Bertram C. Towne photographs, circa 1884-circa 1898

Bertram C. Towne was a photographer active in Portland, Oregon, during the period 1884-1895. From 1884-1887, B.C. Towne and Elbridge W. Moore operated the San Francisco Gallery in Portland as partners, having assumed control of the gallery after the death of W.H. Towne. At this time, the studio was also listed as "Towne & Moore." From 1888-1895, the studio operated as "B.C. Towne Photograph Company" and was located on First Street in Portland. In October, 1890, the West Shore , a popular weekly publication that promoted life in the Pacific Northwest, named Towne as a photographic contest winner in the "professional" category. Carl Mautz, in Biographies of Western Photographers (1997), states that Towne's studio "became one of the premier galleries in Portland, employing many of the best photographers in the area" and that it "published boudoir format scenes of Alaska, the Columbia River, Mount Hood, and other Northwest scenes."