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circa 1884-circa 1898 |
| Creator: | Towne, Bertram C., photographer |
| Title: | Bertram C. Towne photographs |
| Date Span: | circa 1884-circa 1898 |
| Bulk: | 1887 |
| Quantity: | 20 photographic prints, 1 album (1 box) ; 8.5 x 5.25 in. |
| PH Collection No.: | 502 |
| Location: | Entire collection available on digital site. |
| KV914 (1 box - use digital site to preserve original photographs) | |
| Languages: | Collection materials are in English. |
Bertram C. Towne was a photographer active in Portland, Oregon, during the period 1884-1895. From 1884-1887, B.C. Towne and Elbridge W. Moore operated the San Francisco Gallery in Portland as partners, having assumed control of the gallery after the death of W.H. Towne. At this time, the studio was also listed as "Towne & Moore." From 1888-1895, the studio operated as "B.C. Towne Photograph Company" and was located on First Street in Portland. In October, 1890, the West Shore, a popular weekly publication that promoted life in the Pacific Northwest, named Towne as a photographic contest winner in the "professional" category. Carl Mautz, in Biographies of Western Photographers (1997), states that Towne's studio "became one of the premier galleries in Portland, employing many of the best photographers in the area" and that it "published boudoir format scenes of Alaska, the Columbia River, Mount Hood, and other Northwest scenes."
Except for one photograph of the Chilkoot Pass, this set of 20 photographs appears to have been taken by Towne during the period 1884-1887. The majority of the images are outdoor scenes, produced on "Boudoir Cards", from southeastern Alaska, Portland and Mount Hood in Oregon, and Mount Shasta in northern California. Several Alaskan images of Chilkoot Pass and the Muir Glacier (Glacier Bay) are natural scenes, while the rest are of settlements and/or people in Sitka and Howkan, including images of Tlingit Native Americans tending to everyday responsibilities, such as drying fish and selling berries. Towne is known to have taken a trip to Alaska in 1887, and many of the photos appear to have been taken during that trip. The collection also includes three portraits taken by Towne, and one boudoir card photograph album of "Portland, Or. Souvenir Photographs."
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for detail.
Access to original photographs restricted. Permission of curator required for viewing. Contact Special Collections for more information. Entire collection available on digital site. Use digital site to preserve original photographs.
Photographs18-20 were originally from the S.L. Crawford Collection.
Source: 12 photographs, 1 album, Joan Perkal Books, 1980; PH Coll 502.1, gift of Charles Gould;
Processed by James Foti, 2002 and Jordan Grimmer, August 2011.
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