Miscellaneous Views of California Taken by I. W. Taber, ca. 1890-1899
Processed by Padma Rubiales.
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
1996
Miscellaneous Views of California Taken by I. W. Taber, ca. 1890-1899
Collection number: BANC PIC 1977.021--AX
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
1996
Finding aid and digital representations of archival materials funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
- Processed and encoded by:
- California Heritage Digital Image Access Project staff in The Bancroft Library and the The Library's Electronic Text Unit
- Digital images processed by:
- The Library Photographic Service
- Finding aid completed:
- August 1996
© 1996 The Regents of the University of California
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Miscellaneous Views of California Taken by I. W. Taber,
Date: ca. 1890-1899
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1977.021- -AX
Extent:
12 photographic prints, black and white; 19 x 24 cm. or smaller
12 digital objects
Photographer: Taber, I.W.
Repository:
The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Restricted originals. Use viewing prints only. Use of originals only by permission of the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft
Library.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted
in writing to the Curator of Pictorial Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted
to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]
Miscellaneous Views of California Taken by I. W. Taber, BANC PIC 1977.021--AX, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Digital Representations Available
Related Collections
The Bancroft Library has extensive holdings of Taber photographs. See the on-line catalog for other collections.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Unknown.
Biography
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.
(Sources:
Hart, James D.
A Companion to California.
New York:
Oxford University Press,
1978,
p.439;
Murray, W. H.
The Builders of a Great City: San Francisco's Representative Men.
San Francisco:
The Journal,
1891,
p.329-330;
and
Burdette, Robert J.
American Biography and Genealogy.
California edition. (
Chicago:
Lewis Publishing Co.,
[191-]), p. 756-761.)
Scope and Content
Eight of the twelve photographs in this collection by I. W. Taber are of the San Francisco area. Included are views of Golden
Gate Park, Chinatown, Union Square, the Palace Hotel, and Telegraph Hill. The remaining photographs are of the State Capitol
in Sacramento, the Hotel del Monte in Monterey, Santa Barbara Mission, and a Mexican-American family at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
All but one of the photographs bear a printed caption and photographer's number. The photograph of the Hotel del Monte is
dated 1895. The other photographs were presumably taken in the 1890s
Container List
:1
Japanese Garden, Golden Gate Park [San Francisco, California]
7884
:2
Golden Gate Park, [San Francisco, California] Bridge and Lake at Entrance
6467
:3
Alley in Chinatown, S. F., Cal. [San Francisco, California]
B 1.
:4
Union Square showing new Spring Valley Water. Co.[mpany] and Claus Spreckles Buildings
8706
:5
View of Flood, Huntington and Crocker residences from Hopkins Art Association
7423
:6
Court, Palace Hotel, San Francisco
10001
:7
The Golden Gate from Meigg's Wharf, San Francisco, Cal [California]
8691
:8
View of Telegraph Hill and Water Front, S. F. [San Francisco], from the Bay
B 920
:9
State Capitol, Sacramento, Cal [California]
6195
:10
Arizona Garden on the grounds of Hotel Del Monte, April 20, 1895, Monterey, Cal [California]
3334
:11
Santa Barbara Mission
no number
:12
A Mexican family group, Mission San Juan Capistrano
2941
