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Watkins (Carleton) collection of photographs
LSC.0599
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Carleton Watkins collection of photographs
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0599
Physical Description:
6 oversize boxes
Date (inclusive): circa 1867-1882
Abstract: The collection consists of 136 photographs, with the majority being from Watkins's California mission series, Yosemite series,
and pacific coast series. A few additional prints are from the Columbia River and Oregon series, studio portraits, and various
images from the Southwest, such as Casa Grande, San Marino, New Almaden Mines, and Pasadena. Carleton E. Watkins was born
in Oneonta, Oswego County, New York, on November 11, 1829. Watkins moved to California in 1854, where he eventually established
his own photographic studio, then spent large portions of the summer traveling with his cameras throughout California. In
1861, Watkins visited the Yosemite Valley and made the first 18" x 22" landscape photographs in California. He also is also
believed to have created the earliest photographs of the California Missions. Watkins died on June 23, 1916.
Physical Location: Portions of the collection stored off-site. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. All requests to access
special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material:
English
.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED. See the Online Items Availabe note for the link to the digitized materials.
- Gift of Carl Dentzel, 1954
- Gift of Anita and Gregory Carter, 1955
- Gift of Martin R. Huberty, n.d.
- UCLA Special Collections purchase, 1973.
[Identification of item], Carleton Watkins Collection of Photographs (Collection 599). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9975427793606533
Processed by Kelley Wolfe, May 2002.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
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processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
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Carleton E. Watkins was born in Oneonta, Oswego County, New York, on November 11, 1829. He was the youngest of five children
of a Scottish innkeeper. During his youth he became acquainted with Collis P. Huntington, who frequented his father's hotel.
Soon after the discovery of gold, both young men went to California, where Huntington later became one of the Big Four who
built the Central Pacific Railroad.
In 1854, while working as a clerk in a store on Montgomery Street, Watkins met R. H. Vance, the daguerreotyper who had studios
in San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento. The employee at Vance's San Jose studio had suddenly quit and Vance asked Watkins
if he would fill in until a permanent replacement could be found. Although he knew nothing of photographic processes, Watkins
agreed. For the first few days he was simply the care-taker of the studio, but when Vance could not find a new operator, he
instructed Watkins in coating the daguerreotype plates and making exposures. With only the briefest instructions, Watkins
was able to make portraits and completely operated the gallery for a short period. In 1857 or 1858 Watkins returned to San
Francisco where he established his own photographic studio for portraits and view photography. Watkins usually spent a large
portion of the summer traveling throughout California, leaving his gallery and studio in the hands of an assistant. In 1858
or 1859 he visited the Mariposa Grove and was the first person to photograph the "Grizzly Giant." In 1861, Watkins visited
the Yosemite Valley and made the first 18" x 22" landscape photographs in California (and possibly the world). He made many
more trips to Yosemite during the 1860s and 1870s.
In 1868 Watkins made his first trip to Oregon, where he made the first photographic reproductions of the Columbia River. Five
years later, Watkins went to Utah with his wagon, team and photographic equipment on railroad cars. Thanks to his friend Collis
P. Huntington, he traveled free. He was accompanied on this trip by close friend and artist William Keith, who made extensive
use of Watkins photographs for many of his oil paintings.
During the winter of 1871-72, Watkins expanded his San Francisco gallery (the Yosemite Gallery), which put an extra strain
on his finances. When the Bank of California went under in 1874, Watkins lost his Yosemite Art Galley to competitors J.J.
Cook and I.W. Taber. Not only did his competitors take over his Gallery, they took all of his negatives as well. Watkins then
began the task of rebuilding his collection, which meant rephotographing many of the sites he had visited earlier in his career.
"Watkins's New Series" of views replaced those lost in the foreclosure. Watkins did become reassociated with the Yosemite
Gallery, first as a photographer, and later as manager, but never as the owner.
Watkins went to the Comstock Lode, near Virginia City, Nevada, in 1876. It was probably during this trip that he met Frances
Sneed, who later managed his Montgomery Street studio and became his wife on November 11, 1880 (Watkins's fiftieth birthday).
They had two children: a daughter, Julia and a son, Collis.
In 1880, Watkins went to Southern California for the first time and traveled along the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Later he went to the "End of the Track" and as far as Tombstone, Arizona. The photographs taken by Watkins on this trip represent
some of the earliest views of San Bernardino, San Gabriel, Pasadena, Los Angeles and San Diego. On the way back to San Francisco,
he followed the old overland stage road, traveling the greater part of the way in his wagon and photographing most of the
Franciscan missions. These pictures constitute the earliest photographic collection of California Missions. On a second trip
to the Northwest in 1890, Watkins made a series of stereoscopic views in Victoria, B. C. He extended this trip into Montana
where he made 18" x 22" views of the Anaconda copper mines and other properties. His last large commercial job and long country
trip was to photograph the development work of the Kern County Land Company near Bakersfield. He made seven hundred views
using 8" x 10" dry plate negatives. In the late 1890s, Watkins began to photograph the Hearst Hacienda near Pleasanton for
Phoebe Apperson Hearst, but ill health prevented him from completing the assignment.
Watkins was in the process of negotiating with Stanford University for the sale of his plates, photographs, etc. when the
1906 earthquake struck San Francisco. By this time, Watkins was partially blind, in poor health and experiencing financial
difficulties. He had been living with his family in his studio on the top floor of a building on the southeast corner of Ninth
and Market Streets. Immediately following the quake, Watkins's wife and daughter went to the refugee camp at the Presidio.
Watkins was led by his son to the home of his old friend, C. B. Turrill, who had assisted Watkins financially in the past.
Watkins's entire collection was destroyed in the fire which followed the quake. He was shocked by the loss of his life's work
and shortly thereafter retired to his small ranch near Capay in Yolo County. The ranch had been deeded to Watkins through
the offices of Collis P. Huntington of the Southern Pacific Railroad for his faithful, but unpaid, service to the railroad.
Watkins never recovered from the shock of losing his entire collection in the San Francisco fire. He managed to live at the
ranch with his family until it became necessary to have him committed to the Napa State Hospital at Imola, California in 1910.
He died on June 23, 1916 at the age of eighty-seven and was buried on the hospital grounds.
(from:
The Early Pacific Coast Photographs of Carleton E.Watkins, by J. W. Johnson, Professor of Hydraulic Engineering, University of California Berkeley, and
The Life and Photography of Carleton E.Watkins, by Peter E. Palmquist.)
The collection consists of 136 photographs: 85 albumen mammoth prints, 52 assorted smaller prints (primarily cabinet and boudoir
cards), and 5 non-original copies of Watkins photographs. The majority of the photographs are from Watkins's California mission
series, Yosemite series, and pacific coast series. Watkins is believed to be the earliest known photographer to create images
of the California missions, and the collection includes most of the missions found in the state. A few additional prints are
from the Columbia River and Oregon series, studio portraits, and various images from the Southwest, such as Casa Grande, San
Marino, New Almaden Mines, and Pasadena.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online:
Carleton Watkins Collection of Photographs (36 items) .
Related Items Available Online
Related material to this collection has been digitized and is available online:
Yosemite photographs by Carleton E. Watkins (F868.Y6 P5 1867) .
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Pacific States -- Photographs.
Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Spanish mission buildings -- California -- Photographs.