Freeman Art Company Photograph Collection, Date Span: 1913 - 1969 Bulk Dates: 1930-1950
Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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This collection contains 747 images (615 acetate negatives; 95 glass plate negatives; and 37 print photographs) by the Freeman Art Company of Eureka, California. Subjects include towns, schools, Redwoods, fishing, Mad River construction projects, Eureka waterfront, breweries, agriculture, town bridges, rivers, parades, Days of General Grant festival, portraits, and other miscellaneous images. These images are mainly taken between 1930-1950 and show life in Humboldt County during this time period. The photographer is likely Stephen Fred Chamley who owned and operated the Freeman Art Company at this time.
- Biographical / historical:
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The Freeman Art Company opened in Eureka, California in 1908. Owners Emma and Edwin Freeman opened the studio after relocating to Humboldt following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which destroyed the Freeman’s variety and art supply shop on the corner of Octavia and Union Streets. At the Freeman Art Company, the couple offered a wide range of novelties and art supplies. In 1910, the Freeman’s purchased the gallery of Eureka photographer Jesse A Meiser at 503 H street, and Emma began at once to explore possibilities of artistic portraiture. By 1913, Emma had undertaken a series of Native American portrait studies which she called her “Northern California Series.” The Freemans divorced in 1915, but Emma continued to operate the art business and add to her stock of Native American portraits. By 1919, she was looking for a new business opportunity, Emma moved back to San Francisco and opened a new Freeman Art Company, located in a newly remodeled three-story building. Among her first commercial clients was the prestigious firm of I. Magnin & Co., for whom she did advertising work. By 1923, growing competition coupled with the dealings of a dishonest partner led Freeman to bankruptcy. She undertook a much smaller art goods shop, but by 1925 she no longer owned this shop either. On March 26th, 1928 she died at age 48. Stephen Fred Chamley was born about 1896 in Texas and died in Eureka in 1971. The son of a minister, Chamley was already in Eureka by 1914 when he began work as a photographic assistant for Emma B. Freeman. Soon, Chamley became a journeyman photographer who did all types of commercial photography and darkroom work during his long tenure with the Freeman Art Company. He was most likely responsible for all the Freeman Art Company’s photography between 1918 and 1940. Among his regular clients were the Eureka High School yearbook, the Eureka Police Department (he was the official police photographer), various local lawyers, and the county coroner, who had him document post-mortems. During the 1940’s, Chamley worked for a short time as a photo-engraver for the local newspaper as well as continuing with the Freeman Art Company. By the mid-1950s, Chamley retired as a photographer to finish out his life as a bulb farmer.
- Acquisition information:
- This collection was donated to Cal Poly Humboldt Special Collection by Bruce and Elena Pettit in 2021. It was originally housed in three large plastic tubs, which contained boxes of negatives and print photographs from the Freeman Art Company.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Open for research by appointment.
- Terms of access:
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Copyright has not been assigned to Cal Poly Humboldt. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce in any format please contact the Special Collections Librarian.
- Preferred citation:
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Freeman Art Company Photograph Collection . Cal Poly Humboldt, Library Special Collections and Archives
- Location of this collection:
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Third Floor, Room 3031 Harpst StreetArcata, CA 95521-8299, US
- Contact:
- (707) 826-3419