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Watkins (Carleton E.) Photograph Collection
photCL 74
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Carleton E. Watkins photograph collection
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 74
Physical Description:
6.25 Linear Feet
(10 boxes)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1860s-1880s
Abstract: A collection of 653 albumen photographs
(430 by Carleton E. Watkins and 223 by Alfred A. Hart) dating from approximately 1860s to
1880s. The images document scenery and activity chiefly in Northern and Southern California
in the 1870s and 1880s, as well as construction of the western half of the transcontinental
railroad by the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services. RESTRICTED: Original album (Box 10): Fragile.
Available with curatorial approval.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Carleton E. Watkins photograph collection, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Provenance uncertain. The album was recorded as being part of the personal library of Henry
E. Huntington on April 26, 1928, and is presumed to have been the gift of Carleton E.
Watkins to Collis P. Huntington. Henry Huntington was the executor of Collis P. Huntington's
estate.
The photographs were removed from the original presentation album by Huntington staff in
the 1970s. The order of the photographs as found in the presentation album was not
maintained, though in some instances the album page number is indicated on the back of the
photograph in pencil. The photographs were rehoused in mylar and acid-free boxes in
1996.
Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916) was born in 1829 in Oneonta, New York. In 1851, he migrated
to Sacramento, California in the company of businessman Collis P. Huntington and several
other residents of Oneonta. He began his photographic career as an apprentice to established
San Francisco Bay area studio photographers Robert H. Vance (1825–1876) and James May Ford
(c. 1827–1877).
Watkins photographed Yosemite for the first time in 1861. His large-scale images inspired
President Abraham Lincoln and the United States Congress to declare Yosemite the nation's
first national preserve in 1864. By the end of the American Civil War, the photographer had
become one of the medium's leading lights, winning prestigious commissions and international
awards.
Over the course of his career, Watkins operated studios at various Montgomery Street
addresses in San Francisco. Around 1869, he purchased Alfred A. Hart's stereographic
negatives documenting the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Watkins subsequently
published Hart's negatives under the series title: "Watkins Central Pacific Railroad."
Watkins suffered severe financial reverses in 1875, losing his negative inventory to
competitor Isaiah H. Taber. From that point onward, Watkins published negatives under the
"New Series" heading.
In 1879, Watkins married Frances Henrietta Snead. The couple had two children, Julia
(1881–1977) and Collis (1883–1965). By the early 1890s, declining health forced Watkins to
curtail his activities. He took his last major commission in 1894, photographing the Phoebe
Apperson Hearst residence, Hacienda del Pozo de Verona, in Pleasanton, California. The
earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed Watkins's San Francisco studio and its contents.
Shortly thereafter, he entered the Napa State Asylum for the Insane in Napa, California,
where he died in 1916.
This collection contains 430 photographs by photographer Carleton E. Watkins that chiefly
depict buildings, points of interest, people, and scenery in Northern and Southern
California in the 1870s and 1880s, as well as 223 photographs by photographer Alfred A. Hart
documenting the construction of the western half of the transcontinental railroad by the
Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) in the 1860s, which were later published by Watkins under
his own imprint.
Images by Watkins depict locations in California and Arizona including: Lake Tahoe, Los
Angeles, the Mammoth Tree Grove, Paso Robles, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Gabriel, San
Luis Obispo, San Pedro, Santa Monica, Soda Springs, Wilmington, and Yosemite, as well as
views related to the Southern Pacific Railroad and of the Colorado River. There are a few
images of Native Americans in Arizona and California, and several images related to trains
and railroads.
Photograph titles in the contents list were transcribed, when available, from captions and
titles on the images; titles in square brackets were devised by Huntington Library
staff.
Existence and Location of Copies
Visit the
Huntington Digital Library: Photographs
to
view digitized items from this collection.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
- Carleton E. Watkins Stereograph Collection (photST Wat)
- A. A. Hart Stereographs of the Central Pacific Railroad (photCL 184)
- Album of the Yosemite Valley, California, 1866 (RB 379010, vol. 1)
- New Almaden, Quicksilver Mine, and Mendocino Coast (RB 379010, vol. 2)
- California Mission Series of Mammoth Plate Views (Watkins 1-38)
- Carleton E. Watkins Mammoth Plate Views (Watkins 39-98)
- Four bound albums mammoth plate views by Carleton E. Watkins for Collis P. Huntington:
- The Central Pacific and Views Adjacent (RB 137501)
- Summits of the Sierras (RB 137502)
- Arizona and Views Adjacent to the Southern Pacific R.R. (RB 137503)
- Photographic Views of Kern County (RB 137500)
Photographs are arranged by photographer:
- A.A. Hart views of the Central Pacific Railroad
- Carleton E. Watkins photographs
- Original album binding
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Agriculture -- California -- Photographs
Cactus -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Arizona -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- California -- Photographs
Lakes -- California -- Photographs
Locomotives -- Photographs
Mining camps -- California -- Photographs
Mountains -- California -- Photographs
Orchards -- California -- Photographs
Railroad companies -- West (U.S.) -- Photographs
Railroad bridges -- California -- Photographs
Railroad tracks -- California -- Photographs
Railroad tracks -- Nevada -- Photographs
Railroad tracks -- Utah -- Photographs
Railroads -- United States -- History -- 19th century --
Photographs
Trees -- California -- Photographs
Vineyards -- California -- San Gabriel -- Photographs
Waterfalls -- California -- Yosemite Valley -- Photographs
Wineries -- California -- San Gabriel -- Photographs
Arizona -- Photographs
Auburn (Calif.) -- Photographs
California -- Photographs
Cisco (Calif.) -- Photographs
Colfax (Calif.) -- Photographs
Donner Pass (Calif.) -- Photographs
Dutch Flat (Calif.) -- Photographs
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs
Nevada -- Photographs
Pasadena (Calif.)-- Photographs
Placer County (Calif.) -- Photographs
Reno (Nev.) -- Photographs
San Gabriel (Calif.)-- Photographs
San Francisco (Calif.)-- Photographs
San Marino (Calif.)-- Photographs
Sierra Madre (Calif.)-- Photographs
Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) -- Photographs
Soda Springs (Calif.) -- Photographs
Sunny Slope Ranch (Calif.) -- Photographs
Tahoe, Lake (Calif. and Nev.) -- Photographs
Truckee River (Calif. and Nev.) -- Photographs
West (U.S.) -- Photographs
Wilmington (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs
Yosemite Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs
Yuba River (Calif.) -- Photographs
Albumen photographs
Photographs