Finding Aid to the Lone Mountain College Collection of Stereographs and Other Photographs by Eadweard Muybridge , 1867-1880

Processed by Alyson Belcher. Revised by James Eason, 2020.

The Bancroft Library

University of California

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000

bancref@library.berkeley.edu

URL: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/libraries/bancroft-library

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library

Title: Lone Mountain College collection of stereographs and other photographs by Eadweard Muybridge

Creator:

Eadweard Muybridge

Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1971.055

Physical Description: 1800 photographs (approximately) : 6 albums (chiefly half stereographs), stereographs on card mounts, and 39 oversize prints. 1727 digital objects

Date (inclusive): 1867-1880, bulk 1868-1875

Abstract: The Muybridge Lone Mountain Collection of photographs consists of 1700 stereographs, 6 albums and 39 individual photographs by

Eadweard Muybridge

, chiefly taken during the years 1867 to 1875.

Language of Material: Collection materials are in English

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Access

Originals restricted. Viewing prints are available under the call number BANC PIC 1971.055--PIC. Individual prints, original stereographs and albums may be viewed only with the permission of the appropriate curator.

Publication Rights

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Lone Mountain College Collection of Stereographs and Other Photographs by

Eadweard Muybridge

, BANC PIC 1971.055, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Digital Representations Available

Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files. Selected items were digitized or re-digitized at a later date.

Related Collections

The Bancroft Library has a large collection of photographs by Muybridge; see the Guide to Pictorial Collections on Bancroft Reference shelves for more listings. See also: Catalogue of Photographic Views Illustrating the Yosemite, Mammoth Trees, Geyser Springs, and Other Remarkable and Interesting Scenery of the Far West, by Muybridge , published by Bradley and Rulofson in 1873.

Materials Cataloged Separately

Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/189c:

Title:

Eadweard Muybridge

Papers: additions, 1818-1839.

Removed from photographic collection.

Identifier/Call Number: xF870.P5M82 1893:

Title: Descriptive Zoopraxography; or, the Science of Animal Locomotion Made Popular

Identifier/Call Number: xffF870.P5M75:

Title: Animal Locomotion: an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements, 1872-1885

Identifier/Call Number: xfF870.P5M76 1899:

Title: Animals in Motion ; an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Progressive Movements. Commenced 1872, completed 1885.

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the

Eadweard Muybridge

Photographic Collection was part of the Monsignor Joseph M. Gleason Library of the San Francisco College for Women (Lone Mountain College). This Collection was purchased by The Bancroft Library in March of 1971. The Bancroft Library combined other material with the Lone Mountain acquisition, including individual stereograph cards from various sources and an album of Woodward's Gardens views formerly belonging to the Robert B. Woodward family, received via his grandson Henry C. (Harry) Melone.

Biography

Edward James Muggeridge was born on April 9, 1830 in Kingston-on-Thames, England. He was the second of four sons born to John Muggeridge and Susannah Smith Muggeridge. John Muggeridge was a grain, coal and timber merchant and Susannah Smith Muggeridge came from a prosperous family engaged in the business of carrying by barge. At the age of 22 Edward decided to go to America and he changed his name to Eadweard Muygridge. He took the spelling of his first name from the "Coronation Stone," which had been discovered in Kingston in 1850. Seven Saxon kings had been crowned upon this stone and two kings named Eadweard appeared on its plinth. As for the spelling of his last name, the "muy" may have been added to reflect some Spanish ancestry, and "gridge" was later changed to "bridge."

Upon his arrival in New York, Muybridge secured employment as a commission merchant for the London Printing and Publishing Company. One of his first friends in the U.S. was daguerreotypist Silas T. Selleck, who sparked

Eadweard's interest in photography. When Selleck went West and established a successful photography studio, Muybridge

soon followed. In 1855 he settled in San Francisco, where he opened a bookstore at 113 Montgomery Street. In his free time Muybridge explored California; he was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the state that he began to think about photographing landscapes. Muybridge was aware of the potential of new photographic markets in America and he considered the possibility of photography as a second career. In 1860 he returned to England where he spent several years regaining his health (he was injured in a stage coach accident during the trip from SF to NY) and studying photography more seriously. Around 1866 he returned to America, altering his surname from Muygridge to Muybridge. When he arrived in San Francisco he joined Silas Selleck in the photography business. The following year Muybridge took his "Flying Studio" to Yosemite and made numerous photographs which were presented in 1868 under the pseudonym "Helios." Over the next couple of years he made photographs of the San Francisco Bay Area, Alaska, and the Pacific Coast.

In the Spring of 1871 Muybridge married Flora Shallcross Stone. A year later he became acquainted with the Leland Stanford family and this marked the beginning of his motion photography. Over the next couple of years, in addition to his motion studies, he photographed the Modoc Indians and U.S. soldiers in Northern California, Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad. In February of 1875, after being acquitted for the murder of his wife's lover, Muybridge went south to photograph Panama and Central America. He returned to San Francisco in November upon hearing of his wife's death. The rest of his career was spent primarily on the motion studies, first at Stanford University and later at the University of Pennsylvania.

Eadweard Muybridge

died May 8, 1904 at 2 Liverpool Road, Kingston-on-Thames.

(Chief source: Haas, Robert Bartlett. Muybridge: Man in Motion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.)

Scope and Content

The Muybridge Lone Mountain Collection of photographs consists of 1700 stereographs, 6 albums and 39 individual photographs chiefly taken during the years 1867 to 1875. Most of the albums contain single stereo size (half stereograph) images arranged in Muybridge's number order and are marked within the negative with his "Helios" trade name. These albums may represent his own record of his work, and may have served as sample albums for his studio. He spent most of his time from 1867 to 1873 photographing California, Alaska and the Pacific Coast; this work is documented in Catalogue of Photographic Views Illustrating the Yosemite, Mammoth Trees, Geyser Springs, and Other Remarkable and Interesting Scenery of the Far West, by Muybridge , published by Bradley and Rulofson in 1873. The greatest number of these images are in stereographic form, intended for mounting and sale on cards, but some were made in larger sizes for framing or albums. Photographs 1-278 do not appear in the Catalogue.

Subjects covered in this collection include: Alaska (1868), Big Trees (Calaveras and Mariposa Groves), British Columbia, Buena Vista Winery, Sonoma Co., Calistoga, Chinese, the Earthquake of 1868, Farralon Islands, The Geysers, Indians of Yosemite, Light Houses, Marin County, Missions, the Modoc War, Panama and Central America (1875), Railroads, San Francisco and The Bay Area, Woodward's Gardens, and Yosemite Park.

Note

Former accession number: 1905.16892. Some copy negatives are available under this number.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Central Pacific Railroad Company -- Pictorial works.

Farallon Islands (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

Guatemala -- Pictorial works.

Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

Modoc Indians -- Wars, 1873 -- Photographs.

Panama -- Pictorial works.

San Francisco (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

Spanish mission buildings -- California -- Photographs.

Vancouver Island (B.C.) -- Pictorial works.

Woodward's Gardens (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

Photograph albums.

Stereographs.

Eadweard Muybridge

Melone, Henry C. Associated name CU-BANC

Bradley & Rulofson.

California Heritage Project. CU-BANC

Lone Mountain College (San Francisco, Calif.). Library. Associated name CU-BANC

Online Archive of California.

Series 1: Albums approximately 1867-1873

Physical Description: 6 volumes

Note

A corresponding paper listing, available in the library, as a column ("stereo copy") that indicates whether or not another copy of the image is available as a stereograph. The item number will be the same. This information in not reproduced in the online finding aid.

Volume 1 (ALB)

Volume 1 1867-approximately 1870, bulk 1867-1869

Content/Description

Helios album. Yosemite, San Francisco. Single stereo images with Muybridge item numbers. This album appears to contain Muybridge's earliest known work. His Yosemite trip of the Spring and Summer of 1867 is presented here, and the excursion is said to have produced 114 Yosemite stereographs and at least 19 more of the Calaveras Big Trees Grove. Items 1-133 of this album are thought to date from this period. (See Hood and Haas, "

Eadweard Muybridge's Yosemite Valley Photographs, 1867-1872," California Historical Society Quarterly , Mar., 1963, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Mar., 1963) pp. 8-10.)

In many instances, stereograph cards have been seen on which the published photographer's number matches the number in this album. Examples of numerical alignment have been noticed on both Muybridge-published mounts of 1868-1869, and on Bradley & Rulofson mounts published 1873 or later.

Note

Items 1-400.

Yosemite and Calaveras Big Tree Grove

[No caption: Yosemite] [View up Yosemite Valley from the vicinity of Artist's Point and the Mariposa Trail. Bridalveil Fall left of center. Rocks and brush in foreground.] BANC PIC 1971.055:01--ALB v.1

[No caption: View up Yosemite Valley from the vicinity of Artist's Point and the Mariposa Trail. Bridal Veil Fall left of center. Rocks and brush in foreground.]