![[Statue of Liberty]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090109150959im_/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/det/4a30000/4a33000/4a33100/4a33127t.gif) Detroit Publishing Company Collection
Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4730
Collection digitized? Yes. About 28,000 Detroit Publishing
Company Collection images are available in the Prints
and Photographs Online Catalog (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html).
(The same images are presented on the Library of Congress American
Memory site.) A few selected
images are included here to give a
sample of the collection.
The Detroit Publishing Company was one of the largest American
publishers of postcards and photographic views during the early
decades of the twentieth century. The images are a rich source
of documentation for the study of North American landscape
and cityscape, and include views of well-known streets, buildings,
historic monuments, natural scenery, industry, transportation,
and daily life. In addition to documenting U.S. sites, the
Library's collection also includes many images of Canada, Cuba,
Mexico, the West
Indies, and Panama.
The Library's collection contains approximately 20,000 vintage
photographs, over 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies,
and about 300 Photochrom prints dating from circa 1880-1920s.
The Library acquired the negatives, and some photographs, of
U.S. locations east of the Mississippi River in 1949 as a gift
from the Colorado Historical Society, which retained the glass
negatives and prints for locations west of the Mississippi.
Many of the Library's Detroit Publishing Company photoprints
were acquired through copyright deposit. Additional photographs
have been obtained through gift, purchase, and exchange.
The Detroit Photographic Company was launched as a photographic
publishing firm in the late 1890s by Detroit businessman and
publisher William A. Livingstone, Jr., and photographer and
photo-publisher Edwin H. Husher. The company obtained the exclusive
rights
to use the Swiss "Photochrom" process, later known as Aäc, for converting
black-and-white photographs to color prints. Photochroms were made by a photomechanical
process using multiple lithographic stones. A separate lithographic stone was
required for each color in the final print. A minimum of four stones were used
for each print, and occasionally as many as fourteen stones were used. This process
permitted the mass production of color postcards, prints, and albums for sale
to the American market.
In the fall of 1897, Livingstone persuaded the accomplished
American landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to become
a partner in the firm. This added the thousands of negatives
produced by Jackson to the Detroit Publishing Company's inventory.
Jackson's collection included city and town views, images of
prominent buildings, scenes along railroad lines, views of
hotels and resorts, and the like.
The nation's fervent interest in the 1898 Spanish American
War and the expansion of U.S. naval power accounts for the
firm's large inventory of photographs of Cuba and scenes related
to the war and for the hundreds of images of warships. In the
1910s, the Detroit Publishing Company expanded its inventory
to include photographic copies of works of art, which were
popular educational tools as well as inexpensive home decor.
During its height, the Detroit Publishing Company sold millions
of prints annually. The company maintained outlets in Detroit,
New York, Los Angeles, London, and Zurich, and also sold their
images at popular tourist spots and through the mail.
The firm was known as the Detroit Photographic Co. until
1905 when it became the Detroit Publishing Company. William
Henry Jackson became the plant manager in 1903, leaving him
with less time to travel and take photographs. With the declining
sale of photographs and postcards during World War I, and the
introduction of new and cheaper printing methods used by competing
firms, the Detroit Publishing Company went into receivership
in 1924. The company's assets were liquidated in 1932.
In 1939, Jackson gave the Detroit Publishing Company negatives
and prints to the Edison Institute in Dearborn, Michigan. In
1949, the Edison Institute gave all of the negatives and many
duplicate photographs to the Colorado Historical Society. The
Colorado Historical Society transferred most of the negatives
and prints for sites east of the Mississippi to the Library
later that year.
The Detroit Publishing Company collection includes negatives
by many photographers. During Jackson's era, photographers
frequently purchased and sold negatives among themselves, with
the current holder of the negative claiming authorship. In
producing the Library's electronic version of this collection,
an effort was made to recognize the role of individual photographers
and companies represented in the Detroit Publishing Company.
Information was gathered from various sources including the
negative logbooks held at the Colorado Historical Society and
information on the glass negatives themselves. Many negatives
were attributed to William Henry Jackson based on these sources,
and on information contained in the Detroit Photographic Company
catalog of 1898. Since attributions could not be determined
for every image, researchers may wish to contact the Colorado
Historical Society for information concerning
specific images.
The best known photographer represented in the Detroit Publishing
Company is William Henry Jackson (1843-1942). He moved to Nebraska
after the Civil War and was active in the West from about 1870
to about 1890. His photographs for the U.S. Geological and
Geographic Survey of the Territories (not included in this
collection) influenced the establishment of Yellowstone and
other early national parks. In 1898 he became president of
the Detroit Publishing Company, adding his stock of negatives
to the company's files. He left the firm in
1924.
In addition to Jackson, the collection includes the work
of Hans Behm, Joseph Byron, Clarence M. Darling, Lycurgus S.
Glover, Edward Hart, Clarence S. Jackson, John S. Johnston,
B.F. Mills, Henry Greenwood Peabody, George Prince, William
H. Rau, E.L. Schreck, and Nathaniel Livermore Stebbins; as
well as three photographers identified only by last name: Bowen,
McCormick, and Taylor.
An electronic reference surrogate (digitized images) with
corresponding caption information reproduces a portion of the
collection: black & white glass negatives and transparencies
(about 25,000) ranging in size from 6x8-to 18x22 inches (most
are 8x10-inches); large format Photochroms (69); Photochroms
in albums (241 prints); and large format photographs (over
300). Original masking and cropping marks found on the images
were retained when making the surrogates. Mounted photographs
and Photochroms were filmed to show the entire mount. All of
the objects appear on the monitor surrounded by an electronically-generated
black border. (In some cases, images may appear more than once,
in each format that appears in the collection. For example,
the same image may be represented as a glass plate negative
and a transparency.) Digitized images and corresponding catalog
records can be retrieved through the Prints
and Photographs Online Catalog. (The same images and catalog
records are presented on the Library of Congress American
Memory web site.
Although the negatives have been reproduced electronically,
the majority of the Detroit Publishing Company prints have
not, and there is not a one-to-one relationship between the
negatives and prints. The prints have been grouped geographically
and/or by subject and are described in the Prints and Photographs
Division LOT card catalog. Researchers who wish to perform
an exhaustive search on a particular topic should first consult
the Detroit Publishing Company material available in electronic
format and then examine the original vintage prints, which
can be accessed through the divisional LOT card catalog. A
limited number of prints have catalog records in the Library's
online catalog.
Several hundred Detroit Publishing Company postcards, which
were published as sets, are also in the Prints and Photographs
Division: Little "Phostint" Journeys. Detroit: Detroit Publishing
Co., 1912- Call number: NC1875.D4 <P&P Case X>
Copies of Detroit Publishing Company Collection photographs may
be ordered through the Library's Photoduplication Service. Orders
for copies must be accompanied by reproduction numbers for the
desired images. Negative numbers appear in catalog records for
the images. Once the reproduction numbers have been identified,
photographic prints or transparencies can be ordered directly
from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service, Washington,
D.C. 20540-5230. Order forms, price, and order instructions will
be provided on
request.
The bulk of the images in this collection date between 1890-1910. Images
less than 75 years old may be restricted by U.S. copyright. Privacy and publicity
rights may also apply. When images are reproduced in a publication, the Library
requests that the reproduction number be published with the credit, as in the
following example: "Library of Congress, Prints and
Photographs Division, LC-D4-4052."
- The Colorado Historical Society (Denver,
Colorado) has approximately 13,000 images from the Detroit Publishing Company,
primarily glass plate negatives of views west of the Mississippi. Their collection
also includes vintage photographs, Photochrom prints, postcards, and the
Detroit Publishing Company's negative record log. The Historical Society
holds Jackson's diaries from the U.S. Geographical Survey years.
- Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village (Dearborn,
Michigan) has approximately 18,000 vintage photographs, 9,500 postcards,
and 2,500 Photochrom prints from the Detroit Publishing Company.
- New York Public
Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division (New York City) holds Jackson's
diaries from the 1870s through his retirement, including diaries from the
World's Transportation Commission trip and Jackson's years with the Detroit
Publishing Company.
Alden, John Doughty. The American Steel Navy: A Photographic History
of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise
of the Great White Fleet, 1907-1909. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute
Press, 1972. Call number: VA59.A65 [P&P]
Burdick, Jefferson R. The Handbook of Detroit Publishing Co. Postcards.
Essington, Pennsylvania: Hobby Publications, 1954. Call number: NC1872.B8 [P&P]
Detroit Photographic Company. Detroit Photographic Company, Catalog
F. Detroit: Detroit Photographic Company, 1899. Call number: TR199.D47
[P&P]; Microfilm LOT 12027. (This catalog lists scenic, architectural, and
marine views in the United States and abroad, and provides information about
print sizes, types of photographic prints available, and corresponding prices.)
Detroit Photographic Company. Detroit Photographic Company, Catalog
J. Detroit: Detroit Photographic Company, 1901-1905. Call number:
TR199.D48 [P&P]; Microfilm LOT 12027. (Three-volume revised edition of Catalog
F.)
Detroit Publishing Company. Detroit Publishing Company, Catalog P.
Detroit: Detroit Publishing Company, 19--. Call number: E169.D475 [P&P]; Microfilm
79584 E. (This is a revised edition of Catalog J, part 2.)
Detroit Publishing Company. Little "Phostint" Journeys. Detroit:
Detroit Publishing Company, 1912-. Call number: NC1875.D4 [P&P Case X].
Detroit Publishing Co. "Thistle Publications": Office Catalogue of Works
of Art Reproduced from Eleven Leading Galleries of the United States and
Many Private Collections. Detroit: Detroit Publishing Co., 1912. Call
number: NE1860.A2D4 [P&P]
Gundy, Lloyd, ed. William Henry Jackson: An Intimate Portrait: The Elwood
P. Bonney Journal. [Denver]: Colorado Historical Society, 2000. Call
number: TR140.J27 B66 2000
Hales, Peter B. William Henry Jackson and the Transformation of the
American Landscape. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988. Call
number: TR140.J27H36 1988 [P&P]
Harrell, Thomas H. William Henry Jackson: an annotated bibliography.
Nevada City, California: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1995. Call number: pending
Hughes, Jim. The Birth of a Century: Early Color Photographs of America.
London; New York: Tauris Parke Books, 1994. Call number: E168.H894 1994 [P&P]
Jackson, William Henry. List of Views from the W. H. Jackson Negatives
in Silver, Carbon and Special Hand Colored Prints. Detroit: Detroit
Photographic Company, 1898. Call number: E169.J156 [P&P]; Microfilm 79585
E.
Jackson, William Henry. Time Exposure: The Autobiography of William
Henry Jackson. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons , 1940. Call number: TR140.
J27A3 [P&P]
Lawlor, Laurie. Window on the West: The Frontier Photography of William
Henry Jackson. New York: Holiday House, 1999. Call number: F594.L39
1999
Lesy, Michael. "A Whole World: Pictures from the Detroit Publishing Collection." Doubletake,
vol. 1 (Summer 1995):126-128. Call number: AS30.D68
Lowe, James L. and Ben Papell. Detroit Publishing Company Collector's
Guide. Newton Square, Pennsylvania: Deltiologists of America, 1975.
Call number: NC1872.L59 [P&P]
Read-Miller, Cynthia, ed. Main Street U.S.A., in Early Photographs:
113 Detroit Publishing Co. Views. New York: Published for Henry Ford
Museum & Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Mich. by Dover Publications, 1988.
Call number: E168.M26 1988 [P&P]
Stechschulte, Nancy Stickels. The Detroit Publishing Company Postcards:
A Handbook for Collectors of the Detroit Publishing Company Postcards including
checklists of the regular numbers, contracts, Harveys, miscellaneous art
cards, the 50,000 series, sets, Little Phostint Journeys, mechanical postcards,
the panoramas, and many others. Big Rapids, Michigan: N.S. Stechschulte,
1994. Call number: NC1877.D48S74 1994 [P&P]
Waitley, Douglas. William Henry Jackson: Framing the Frontier.
Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 1998. Call number: TR140.J27
W35 1998
Prepared by: Carol Johnson, Assistant Curator of Photography and Helena Zinkham,
Head, Processing Section, 8/23/96; last revised 10/24/02.
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