The collection includes 39 photographs by I. W. Taber and 10 by William Henry Jackson in an album. Taber's California photographs (no. 1-38) include scenes of San Francisco, Monterey, Yosemite, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Pasadena. No. 39-48 are views of Mexico taken by Jackson. Subjects include Chihuahua and Mexico City. No. 49 is also a view of Mexico, taken by Taber. The photographs are undated, but likely taken in the 1880s.

Isaiah West Taber was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts August 17, 1830. Taber went to sea at the age of fifteen and spent several years working on whaling ships in the North Pacific. He came to California in 1850, where he spent four years working first as a miner, then a farmer. Taber returned to New Bedford in 1854 where he studied dentistry and began a dental practice. An interest in amateur photography eventually became his life-work. He settled in Syracuse, New York, where he opened his first studio. In 1864 he returned to California at the inducement of the photographers Bradley and Rulofson, whom he worked for until 1871. Taber established the "Taber Gallery" at No. 12 Montgomery Street in 1871. His highly successful business was well-known for portraiture and a vast stock of California and Western views - many of which were the unacknowledged works of other photographers. Taber's success and stature in California and abroad are evident in his being awarded the photographic concession of the Midwinter Fair of 1893-94 in San Francisco, his being sent to London in 1897 to photograph the pageant of the Queen Victoria Jubilee, and his commission to photograph King Edward VII. Taber's career ended in 1906 when his entire collection of glass plates, view negatives and portraits on glass were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire. He died February 22, 1912.William Henry Jackson was born April 4, 1843 in Keesville, New York. He worked at photographic studios in New York and Vermont between 1858 and 1861. Jackson then joined Company K, 12th Vermont Infantry, where he served from 1862-1865. In 1866 he traveled west, working in a variety of jobs. During this time he sketched and painted in watercolors. In 1866 he also set up a photographic studio in Omaha, Nebraska with his brother Edward. However, he soon began traveling, photographing views and taking portraits of Native Americans. In 1870 he met Ferdinand V. Hayden, who invited Jackson to join his team making the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories. Jackson closed his Omaha studio and worked as the official photographer of the Survey for the next eight years, traveling into Wyoming and Oregon in 1870, into the Yellowstone area in 1871 and 1872, then to Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in 1873-74. In 1874-75 he photographed in New Mexico and Utah. His work on the Survey gained him an international reputation. His work was well-known and frequently published in both the photographic and general interest magazines of the day.

1 album containing 49 black and white photographic prints; 19 x 29 cm. 49 digital objects

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Album is stored off-site; advance notice required for use.