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Barnard-Stockbridge photograph collection, 1894-1964

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Stockbridge, Nellie; Barnard, T. N. (Thomas Nathan)
Title
Barnard-Stockbridge photograph collection
Dates
1894-1964 (inclusive)
Quantity
32 cubic feet
Collection Number
PG 008-2
Summary
Photographs documenting mining activities, businesses, landscapes, and everyday life in Wallace, Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. Due to the size of the collection it was split into multiple finding aids. Additional images can be found in PG 8-1 (Barnard-Stockbridge photograph collection - portraits).
Repository
University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
University of Idaho Library
875 Perimeter Drive
MS 2350
Moscow, ID
83844-2350
Telephone: 2088850845
libspec@uidaho.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English
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Content Description

Photographs documenting mining activities and everyday life in Wallace, Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. The original donation of around 200,000 images included prints, glass negatives, and film negatives including nitrocellulose film. The nitrocellulose was separated to a secure location then transferred to a more stable film, both 35 mm and larger safety film, and prints. The majority of these images were portraits, and only a sample of them were transferred with the attempt to capture at least one image of each person photographed. The nitrocellulose was then securely discarded. This reduced the collection to close to 33,200 items, many with multiple poses or shots in one item.

Portrait images are mainly studio portraits of local residents ranging from families, businesspeople, to portraits of prostitutes and criminals taken for registration with the police. Landscapes and town images include buildings and houses in Wallace and the surrounding towns as well as streetscapes and panoramic views. Most notably are images of Wallace before and after the 1910 fire and of other natural disasters.

All images are attributed to either Nellie Stockbridge or T.N. Barnard. With the exception of Frank Hess, other studio employees were not noted.

A later donation included a studio camera used by Nellie Stockbridge. The brand is Century Camera and it included some components. A note inside the tube of a lens says: damaged when received on March 12, 2003.

Due to the size of the collection, it is broken up into two finding aids, this one comprised of the majority of the business and mining-related images, landscapes, and cities and town life, while PG 8-1 includes the portraits.

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Historical Note

In 1889, Thomas Nathan Barnard and his wife moved to Wallace, Idaho to open a photo studio. Barnard had previously owned photo studios in Murray and Wardner to take advantage of the mining frenzy in the area. Shortly after, in 1890, the studio was destroyed in a fire with only a small amount of his negatives surviving. Most of the photographs taken in the early years included landscapes, placer workings, townscapes, and panoramic views of Wallace and Murray Idaho, taken on 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 dry-plate negatives. Barnard made most of his living from his landscape photographs, which were for sale to the general public and commissioned portraits.

Barnard also had interests in mining and politics, and soon needed help running the studio. In 1898, Nellie Jane Stockbridge left her home in central Illinois to accept Thomas Barnard's offer of employment in his Wallace, Idaho photo studio. Stockbridge was a dedicated photographer and businesswoman. In 1907, she purchased a quarter share of the business and eventually assumed full ownership when Barnard became the mayor of Wallace. Barnard passed away in 1916.

Over the next few decades, working often to exhaustion, Stockbridge photographed the people and places of one of the richest mining areas of the world, the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. While portrait photography was the mainstay of her studio, Stockbridge skillfully photographed the area's mining industries, both above ground and below, creating a visual record of historical significance to Idaho and beyond. Employing the help from local students and studio employees, Stockbridge and team would lug her heavy camera equipment out into the field, traveling down into the mines to document the miners and their progress, or climbing the steep hillsides surrounding the valley in order to get panoramic shots of the buildings and towns. Nellie Stockbridge died on May 22, 1965. Influential Wallace businessman Richard Magnuson suggested to Stockbridge a few years before her death to donate the collection to the University of Idaho, and in 1965 Stockbridge's niece and apparent heir, Ruth Ray, followed suit, arranging for the transfer with the help of Magnuson and Henry Day, another influential Wallace businessman.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Photographer, "Title," date. Collection name, object ID. University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives, Moscow, ID.

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Materials were received from the Stockbridge estate in 1965.

Related Materials

Related materials may be found in PG 8-1 (Barnard-Stockbridge photograph collection - portraits),

PG 8-3 (Barnard-Stockbridge Glass Plate Negatives),

MG 362 (Barnard Stockbridge Ledgers and Other Papers),

PG 96 (Frank Hess/Barnard Photograph collection),

and the Barnard-Stockbridge Photograph Digital Collection.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Photograph collections
  • Gold Mines and Mining
  • Lead mines and mining--Idaho--Coeur d'Alene Mining District--History--Sources
  • Mining Machinery
  • Photographers
  • Photography in Mining
  • Photography in Mining
  • Photography--History
  • Photography--Studios and dark rooms
  • Silver Mines and Mining
  • Zinc mines and mining--Idaho--Coeur d'Alene Mining District--History--Sources

Geographical Names

  • Coeur d'Alene Mining District (Idaho)

Finding aid prepared by Amy Thompson
2022

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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