1866, English, Unpublished edition: William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) Papers Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942

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William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) Papers
 
Bookmark: http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/435681
Physical Description
  • 2 boxes (10 linear inches), 1082 photographs and art work
  • Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Photographic prints, Watercolors, Oil paintings
Published
  • L. Tom Perry Special Collections
  • 1866-1966; 1867-1940
Language
  • English

Edition details

Title
  • William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) Papers
Creator
  • Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942
Published
  • L. Tom Perry Special Collections
  • 1866-1966; 1867-1940
Physical Description
  • 2 boxes (10 linear inches), 1082 photographs and art work
  • Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Photographic prints, Watercolors, Oil paintings
Subjects
Notes
  • William Henry Jackson, 1843-1942, is best known as one of the most renowned 19th Century landscape photographers of the West, but he is also well-known for his artistic works in various mediums. His 99 years closely spanned the first century of the newest visual art called photography. Although his best known work centers on the Western United States, he also traveled extensively in Mexico and throughout the world and his visual work and writings reflect his broad interests and abilities. The collection includes multiple typescripts of two journals (1866-1867), correspondence (1924-1953), book manuscripts, news clippings (1929-1966), and mementos from Jackson's round-the-world trip for the World Transportation Commission (1894-1896). The photographs and art work, which comprise the bulk of the collection, include 1082 individual items. Of the 1082, approximately 1003 photographs and 31 pieces of art can be clearly attributed to William Henry Jackson. The photographic collection is rich in prints and spans every phase of his long and prolific career. "William Henry Jackson became one of 19th century America's best-known Western landscape and Indian portrait photographers. A man of enormous energy and stamina, Jackson was a pencil and brush artist, a writer, an explorer, and a prolific photographer who produced tens of thousands of negatives during his long career."For 25 years Jackson traveled throughout the West with his wet plates and portable darkroom creating a pictorial record of natural wonders. His photographs of the Yellowstone region were instrumental in the creation of America's first national park in 1872. Although some of his contemporaries were responsible for more dramatic views, Jackson's photographs of western mountain regions include many which remain indelible in the public mind."Born in Keesville, New York, Jackson, whose father was an amateur daguerreotypist, learned photography as a boy and later worked as a photographer's retoucher and colorist. After serving as a military staff artist in the Civil War, Jackson left employment in a Vermont studio to travel west as a bullwhacker. He established a photography concern in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1868. Leaving the day-to-day portraiture to his brother, Jackson photographed the surrounding countryside. He documented the building of the Union Pacific Railroad and made many striking portraits of native Americans."In 1870 Dr. Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden invited Jackson to become the official photographer of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. Jackson remained with the Survey until 1878, working closely with the artist Thomas Moran and others. The official report of the Survey for 1875 stated of Jackson's photographs: 'They have done very much, in the first place, to secure truthfulness in the representation of mountain and other scenery, . . .in ethnography, it gives us portraits of the varied families of our great Indian population, representing with unquestioned accuracy the peculiar types of each; their manners of living, dressing, occupations and mythical inscriptions.' Jackson's work was exhibited in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia."In 1879 Jackson opened a studio in Denver, Colorado, where he sold stereoscopic-card views of his work. He continued to travel and photograph throughout the country. In 1894-1896 he photographed a trip around the world for [the World's Transportation Commission of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago and] Harper's Weekly. He was part owner of the Detroit Publishing Company from 1898 to 1902, and for many years was Research Assistant to the Oregon Trail Commission [Oregon Trail Memorial Association]."In the 1930s Jackson, then in his early 90s, executed murals of the Old West for the Department of the Interior. He acted as an advisor to the film Gone With The Wind in 1938. [Over a period of 11 years he] . . . published his [two] autobiograph[ies], [The Pioneer Photographer: Rocky Mountain Adventures with a Camera (Yonkers-On-Hudson, N.Y., 1929) a book primarily for young people written in collaboration with Howard R. Driggs and Time Exposure: The Autobiography of William Henry Jackson (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1940)."Jackson's work was included in Photographs of the Civil War and the American Frontier at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1942. He died the same year at age 99 . . . . In 1974 a major exhibition and monograph of Jackson's work was organized by the Amon Carter Center of Western Art in Fort Worth, Texas." (1)Jackson married Mollie Greer in 1869. She and her unborn child died in childbirth in 1872. In 1873 he married Emilie Painter who bore him three children. The journal typescripts in this collection document a trip to the American west which occurred in part because he quarreled with his first love, Caroline "Caddie" Eastman. The ambrotype of "Caddie" which he carried with him on this 1866-67 western trip, and to his death, is included in the photograph portion of this collection.(1) Encyclopedia of Photograph/​International Center of Photography, 1st ed. New York: Crown, c1984. Manuscripts:The papers include typescripts of Jackson's 1866-1867 journal; typescripts of a book written by his daughter, Emilie P. Jackson, for which Jackson was to provide the illustrations; select correspondence, mementos, and news clippings.The typescript copy of Jackson's journals is dated April 14, 1866 to August 7, 1867. The original journals were written during an overland trip to the west coast. He visited Chicago; St. Joseph, Missouri; Salt Lake City; and Los Angeles, then returned east as far as Omaha, where he used his original journal, or "field notes" as he later called them, to compile what he called the "Omaha copy" of his journal to distinguish it from the original. Folders 1-5 of the typescripts and typescript carbons appear to be Jackson's typed originals, having been made from his original handwritten journal by him or a typist he hired in 1926. Jackson loaned these typescripts to amateur historian Robert S. Ellison for Ellison's use in collecting, studying, and occasionally publishing original sources about the history of the American West. Some of the revisions on these typescripts appear to be in Jackson's hand. Apparently Ellison never returned them. (2) Title and division pages appear to have been prepared by Ellison or his people and one carries the handwritten note in ink, "made by WHJ and sent to RSE 9/​10/​26. Given to RSE by WHJ 9/​8/​27." Included in these five folders are parts 1 and 3 of the typescript of the original diary and parts 1-3 of the typescript of the "Omaha" diary (see Jackson's letters to Ellison).Judging from the typewriter font and the type of covers and hand-lettering used (the Ellison Papers), the typescripts and carbons in folders 6-15 appear to have been created by Ellison. Internal evidence (annotations, revisions, etc.) supports the possibility that once Ellison had created a complete, clean typescript of the diaries in "book" format, he sent it to Jackson for his changes and corrections. Ellison had an eye to eventual publication, as did Jackson. (3) The user is also cautioned about accepting the typescripts in folders 6-15 on the face value of their labels. Some of the labels, presumably affixed by Ellison, are accurate, others are not. Some diary segments appear to be a mix of the original journal and the Omaha version; only a careful analysis by the user will result in accurate identification. A cursory comparison of these typescripts with the material in LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, eds., The Diaries of William Henry Jackson: Frontier Photographer, (Glendale: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1959; hereafter referred to as "Hafen") and with Time Exposure and The Pioneer Photographer, suggests the possibility of more than two versions, with Jackson having reworked the typescripts several times in preparation to write his two autobiographies.These journal typescripts are part of a mosaic of source material documenting that period of Jackson's life characterized by Peter Hales under the rubric, "Man as Myth, 1924-1942" (Hales, p. 283). These sources are evidence of the process of change that occurred when the twentieth century's need to mythologize and commercialize the American West began to impact Jackson as a nineteenth century man. He lost "control over his own history," "even his own persona," (Hales, 294) as various individuals, including Ellison and his editor for Time Exposure at G. P. Putnam's, lured and pressured him into dramatizing his writings, paintings and drawings, and photography, to meet the demands of the growing American market for western myth. Because of their significance as source material created during the last two decades of Jackson's life and because of the evidential value of extra copies in documenting the transcription, distribution, and editorial process inherent to the use, publication, and impact of a major American diary, duplicate carbons have not been removed from the collection. See the container list for further details.The contents of these manuscripts correspond in part and should be compared to material in Hafen, but the reader should note that Peter Hales calls Hafen "A good, though sometimes oddly transcribed, version" (Hales, 303, note 22). Jackson's original holograph journals are preserved in the New York Public Library and in the Colorado Historical Society. (4) Much of the same information in Hafen and in these typescripts appeared in a revised form in early chapters of Jackson's two autobiographies. These publications are available in the Lee Library general stacks and in L. Tom Perry Special Collections. The library's copy of The Pioneer Photographer was Jackson's personal copy and contains numerous annotations and changes in his handwriting which may be compared with the handwriting on the typescripts in this collection. This copy also came by way of Ellison. (5)The book manuscripts are two typescripts, both carrying the following information on the cover page: "Ten Days In Old Mexico, by Emilie P. Jackson. Illustrated with original photographs by William H. Jackson." One is an original typescript with two different typewriters used on the title page and the other is a typescript carbon, produced on a different typewriter from the original typescript. The original typescript is subtitled, "Lovely Old Mexico Under Diaz." Both manuscripts carry the additional title on page one of "A short Journey into Old Mexico in 1892." (See Hales, 175, who writes that Jackson made at least three trips into Mexico on the Mexican Central Railway, in 1882, 1883, and 1891.)The carbon is a clean copy, devoid of additional markings, but the original typescript exhibits numerous small changes throughout and a handwritten note in ink on page 98 that reads: "sold to Fred Mazzulla for [$1.00?] &​ 10% of any profits resulting from publication or sale. C.[larence] S. Jackson. June 10th 1950." For information on Mazzulla see Contemporary Authors, Permanent Series, Vol. 2, 354-355.This is an account of an 1892 trip from Denver to Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Aguas Calientes with the Mexican segment of the journey taken on the Mexican Central Railway. En route to Mexico City the party passed through the cities of Juarez, Chihuahua, Torreon, Zacatecas, and Queretaro. The author's obvious intent was to publish the manuscript with her husband's photographs for illustrations. As with most of his travels, the primary purpose of this trip for Jackson was to take photographs which could be turned into income. His family accompanied him for whatever enjoyment they could garner. Given these conditions, it seems strange that there is no mention in the text of Jackson or any other members of the party. The manuscript ends in Aguas Caliente as the author and her party board the train for the return trip to Denver. The bulk of the account (sixty out of ninety-eight pages) concerns Mexico City and environs. It was undoubtedly written sometime after the trip based upon diary notes. The author died in 1918.The correspondence consists of twenty-six letters, three telegrams, and one envelope. The letters are mostly incoming signed typescripts and the bulk of them, along with the telegrams, are birthday wishes sent to Jackson on the occasion of his ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth birthdays. Most of those are from various railroad officials. A few letters were exchanged with fans and colleagues, including requests and acknowledgments for photographs or information, thanks for a signed copy of Time Exposure, etc. Two letters were written shortly after Jackson's death by Joseph Robinson in response to mail received since the former's passing. Finally, there is an exchange of letters between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Clarence S. Jackson over Jackson's gift to the president of his book, Picture Maker of the Old West in 1953. The president's acknowledgment is a photocopy only.The mementos were gathered almost entirely on Jackson's round-the-world trip as photographer for the World's Transportation Commission of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago in 1894-1896. They consist of passports/​letters of entry for Japan, the Netherlands, and Russia, along with several Russian menus. Also present is a publication announcement of Westward America by Howard R. Driggs in 1942.The news clippings are from various newspapers in, for example, Denver, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, and Pocatello, Idaho and the twenty-two items cover the years 1929-1966. Included are reviews of books by Jackson and his son Clarence; feature articles on Jackson and his photography by various authors, including Clarence; an article on Joseph Robinson; and part of an article on the Liberty Ship "William H. Jackson." The latter also includes a typescript. Because of the fragile condition and the rapid deterioration rate of the clippings they have been photocopied. The researcher is asked to use the photocopies only unless given permission by a curator to handle the originals.Photographs and Art Work:The photographs and art work, which comprise the bulk of the collections, include 1082 individual items. Of the 1082, approximately 1000 photographs and 30 pieces of art can be clearly attributed to William Henry Jackson. Approximately 50 items may be Jackson--s but they cannot definitively or directly be attributed to him. We know that three photographs are clearly identified as belonging to photographer Clarence S. Jackson, William Henry--s son. A handful of photographs can be attributed to Benjamin J. Falk, W.H. Jacoby, a Gray Studio on 67th Street in New York City several photographs of Moscow by B. Avanzo, and a photograph of Weber Canyon by German photographer, Charles Weitfle. In addition there are several working prints by John Amos, National Geographic Society photographer, of the --œCaddie-- ambrotype, taken prior to the publication of an article in the National Geographic on William Henry Jackson.Although the number of individual photographs and pieces of art are small compared to the Jackson collections housed at the Colorado Historical Society, Denver Public Library, Scotts Bluff National Monument, and the Library of Congress, the collection is rich geographically, photographically, artistically, and chronologically spans Jackson--s career.Geographically the collection is, as expected, dominated by scenery and individuals from the western United States and Mexico, but perhaps somewhat surprisingly includes an excellent representation (231 images) from all of the countries visited during the World Transportation Commission--s tour of 1894-1896, except Korea. Jackson maintained a studio in Denver for 19 years and, therefore, the approximately 190 Colorado images form the largest number of western images, with the over 90 images of Mexico forming the next largest group. Famous for his Yellowstone photographs, this collection contains approximately 56 such items, but his earliest Yellowstone images, 38 found in an album called the --œYellowstone Album-- and apparently taken in 1871 when he was a member of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories under F.V. Hayden, have been severely water damaged. The collection does include over 60 Native American portraits, many taken while Jackson was a part of the Hayden surveys.Photographically the collection is rich in prints, but devoid of negatives, although it does contain two large glass plate positives. The collection contains an original ambrotype of his first fiancé, --œCaddie,-- which was taken prior to 1868 by an unknown photographer; a tintype; almost 50 stereocards; almost 40 photochrom process prints; and 4 gelatin panorama prints of Russia. There are two albums, the Yellowstone mentioned above, and one entitled Mexico &​ Colorado on the cover which contains 46 albumen prints. There are letterpress halftones, colored bookplates, over 450 gelatin prints, and approximately 400 albumen prints. The prints are found mounted as cabinet cards and stereoscopic views, as well as unmounted photographs. There are also publicity shots of Jackson and prints that he acquired for his personal collection.The approximately 30 pieces of art work demonstrate Jackson--s wide variety of artistic techniques with watercolors, oil on canvas, tempera on black construction paper, ink and tempera on cardboard, graphite and goache on paper or bristol board; goache on board, and many more. All of the artwork represented in this collection centers on scenes and historical events of the western movement and life, and includes the art work in his 1929 autobiography The Pioneer Photographer. A number of the art pieces were painted later in his life when he worked with the Oregon Trail Memorial Association as research secretary.The photograph collection is remarkably representative of his long career as a landscape photographer of the West. Chronologically his career could be divided in the following manner:1. The Omaha, Nebraska studio years (1867-1868) (2 pieces of art work);2. 1870-1878, the official photographer for the Hayden Survey (app. 128 albumen and gelatin prints);3. 1879-1894 maintains a studio in Denver, CO (app. 447 prints and sketches);4. 1894-1896 photographer for the World Transportation Commission, while still keeping the studio in Denver (231 prints);5. 1897-1924 as a photographer and finally as plant supervisor for the Detroit Photographic Company, later the Detroit Publishing Company (app. 59 prints which contain the Detroit Photograph Company logo, although many were probably from the negatives that Jackson took with him to Detroit);6. Retirement in Washington, D.C. from 1924-1929, where his autobiography for young people is published entitled The Pioneer Photographer: Rocky Mountain Adventures With a Camera (app. 37 art work and photographs of his art work);7. 1929-1942 moves to New York and becomes --œresearch secretary-- of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association and writes and publishes his autobiography for adults, based primarily on his diaries, entitled Time Exposure (app. 62 colored bookplates, art pieces, and photographs of his art).This significant collection, contains prints and pieces of art work from all phases of his career. The number of prints, art works, and bookplates appearing in parentheses are only approximations and therefore do not add up to the number of items within the collection.(2) See photocopies of three letters from Jackson to Ellison, dated 20 Sept., 29 Oct., and 14 Dec. 1926, in Box 1 Folder 1, which mention the conditions of the loan. The original letters are preserved in the Ellison Papers, BYU Mss 782.(3) For a somewhat less than complimentary account of Ellison's relationship with Jackson as well as his motivation in cultivating that relationship, see Peter B. Hales, William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape, (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988), pp. 283-288, 291, 293-294, and 297-299.(4) A photograph of some of the holograph pages may be seen in Row Findley and James L. Amos, "The Life and Times of William Henry Jackson," National Geographic Vol. 175 (February 1989) No. 2, p. 216-251, (p. 231), hereafter referred to as Natl. Geo.(5) The copy which includes Jackson--s marginalia has been placed with his papers. The manuscripts are arranged in the following order: journal typescripts (fifteen folders), book manuscript typescripts (two folders), correspondence (one folder), mementoes (one folder), news clippings (one folder), photographs and works of art (1,081 items). Internal arrangement of folders is described in the accompanying inventory.The photographs and art work form the bulk of the collection and are essentially arranged chronologically, reflecting Jackson--s career as noted above. The item number supplied in the arrangement were created by the Archives staff at the time of processing the collection. The numbers found to the right of the photograph descriptions were either printed on the front of the photographs (stereocards), handwritten on the back of photographs, or in a small number of cases, identified through one of the Jackson catalogs which came with the collection. The photograph descriptions were generally taken from descriptions written on the photograph or found in one of the Jackson catalogs.
  • For related information on William Henry Jackson in other manuscript collections in the BYU Library, see Robert S. Ellison, Mss 782, Fred Rosenstock, and LeRoy and Ann Hafen.Significant collections of Jackson's negatives or prints, and in some cases both, are preserved in the following institutions: the Edison Institute in Dearborn, Michigan; the Colorado Historical Society in Denver; the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution; the Blackmore Collection of the British Museum; the National Archives; the United States Geological Survey in Denver; the Prints and Photographs Division and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Room of the Library of Congress; the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas; the Western History Room of the Denver Public Library; the Prints and Photographs Department of the Chicago Historical Society; the Lilly Library of Indiana University; the Rare Books Library at the University of Chicago; and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection of the New York Public Library. Portions of some of these collections have been digitized and are available from a variety of Internet sites.Some of the World Transportation Commission photographs taken from 1894-1896 can be found in the 51 articles, published as a series by Harper--s Weekly from 1895-1898.A good beginning point for serious study are the notes and source essay in Peter B. Hales, William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the American Landscape (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988) and the bibliography of Thomas H. Harrell, William Henry Jackson: An Annotated Bibliography [1862 to 1995] (Nevada City: Carl Mautz, 1995).
  • MSS 1608
Terms of Use
  • This collection is open to public use. However, the photographic portion is kept in cold storage and access requires 24 hours advance notice. Permission to publish material from the William Henry Jackson Collection must be obtained from the Reference Supervisor, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, and the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.Permission to publish material from the William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) Papers, 1866-1966, Photographs &​ Art Work, 1867-1940 must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/​or the Special Collections Board of Curators.
Language
  • English
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