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Table of Contents
Summary
In 1859 photographic publishers Lawrence & Houseworth began
selling stereographs from
their San Francisco optical shop. They worked with local photographers
to acquire a diverse collection of images documenting California's
major settlements, boom towns, placer and hydraulic mining operations,
shipping and transportation routes, and such points of scenic
interest throughout northern California and western Nevada as
the Yosemite Valley and Calaveras Redwoods. Their views also
included an extensive pictorial survey of mid-nineteenth-century
San Francisco.
Mass produced and offered for sale at a relatively low cost,
Lawrence & Houseworth's published stereographs became popular
collectibles among the middle class. Today the images stand
as important visual documents for the study of the West during
the gold rush era, both in terms of quantity of photographs
and variety of geographic areas included in their inventory.
In 1867 the Library acquired a set of more than 900 albumen
silver half stereographs published by Lawrence & Houseworth
and the third edition of Gems of California Scenery (1866),
a catalog listing titles of all of the views published by the
firm. This was one of the Library's earliest photographic acquisitions.
The source of this acquisition is unknown. (Before 1870, when
the Copyright Office became part of the Library, the Library's
collections contained very few photographs.) The photographs
date from 1862 to 1867.
The Lawrence & Houseworth Publishing Firm and California
Photography
Section of the Original Big tree, near view, Mammoth Grove, Calaveras County
LC-USZ62-27063 |
George S. Lawrence (dates unknown) and Thomas Houseworth (1828-1915)
sailed from New York City to San Francisco on April 4, 1849.
They were headed for the California gold mines. For the next
two years they worked as miners in Calaveras and Trinity Counties.
In 1851 Lawrence and Houseworth left the mines and settled
in San Francisco where Lawrence sold jewelry. A short time
later, he opened an optical shop opposite Portsmouth Plaza.
In 1855 Houseworth joined the business. Many years later, Houseworth
recalled that it was the first optical shop on the West Coast.
Their advertisements promoted imported optical, mathematical
and philosophical instruments, Joseph Rodgers & Son's cutlery,
magic lanterns, billiard balls, and chalk.
In 1859 Lawrence & Houseworth added stereographs to their
inventory. Their stock included images from around the world
published by the London Stereoscopic Company, as well as a
small group of views documenting Nevada and California. As
a way to entice the public, the store displayed the stereographs
in their windows.
Lawrence & Houseworth were not the first to promote California
through photographs. A decade earlier, San Francisco and the
California gold fields were extensively documented by the daguerreotype
process. Of the many daguerreotypists working in the West,
Robert H. Vance is best remembered for producing three-hundred
unique daguerreotype views of San Francisco and the gold fields.
In the 1850s these images were displayed in galleries in New
York City and St. Louis, making realistic view of the West
available to the American public. (Unfortunately Vance's daguerreotypes
are no longer extant.)
Capitalizing on the growing market for stereographs, in 1863
Lawrence & Houseworth decided to publish views under their
name and made a concerted effort to acquire more photographs.
They advertised their desire to purchase stereoscopic negatives
of the Pacific Coast. Photographer Charles Leander Weed provided
the company with three series of negatives: Sacramento during
the Great Flood of 1862; Silver Region, Nevada Territory; and
A Trip to Washoe. At this time, Lawrence & Houseworth also
hired Weed to make photographs of Yosemite Valley, the trade
routes east of Sacramento, and Native Americans in the Sierra
foothills. Alfred A. Hart, the official photographer of the
Central Pacific Railroad, may have supplied the firm with negatives
of hydraulic mining operations in the Sierras.
Lawrence & Houseworth's inventory grew and the firm soon
offered the largest collection of stereographs on the Pacific
Coast. Their inventory for California alone numbered more than
one thousand different views. As might be expected, the company
offered numerous views of California's largest cities, San
Francisco and Sacramento. These photographs documented hotels,
businesses, private residences, and street scenes, including
views of San Francisco's Chinatown. In addition, the firm offered
extensive documentation of the mining regions of California
and Nevada. These boom towns had catchy names like Gold Hill,
Dutch Flat, Timbuctoo, Drytown, Hope Valley, and Volcano.
Exterior of Lawrence and Houseworth's Store - 317 and 319 Montgomery Street,
San Francisco
LC-USZ62-27424 |
The demands of publishing stereographs required the prospering
firm to move to larger quarters in order to accommodate darkroom
and printing facilities. The firm's new offices were located
on Montgomery Street in San Francisco's business district.
In addition to stereographs, the company sold carte de visite
portraits of famous personalities. Tourists and new residents
of California purchased views of the West to show their friends
and relatives back East.
The popularity of Lawrence & Houseworth's extensive photographic
inventory was confirmed during the San Francisco Mechanics'
Industrial Fair of 1865. A review in the Mining and Scientific
Press stated: "Their stereoscopic views have occupied
a prominent position in the Art Gallery, and have never, from
the time they were first introduced, remained five minutes
of time without being occupied by visitors."
George S. Lawrence retired from the business in 1868 and the
firm was renamed Thomas Houseworth & Company. The company
was always in need of new photographs to document the growth
and change of the region. Charles Weed, who had previously
made numerous photographs for the firm, had moved his studio
to Hong Kong, so Houseworth commissioned the photographer Eadweard
Muybridge to make a set of mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite.
Meanwhile, another local firm, Bradley & Rulofson, also
approached Muybridge about his Yosemite views. In the end,
the views were published by Houseworth's competition. To make
matters worse, the San Francisco press covered the squabble
between Houseworth and Bradley & Rulofson. This publishing
fiasco left Houseworth in debt and damaged his reputation.
The 1870s saw a increase in the number of firms publishing
stereographs. Even East Coast publishers offered views of Yosemite
and other western locations and prices for stereographs plummeted.
Houseworth cut back on the number of stereographs that he offered
for sale. He took up photography, primarily working as a portrait
photographer, as a way to gain a new audience. He photographed
celebrities and promoted their portraits through an illustrated
catalog.
In the late 1870s Houseworth's financial troubles escalated.
For the next decade he continued to eke out a living as a photographer,
but later worked as an accountant, a physical culture instructor,
and an optometrist. Houseworth died on April 13, 1915, at the
age of 86.
The original Lawrence & Houseworth photographs were mounted
onto bond paper by the Library of Congress. Many of them are
faded. The original photographs are filed in LOT 3544, arranged
by the number associated with them in the Gems of California
Scenery catalog. A copy of the third edition of the
catalog is also filed in the LOT. Earlier editions of this
catalog are not available in the Library of Congress.
The Library made copy negatives and prints for all of the
original photographs. The copy photographs are also housed
in LOT 3544, organized into subdivisions by location and/or
subject. The copy negatives have been digitized and those digital
images, accompanied by brief catalog records, are available
in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog under the listing "Lawrence & Houseworth
Collection." A list
of the geographical/subject subdivisions, linked to the
catalog records, is also available via the Prints and Photographs
Online Catalog.
Black-and-white negatives were made of the prints in the
Lawrence & Houseworth Collection and those copy negatives
were digitized. Users may download images themselves or can
order copies through the Library of Congress Photoduplication
Service.
The original prints in the Collection exhibit varying tonality.
If the tonality of the original print is desired, a color photographic
copy must be ordered through the Library of Congress Photoduplication
Service. Use the LC-USZC... number listed in the Reproduction
Number field in the catalog record (very few items have such
numbers). If no LC-USZC... number is listed, the original item
will need to be photographed; use the number listed in the
Call Number field to request photography. Include a copy of
the catalog record with the order to help staff locate the
particular item in question.
As a publicly supported institution the Library generally
does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore,
it does not charge permission fees for use of such material
and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise
distribute material in its collections. Images in this collection
are considered to be in the public domain. Credit Line: Library
of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Lawrence and Houseworth
Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-123456] .
Full rights and restrictions information is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/372_lawr.html.
In the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
In addition to items acquired as part of the Lawrence & Houseworth
Collection (LOT 3544), the Prints and Photographs Division
holds items published by the firm acquired from other sources.
These items are listed below.
Thomas Houseworth. Portrait of Jean Francois Gravelet Blondin,
albumen silver print, October 10, 1876. Source unknown.
Call number: BIOG FILE - Blondin, Jean Francois Gravelet,
1824-1897
Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-103984
Note: Gravelet, known as Blondin, was the first tightrope
walker to cross Niagara Falls.
Lawrence & Houseworth. 31.
Old Spanish "Mission San José," Alameda
County, albumen silver stereograph,
1866. Marian S. Carson Collection
Call number: LOT 13245, no. 1
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133177
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 504.
Powell Street from the Lincoln
House; San Francisco, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13245, no.
2
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133373
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 605.
Group of Piute Indians, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13245, no.
3
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133372
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 645. "Nick
of the Woods"–a Human Face
in a Cedar Tree–Valley of
Lake Tahoe (near view), albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
1
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133172
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 875.
The Sentinels; 315 feet high,
23 feet diameter; Mammoth
Grove, Calaveras County ,
albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
2
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133175
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 880.
House over the Stump of the
Original Big Tree, diameter
32 feet; Mammoth Grove, Calaveras
County, albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870. Marian
S. Carson Collection
Call number: LOT 13245, no.
4
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133152
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 880.
House over the Stump of the
Original Big Tree, diameter
32 feet; Mammoth Grove, Calavaras
County, albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
3
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133174
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 899.
The Keystone State–Big Tree
Grove, Calavaras County, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
4
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133171
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 907.
Abraham Lincoln, near view;
281 feet high, 44 feet circumference.
Big Tree Grove, Calaveras
Co., albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870. Marian
S. Carson Collection
Call number: LOT 13245, no.
5
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133170
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 922. "Eagle
Wing," albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
5
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133173
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1151.
The Devil’s Office, Sonoma
County, Cal., albumen silver
stereograph, published circa
1872.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
6
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133155
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1198.
Point Arena Lighthouse, Mendocino
County, California, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1870. Orlando M. Poe
Collection
Call number: LOT 13468
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1409.
Broadway from the Railroad
Station, looking North, Oakland,
Alameda County, albumen silver
stereograph, published circa
1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
7
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133169
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1519.
Looking up Alameda Cañon,
from the Bridge, albumen silver
stereograph, published circa
1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
8
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133178
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1640.
Nevada Fall, 700 feet high
and Cap of Liberty, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1872.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
9
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133176
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1665.
Clouds’ Rest, 6,450 feet high,
from near the top of South
Dome, looking east, albumen
silver stereograph, published
circa 1870. Marian S. Carson
Collection
Call number: LOT 13245, no.
6
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133150
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1745.
Looking up the Grizzly Giant,
albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
10
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133153
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1796.
Mount St. Helena, from Mount
Lincoln, albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
11
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133148
Thomas Houseworth & Co. 1798.
Mansion House and Swimming
Bath, albumen silver stereograph,
published circa 1870.
Call number: LOT 13235, no.
12
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-133149
Lawrence & Houseworth published the images of numerous
photographers. A list
of photographers known to have worked for Lawrence & Houseworth,
is available via the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog;
the list includes notes about any Prints and Photographs Division's
holdings by the photographer outside of the Lawrence & Houseworth
Collection.
Related Collections Outside the Library of Congress
(NOTE: The Library of Congress does not maintain these Internet
sites. Users should direct concerns about these links to their
respective site administrators or webmasters.)
Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
The collection contains more than 200 stereo views
published by Lawrence & Houseworth, as well as cabinet card
portraits by Thomas Houseworth.
The New York Public Library
New York, NY
http://www.nypl.org/
The New York Public Library's collection includes
many stereos published by Lawrence & Houseworth. They also
own a set of Charles Weed's mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite
which were published by Lawrence & Houseworth.
The National Maritime Museum
San Francisco, CA
http://www.nps.gov/safr/local/mus.html
The Maritime Museum has a small collection of original
glass plate stereo negatives published by Lawrence & Houseworth
in the mid-1860s.
The Society of California Pioneers
San Francisco, CA
http://www.californiapioneers.org/
The Society's collection includes a unique three
volume set of approximately 1500 views published by the San
Francisco firm of Lawrence & Houseworth/Thomas Houseworth & Co.
circa 1860-70. The half-stereographs in these albums may have
been used as a salesman's catalog. The photographs document
California and Nevada towns, industries, and landscape.
Selected Bibliography
Palmquist, Peter. Lawrence & Houseworth/Thomas
Houseworth & Co.: A Unique View of the West 1860-1886,
Columbus: National Stereoscopic Association, 1980.
Call number: HD9707.5 .S734T47 1980 [P&P]
This book provides the most complete information available
on Lawrence & Houseworth. It contains many illustrations,
including examples of the firm's work over time, advertisements,
and exterior views of their studio. Includes a comprehensive
list of stereoviews, cabinet cards of celebrities, and mammoth
plate views of Yosemite and the Big Trees published by Lawrence & Houseworth.
Points of Interest: California Views 1860-1870: The
Lawrence and Houseworth Albums, [Berkeley,
CA]: Berkeley Hills Books; San Francisco: The Society of
California Pioneers, 2002.
Call number: F867.5 .P65 2002 [P&P]
Illustrated with 181 reproductions of photographs from a set
of three rare albums in the collection of The Society of California
Pioneers. (The book accompanied an exhibition of the same title
held at the Society in 2002.) Preeminent photographic historian
Peter Palmquist's essay provides biographical information about
Lawrence & Houseworth, as well as a brief history of the
stereograph format, and discusses a few of the major stereograph
photographers who worked in California.
Prepared by: Carol Johnson, Curator. Last updated:
July 2003.
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