
    • Subseries 1: Financial ledgers, 1902-1973
    • Subseries 2: Other business records, 1885-1973
    • Subseries 3: Printed material about photography, circa 1900-1942
  • Series B: Printing business records, 1877-1899
  • Series C: Harold W. Cronise personal papers, 1914-1966
  • Series D: Myra E. Sperry photo order book, 1892-1894
  • Series E: Miscellaneous material, 1864-circa 1911

Acquisition Information

Library accession no. 16715.

Bibliography

For more information on the Cronise Studio, see The Art Perfected: Portraiture from the Cronise Studio (Portland, Or.: Oregon Historical Society, 1980), with an introduction by Susan K. Seyl in association with George Champlin.

Separated Materials

The Oregon Historical Society Research Library also holds the Cronise photographs collection (Org. Lot 1). Reproductions of all of the photographs in that collection are available in the photo card files in the Library.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Finding aid prepared by Megan K. Friedel
2006

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