Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Additional Notes on Collection
General Note
General Note
Collection Summary
Collection Title: William Ashburner collection of photographs from the
Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel
Date (inclusive): 1867-circa 1875
Date (bulk): 1867-1869
Collection Number: BANC PIC
1957.027--ffALB
Collector:
Ashburner, William,
1831-1887
Extent:
148 mounted photographic prints : albumen ; images chiefly 20 x 27 cm, mounts 46 x
62 cm.
149 digital objects
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Views of natural features and scenery, members of the survey party
and their camps. Locations include the Sierra Nevada range of California and Nevada and
numerous sites in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Several Central Pacific Railroad views
are included.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite
and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Information for Researchers
Access
RESTRICTED ORIGINALS. USE VIEWING PRINTS or DIGITAL FACSIMILES ONLY: Viewing prints
shelved as BANC PIC 1957.027--PIC :|bUse of originals only by permission of the
appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing,
to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17,
U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of
University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and
publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of
the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited
without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively
with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], William Ashburner collection of
photographs from the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, BANC PIC
1957.027--ffALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog
Central Pacific Railroad
Company--Pictorial works
United States Geological
Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel (1867-1881)
Idaho--Pictorial works
Nevada--Pictorial works
Sierra Nevada (Calif. and
Nev.)--Pictorial works
Utah--Pictorial works
West (U.S.) -- Discovery and
exploration -- Pictorial works
Wyoming--Pictorial works
Albumen prints
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Bulk presented in 1884-1885 to the University Library by survey party member William
Ashburner, with four later additions from the collection of Francis P. Farquhar.
Arrangement
Arranged in numerical order, with item numbers found (in 19th century hand) on each
mount. These numbers, although original to the set, do not match numbers that are on
negatives and visible in some prints, and the numbering is not chronologically
sequential.
Scope and Content of Collection
The William Ashburner collection of photographs from the Geological Exploration of the
Fortieth Parallel is a set of 144 large format photographic prints taken on the Clarence
King surveys of 1867-1869. The photographs are chiefly by Timothy O'Sullivan,
although some have been re-attributed to Andrew J. Russell. This set belonged to survey
party member (and later University of California regent) William Ashburner, and is believed
to have been compiled by or for him, personally.
The set is focused on the western portion of the King Survey and includes locations in
California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. Each mount bears a manuscript caption, in
pencil, at the lower right edge. (These captions were later traced over in pen, sometimes
obscuring legibility.) The collection is arranged according to numbers original to the set,
written below each image. This numbering differs from other sets of views from this survey.
The set begins with views of survey camps and group portraits of survey members, taken in
various (unidentified) locations. The remainder follow a geographical progression, roughly
west-to-east, from California's Mono Lake and Donner Pass, through northern Nevada
and northern Utah, to Shoshone Falls, Idaho and the southwest corner of Wyoming. The East
Humboldt Mountains, Wastach Mountains and Uinta Mountains are heavily represented, as are
Shoshone Falls and Virginia City and the Washoe mining district of Nevada. The set ends with
views that appear to be out of geographic sequence, with some California (Sierra Nevada)
scenes, Central Pacific Railroad scenes (in unidentified locations), and images of several
Native Americans.
Some of the Utah views (near Salt Lake City and in the Uinta Mountains), although long
credited to O'Sullivan, have been re-attributed to Andrew J. Russell and dated to
1869, based on research by Glenn Willumson (in Framing the west: the survey photographs of
Timothy H. O'Sullivan. Yale Univ. Press, 2010. p. 177-185). These prints are slightly larger in size (up to about 23 x 28.5
cm) than those with unquestioned attributions to O'Sullivan. Willumson's re-attributions to Russell have not been universally
accepted at the time of issue of this finding aid, so both photographers' names remain associated with questionable items
in this listing.
The Ashburner collection, its arrangement, and its sometimes-unique captioning has been
discussed in detail by Francois Brunet, in his article "Revisiting the Enigmas of
Timothy O'Sullivan" (History of Photography v. 31 no. 2 (Summer 2007) p.
97-133).
Four additional photographs by O'Sullivan have been appended, by the Library, to
the end of the Ashburner set (items 145-148). These four items were a gift to the library
from historian Francis P. Farquhar.
Six of the original 144 images have been missing from the set for decades, including all
four views of the Mono Lake region (items 9-12). Captions for these items are present on the
manuscript listing that accompanies the photographs, probably made at the time the set was
given to the university, circa 1885. The captions have been included in this guide.
Note
Seven items bear O'Sullivan's monogram in the negative: "T.H.O'S." Many items are numbered
in the negative in a sequence that does not match ink numberings on mounts. In some cases
these numbers have been noted in the item descriptions in this guide, but this has not been
done thoroughly.
Additional Notes on Collection
Formerly housed in 2 volumes, apparently bound by the library.
On printed mounts, with ms. captions. Captions differ from official captions found
elsewhere, but seem to have been made by a survey member. Within the item descriptions in
this guide, title variations found on copies elsewhere have often been noted. The variants
found are chiefly from the holdings of the Library of Congress (LoC) or the George Eastman
House (GEH).
General Note
Formerly classified, by Library, as ff/F594.U55. Labels remain on each mount.
General Note
Exact dates and print measurements, when supplied in item descriptions, have been provided
by researcher Susan Williams, former curator at the Oakland Museum of California.