This collection of Taber photographs was presumably collected by Francis P. Farquhar who donated them in 1962. It consists of 39 photographs mounted back-to-back on 19 x 26 cm. mounts. Included are views of hotels, mansions, missions, buildings and general city views taken in various California locations. Photographs 1-21 are primarily of Southern California locales including the Hotel del Coronado (San Diego), the Englewood Hotel (Riverside), Santa Barbara Mission, and the Raymond Hotel (Pasadena). Locations in Los Angeles and San Gabriel are also included in this portion of the collection. Photographs 22-37 consist of San Francisco scenes, including Golden Gate Park, Sutro Heights, the Palace Court Hotel, the Cliff House, and Chinatown. Photographs of the mansions of Leland Stanford, J. C. Flood, David Colton, Charles C. Crocker, and Mrs. Mark Hopkins, all located in San Francisco, are also in this section. Photograph no. 38 is a view of San Diego from the bay. Photograph no. 39 is of the Lion and Bee Hive house in Salt Lake City, Utah. This photograph is by C. R. Savage.

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.

39 photographic prints mounted on 20 boards; mounts 19 x 26 cm. 39 digital objects (39 images)

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Collection is open for use.