Tag: George Dalgleish

Ouray County’s 19th Century Photographers (Part 2)

This post provides a chronological list of all known 19th century  professional studio photographers in Ouray County between 1892 and 1900.   See my earlier post for photographers working between 1880 and 1891.  This post shows how quickly some studios changed hands.  Did I miss any photographers?  Can you provide any additional biographical details or photographs?                                                                   

cabinet card
Brumfield, photographer. Portrait of a woman in her home. Albumen silver print. Ouray County Historical Society.

1892-1898                                                           Micheal Brumfield (c. 1855-1922) Brumfield arrived in Ouray in 1890, working with John E. Gilbert as Brumfield & Gilbert.  Brumfield split his time between Ouray and Silverton, making landscape views and portraits.  The Ouray Herald reported on his panoramic view of Ouray produced in 1896.  In December 1896, Powell briefly took over Brumfield’s Ouray studio.  Brumfield returned to Ouray for the 1897 Christmas season.  Johnson took over his studio in January 1898.  Brumfield continued to operate out of Silverton until 1911. His portrait of the unidentified women (left) was likely made in the woman’s home, rather than a studio.

1896-1897                                                                                                                        W. A. Powell succeeded Brumfield in November, 1896.  He photographed Ouray’s July 3, 1897  snowstorm, selling more than 500 copies of the scene.  Later that month, Powell and his wife left Ouray for Boise City, Idaho.  His studio was taken over by the Reed boys.

1897                                                                                                                           Reed No further information found.

1897-1898                                                                                                                     Edward John Fowler, (1871-1927)  E. F. Fowler was born on August 11, 1871, in Chicago.  He attended the University of Michigan.  In 1897 he produced a souvenir booklet entitled “Around & About Ouray.” No copies of this booklet are known to be extant.   He was active in the Ouray Camera Club.  By 1900 Fowler had moved to California where he worked as an engineer.  Fowler died in San Francisco on October 19, 1927.  

1898                                                                                                                                    Johnson, possibly R. H. In January 1898 Johnson advertised as “successor to Brumfield.”  But in  March 1898, Thomas McKee purchased the fixtures of this gallery.

Thomas M. McKee  (1854-1939)  McKee’s primary studio was located  in Montrose, Colorado where he worked with his wife, Mrs. Amanda S. Kauffman McKee.  He opened his Ouray quarters, about 35 miles south of Montrose, in January 1898.

Mrs. Amanda S. Kauffman McKee  (1863-1919)  Mrs. McKee ran her husband’s studio when he traveled.

George Dalgleish   Dalgleish, worked in Georgetown and Silverton, and for a short time in Ouray.  The Ouray Herald reported on October 13, 1898 that Dalgleish sold his Ouray gallery to Morton E. Chase.

Morton E. Chase  (1861-1939) operated studios in Greeley and Colorado Springs before setting up shop in Ouray in October 1898.  In 1902, Chase went to work for Brumfield in Silverton.

Una Wheeler  After joining Ouray’s camera club, Wheeler perfected her skills to become a professional photographer.

Beaumont Hotel
Attributed to Una Wheeler, photographer. Beaumont Hotel, Ouray, silver gelatin print, circa 1895. History Colorado. Accession # 2000.129.939

1899-1900                                                                                                           Orlando Fred Tyler (1857-1917)  In 1899, Tyler arrived in Colorado, setting up a studio in Ouray in the Opera House block.  He advertised for a  young  lady to learn to finish photographs that November.  In March 1900 he opened a photography school at his gallery, planning to teach amateurs how to use their Kodaks.  By September 1900, Tyler had moved to Pueblo, Colorado.  

Working Dates Unknown   I have seen prints by both of the firms listed below at the Ouray Historical Society, but I have been unable uncover other details or date the studios.                                                 Ouray Art Gallery
Brumfield & Smith, a partnership of Michael Brumfield and an unknown individual named Smith.

Thank you to Gail Zanett Saunders, volunteer photo archivist, OCHS, for providing access to the work of several Ouray photographers during my visit.  Additional thanks to Kathy Gibson for bringing Frank S. Balster to my attention.  This research trip was possible due to the generosity of the The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research.

 

 

Let it Snow!

Cabinet card with snow
Dalgleish Bros., photographers. [Woman in snowstorm], Albumen silver cabinet card, circa 1889, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
March is typically Colorado’s snowiest month and it just so happens that it is snowing as I write this post.  Snow pictures, photographic portraits made in the studio, gained popularity  in the 1880s.

Wilson’s Photographic Magazine (Dec. 1900, p. 548) outlines the steps to “fake” the negative: “…take Chinese white, as sold in tubes by the artists’ colormen, and thin it with water on a palette; then take an ordinary toothbrush and touch the ends of the bristles on the palette so as to take up a little of the pigment…pass, say, the back of the knife across the bristles so as to flick the color on to the negative in fine particles.  Before doing this it is desirable to varnish the negative, as then, if the result is not satisfactory, the pigment can be cleaned off.”  Notice that the photographer carefully avoided getting “snow” on the customer’s face.

During the 19th century, photographers often posed their clients in front of painted backdrops and used studio props, such as columns and plaster tree stumps, to add interest.  To make their snow scene more realistic, the Dalgleish Bros. retouched the background areas of the negative, adding snow to the foreground, rocks and roof of the building.  By adding pigment to these areas on the negative, consequently blocking light from exposing the photographic paper, the snow appears white in the final print.

woman before snow
Dalgleish Bros., photographers. [Woman Before Snowstorm.] Albumen Silver cabinet card, circa 1889, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas.
In this rare instance, courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, we are fortunate to also have a photograph showing a portrait of the woman before snow was added to the negative.

Born in Scotland, the Dalgleish Bros., George and Thomas, operated photography studios in Wyoming and Colorado.  George (1854-1933), the better known of the two, learned photography in Toronto, Canada.  Between 1886 and 1889, the brothers worked in Sheridan and Buffalo, Wyoming.  They offered portraits made in the latest styles and also copied old photographs.

In 1889 the brothers opened a third gallery in Georgetown, Colorado.  Georgetown, surrounded by high mountains, prospered as a mining town in the 1870s.  Located about forty-five miles west of Denver, George Dalgleish managed mining claims in addition to managing his photography business.  After 1890, George seems to be operating independently from his brother.  He continued his photography business in Georgetown for about two decades.  I was unable to find additional information about Thomas Dalgleish.

georgetown
George Dalgleish, photographer. Georgetown, 1892. Albumen Silver print. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

While the Dalgleish studio produced the popular cabinet card portraits, they also made outdoor views including landscapes, mining scenes, and documented local events.

Parade
George Dalgleish, photographer. Parade, Georgetown, Colorado, July 5, 1897.  Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, X-1163.

In 1898 George Dalgleish organized the Georgetown Camera Club.  The Georgetown Courier  (Nov. 5, 1898, p4, c2) reported that the club would promote the “general advancement and mutual improvement in photography, and exchange of ideas with other camera clubs, through the exchange of slides and photographs.”

Avalanche
Swept by a Snow-Slide. Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, March 23, 1899, page 238

In February 1899, George Dalgleish photographed the aftermath of an avalanche that brought snow, rocks and trees down the steep hillside of the neighboring mining community of Silver Plume.  Cabins, some occupied by mining families, were overwhelmed by the snow’s impact and about two dozen people lost their lives.  Dalgleish’s photographs received national attention when they were published in Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly.

The local press covered Dalgleish’s mining activity in great detail in the early 1900s.  Initial reports were very promising.  But in 1911, he sold all his claims and moved his family to Sterling, Colorado, on the eastern plains in northeast corner of the state.  He continued his photography business in Sterling until shortly before his death on May 13, 1933.

Now back to Thomas Dalgleish.  There was a Thomas Dalgleish active as a photographer in Texas in the early 1880s.  I suspect he was George’s brother, but I have no proof.  If anyone has additional information about the Dalgleish brothers that they would like to share, please let me know.

Want to see more photographs by George Dalgleish?                                            The Denver Public Library has a  selection of Dalgleish’s photographs