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Alvin H. Waite photographs, 1890-1920

Overview of the Collection

Photographer
Waite, Alvin H.
Title
Alvin H. Waite photographs
Dates
1890-1920 (inclusive)
Quantity
327 negatives : nitrate ; 8 x 10 inches and smaller
34 negatives : glass ; 8 x 10 inches and smaller
354 photographic prints (10 boxes) ; various sizes
Collection Number
PH0291
Summary
Photographs by Alvin H. Waite of various locales in Washington state (such as Mount Rainier and the city of Tacoma) as well as the Chicago World's Fair and various Northwest and Midwest locations.
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Nitrate and glass plate negatives are not available for viewing due to their fragility. Viewing prints made from the originals are available for research use.

Request at UW

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

Alvin H. Waite (also known as A.H. Waite) was born in Iowa in 1862. He had one daughter, Helen, from his first marriage, and had married his second wife, Donna Gates, by 1900. During the 1890s Waite worked as a piano tuner in Tacoma. By 1902 he had moved to Seattle, where he continued working with pianos at the D.S. Johnston Company. Despite his keen interest in recording his surroundings with his camera, Waite never made a career out of photography. He continued as a piano tuner and salesman and in 1915 established a business of his own, the Alvin H. Waite Piano Company. Alvin H. Waite died in Seattle in 1929.

Waite was an outdoorsman and traveler, and many of his photographs were made on trips between the West Coast and the Midwest. His photographs of the Mount Rainier area, made in 1893, may be among the first ever made of the region. In fact, Waite may have been the first photographer to carry a camera on an ascent of the mountain. Along with his friends and associates, Albert Barnes and Henry M. Sarvant, Waite was one of the area's most important landscape photographers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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Content Description

The collection contains nitrate and glass plate negatives recording Chicago World's Fair scenes, climbing trips in Northwest mountains, and various places in the Northwest and Midwest. Included are images of the Tacoma waterfront and various streets; the Northern Pacific Railroad headquarters; ships; scenic and mountaineering views in Mount Rainier National Park locations such as the Tatoosh Range and the Longmire area; bicycling; Snoqualmie Pass in Washington's Cascade Range; the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago (1893); Yakima and the Natches River (especially irrigation flumes); various portraits; and scenic shots taken in Colorado, Iowa, South Dakota. All photographs were made by Alvin H. Waite unless otherwise indicated. A copy of the photographer's detailed logbook is available for viewing. It includes a detailed description of each image, the location of the person or object depicted, and information on the date, time of day, and weather conditions for each photograph.

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Other Descriptive Information

In his logbook, Waite often used the name "Mt. Tacoma" (derived from the Indian word Takhoma ) to refer to Mount Rainier.

The following is an index of geographical locations pictured in the collection:

  • British Columbia: 75-79.
  • California: 31, 51-55.
  • Chicago: 80-129.
  • Colorado and Utah: 4-30, 338.
  • Illinois and Iowa: 1-3, 130-132.
  • Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana: 133-136.
  • Mount Rainier (and related peaks and glaciers): 46, 66-71, 158-159, 161, 166-181, 183-193, 212-221, 226, 244-275, 310-313, 320, 329-330.
  • Tacoma, Washington: 32-40, 42-45, 47-50, 56-60, 73-74, 154-155, 195-196, 287-288, 296-299, 308, 319, 321.
  • Snoqualmie Pass, Washington: 229-240.
  • Washington localities: 61-65, 72, 137-153, 156, 160, 163-165, 182, 194, 197-211, 222-225, 227-228, 241-243, 276-286, 289-395, 300-307, 309, 314-318, 323-328, 333-335, 339-360.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in digital format

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged according to the chronological order in Alvin H. Waite's logbook. Two versions of the logbook exist. Although the arrangement of the images did not change in the second logbook, Waite changed his numbering system; therefore, some negatives have two numbers. All Waite numbers are from the second version of the inventory unless otherwise indicated with the note "as listed in original inventory."

The original logbook contains references to images which do not appear in the second logbook. It appears that Waite removed some of his negatives and then made a new register book.

Processing Note

Processed by Scott K. Rawlings and Shannon B. Lynch, 2003.

Eight deteriorated nitrate negatives (Waite 466, 470, 473, 477-480, 485) were discarded.

Waite's logbooks were relocated from from the Alvin H. Waite Papers, Manuscript collection 3475, in Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, in May 1983. Waite's detailed logbook of photographs, arranged in chronological order, exists in two versions. Numbers from the second (more recent) version of the logbook are included in the inventory of photographs that constitutes part of this finding aid.

Related Materials

The Henry M. Sarvant Photograph Collection , PH Coll 35, contains approximately 25 of Waite's photographs. Sarvant was a fellow mountain climber and landscape photographer. The men made at least one ascent of Mount Rainier together.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

  • Barks (Sailing ships)--Photographs
  • Cities and towns--Washington (State)--Photographs
  • Glaciers--Washington (State)--Rainier, Mount--Photographs
  • Mountaineering--Washington (State)--Rainier, Mount--Photographs
  • Mountaineers--Washington (State)--Photographs
  • Mountains--Washington (State)--Photographs
  • Ships--Photographs
  • Steamboats--Photographs
  • Travel--Photographs
  • Visual Materials Collections (University of Washington)

Personal Names

  • Waite, Alvin H

Corporate Names

  • World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)--Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Chicago (Ill.)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Photographs
  • Rainier, Mount (Wash.)--Photographs
  • Snoqualmie Pass (Wash.)--Photographs
  • Tacoma (Wash.)--Photographs
  • Washington (State)--Photographs
  • West (U.S.)--Photographs


2006 (Last modified: 1/31/2020)

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