The Oberver newpaper today features part of a recent acquisition by the Bodleian Libraries showing indiginous Alaskans. The photographs were made around 1900 by several photographers, including Missouri-born Beverly Bennett Dobbs and two European emigrants to the US, HG Kaiser and Albert F Johnson, followed a gold rush to Nome, Alaska.
The photographs are part of the Library's Wilson Collection comprising several hundred albums and photographic books donated by Michael and Jane Wilson and the Wilson Centre of Photography. The deposit, consisting of over 1,000 items from the 19th and early 20th centuries, contains rare salt prints from the dawn of photography made by some of the earliest photographic practitioners. The items include masterpieces of travel photography from across the globe, photographs held in Victorian scrapbooks and family albums, together with early outstanding examples of photographically illustrated books. The photographs in the Wilson Collection are renowned for being of exceptional quality, and outstanding in their range and depth.
A significant part of the Wilson Collection comprises examples of early photography, including rare salt prints, photographic albums, and scrapbooks. The deposit of these items in the Bodleian’s holdings provide a new opportunity for the study of photographic materials that are either previously unknown, or incredibly rare.
One of the remarkable characteristics of the collection is the presence of a large number of salt prints, for example contained in an album made by early photographer Fallon Horne, portraying his family, friends and home. Salt prints are one of the very earliest photographic processes and are incredibly fragile and rare. The Fallon Horne album will contribute a further 100 salt prints to the Bodleian’s existing holdings.
The deposit contains several remarkable examples of early travel and exploration photography and British photographic literature
Michael G Wilson OBE says: "Following forty years of collecting works from the history of photography, we are delighted that many of the albums, books and photographs from the Wilson Centre for Photography will now be cared for by the Bodleian Libraries, an institution which provides excellent access to scholars and the wider public. In the coming years, we look forward to further collaborations, exciting discoveries, and fresh perspectives from the Bodleian and its community."
Richard Ovenden OBE, Bodley’s Librarian, who himself is a historian of photography, says: "The masterpieces from the Wilson Collection are an unrivalled resource for studying and appreciating the greatest photographs and photographers from the first century of the new art/science. The Wilson Centre has been wonderfully welcoming to researchers and institutions for many years, and the Bodleian, now entrusted with this astonishing collection, the fruit of Michael’s singular vision, looks forward to continuing that great work, and in inspiring students, encouraging researchers, and in enabling the serious understanding of photography’s great contribution to civilisation through its earliest proponents. We are immensely grateful to Michael and Jane for their vote of confidence in our mission."
See: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/apr/20/intimate-portraits-of-indigenous-alaskans-in-pictures
and https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/media/wilson-collection
Image: B B Dobbs, Inuit man with child. Courtesy Bodleian Libraries, Oxford / Wilson Collection
Comments