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Finding Aid to Mammoth Plate Landscape Photographs from the George Davidson Collection, 1860-1879?
BANC PIC 1905.17143--ffALB
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Collection Title: Mammoth plate landscape photographs from the George Davidson collection
Date (inclusive): 1860-1879?
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1905.17143--ffALB
Creator:
Watkins, Carleton E.
Davidson, George
Jackson, William Henry
Extent:
110 photographic prints : albumen ; mounts between 36 x 47 cm. and 62 x 86 cm.
76 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: Large format photographs of Western landscapes by C.E. Watkins and W.H. Jackson, collected by George Davidson. Watkins views
include Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta (1870?), and Mt. Lola (1879), and various Yosemite views (1861-1869.) Jackson views are of
Yellowstone National Park and landscapes in the Wyoming and Montana Territories (1872?).
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research, except for original photographic prints, which are restricted. Use viewing prints or digital
facsimiles only: Shelved as BANC PIC 1905.17143--PIC. Use 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.
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. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Mammoth Plate Landscape Photographs from the George Davidson Collection, BANC PIC 1905.17143--ffALB,
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Digital reproductions of selected images (those created by Carleton E. Watkins) are available.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
California--Pictorial works
Montana--Pictorial works
West (U.S.)--Pictorial works
Wyoming--Pictorial works
Yellowstone National Park--Pictorial works
Albumen prints
Landscapes (Representations)
Mammoth plates
Photographs.
Gift of the California Academy of Sciences, from the George Davidson Collection, 1971.
Processed by Bancroft Library staff.
Scope and Content of Collection
Large format photographs of Western landscapes by C.E. Watkins and W.H. Jackson, collected by George Davidson. The 76 photographs
by Watkins can be described as three different groups: survey photographs of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta (presumably all taken
with the King Survey in 1870), Mt. Lola are views taken as part of the 1879 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey under George Davidson's
direction and, thirdly, Yosemite views. The 1870 survey views show Mt Lassen, hot springs near Lassen, and Mt. Shasta (including
the Whitney Glacier). The Shasta and Lassen views are smaller than mammoth sized, measuring approximately 21 x 31 cm. (roughly
8 x 12 in.) The 1879 Mt. Lola area views are mammoth sized. The Yosemite views are all mammoth sized and date from the 1860s,
with most printed from negatives of 1861. Most of the Yosemite prints are on exceptionally large mounts, although there is
enough variation to suggest the images were not all originally acquired as a single, uniform set.
The 25 views by Jackson are from Montana and Wyoming; predominantly Yellowstone National Park. Included are the Yellowstone
River, canyon, and falls, Mystic Lake, geysers, the Gallatin River and canyon, Mt. Blackmore, and the Teton range. Some, if
not all, date from the summer 1872 expedition of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (the Hayden Survey).
Additional Notes on the Collection:
Many of the Mount Shasta views in this collection were also issued by the United States Geological Exploration of the Fortieth
Parallel, on mounts bearing the imprint of this survey expedition. The George Davidson collection photographs are on mounts
devoid of imprint, with calligraphic captions or no captions whatsoever.