While researching Photochrom I found a post on making your own Photochrom postcard using Photoshop Elements–  Photoshop Elements: Photochrom Vintage Postcard.  You can also use Photoshop to do this.

I played around with the instructions and once I got used to using the effects palette I found it to be fun.

I checked with Karen at Alibony.com and she said that I can use the link, and not post the content, so open the instructions and have fun.

As I’ve been developing this site I’ve been changing the orientation. I realized that although my thesis was titled “A Catalogue of the Negatives of San Diego in the William Henry Jackson Original Glass Negative Collection”, it wasn’t just about Jackson. It was about all of the men whose photographs became a part of the Detroit Publishing Company Collection. It’s about Livingstone, Husher, Fitch, and Peabody every bit as much as it is about Jackson.

Jackson is the best known and because the attribution books were lost for so many years, the photos are still attributed to him by default. Even in the Colorado Historical Society who houses the attribution books lists all attributions to Jackson–  “Attribution to Jackson based on the photonegative’s inclusion in the Colorado Historical Society William Henry Jackson Collection.” The Library of Congress now refers to their collection as the Detroit Publishing Company although just a year or two ago it was the William Henry Jackson.

As I compare the two collections–the Library of Congress website has become remarkably easy to use and work with. They use FLICKr to manage the images. Colorado Historical, on the other hand uses the antiquated CARL system of the Denver Public Library. It is so difficult to use it makes me thing of the old joke given to the name of historical societies–Colorado Hysterical, but in this case the hysterics are mine as I try to work with it. If you want to access the online collection give yourself time and be patient. Be prepared to have it timeout if you take a break. Keep notes on where you were because it won’t save.

Back to this site–I’m including far more than the thesis and attributions. I’m continuing to research the Detroit Publishing and Photochrom Companies and will add my discoveries to the site.

This was oringinally posted on capturingthesoul.com Posted by: Rosanne on Saturday, June 14th, 2008

After the Nightmare

As I wrote last week, Last Sunday I woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night.  What I didn’t tell you was that I used that time to go through my William Henry Jackson images to organize for the website.  I “found”  five Detroit Publishing Company postcards that I purchased in 1994 when I was in Amherst, MA for Betty Sharpe’s wedding.

The image above is one of my favorites. It is 5147 Arch Rock, Mackinac Island, Mich, 140 feet above lake surface.  It had been in an album and the writing on the back is hidden to the album page.

Phostint

The numbers on the Detroit Publishing Company postcards are not the same as in the attribution lists.  The titles aren’t necessarily the same either.

The post card number is 13161, while the image itself is labeled 749.  This card was not mailed.  It says Phostint.  13161 Into the Depths of Gore Canyon, Moffat Road, Colorado.

9086 Rock Point, Ouray-Silverton Stage Road, Colorado

6751 Eagle River Canyon Colorado.

This postcard states: Copyright 1905 Detroit Publishing Company.  The backside says “Phostint” card made only by Detroit Publishing Company.  It was never mailed.

12167 Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Valley, CA Total descent of 2690 feet.

This card was mailed in 1914.

3 Responses to “Detroit Publishing Company Postcards”

Nestor, the ivatanhighlander Says:
August 16th, 2008 at 8:54 am

First timer… Just so happen to glance at your web’s layout after following some topics on beaches. Your features are very appealing especially that it involve some items from the past – healing a person’s pain and soul.

Paul P. Clark Says:
January 14th, 2010 at 5:45 am

Roxanne! Where ART thou!!?? Was ding a DPC-Yosemite search and guess who came up!? HOPE-ing you are thereto respond !! Have all but four (?) Yosemite DPC PC’s now !! ~~Paul

Paul P. Clark Says:
February 8th, 2010 at 7:35 am

“Hi!” Rosanne! Do you ever check out comments here. “Hey!” came across you here tonight trying to dig up a couple of my missing DPC-WHJ Yosemite & Big Trees postcards. I did find two !! I only have three missing Yosemites now!! ~~Paul

This post originally appeared on my other website capturingthesoul.com June 2008.I have remained in contact with Paul Clark. He is still collecting.

Today I got an email from Paul Clark. He collects William Henry Jackson images, primarily of Yosemite. He is also an Ansel Adams expert and collector.

Paul found me through a Google search. In January, while I was still working for ReadHowYouWant I got an email that he sent to info@readhowyouwant.com “Subject: Looking for Rosanne Goodwin–Author of Thesis on William Henry Jackson, 1982″. It’s a good thing that he sent the email when he did because three weeks later my stint with RHYW ended and I would have never gotten the email.

His first email said  ”I am a researcher-collector-writer on/of Ansel Adams & Yosemite.  This has led me to researching the pioneer western photographer William Henry Jackson.  At the Colorado Historical Society, Denver, CO I discovered a 1982 thesis on WHJ by a Rosanne Goodwin and I would like to make contact with her through this post if possible.  Thank You!  –Paul P. Clark”

I hadn’t heard from Paul since January. He lives in Japan and he and his wife headed off to Hawaii for a vacation. I was surprised to hear from him again.  Paul had found an image on eBay and wanted background information. He had read my thesis and knew that a big part of it was the attribution list for the Detroit Publishing Company images of California.

I was able to supply him with the information I had — I don’t have images of all the California photos.  I only copied the San Diego images.

I am planning on getting my thesis up on this website. I want to include more photos than I had in the thesis. I plan on scanning the negatives (I used a Bronica ETR-S 2 1/4 camera.) and reformatting it – working digitally is very different from typing it on an IBM Selectric and printing contact sheets to mount onto the pages.  Perhaps I’ll make it available for sale Print on Demand.

Hopefully I’ll be able to start working on it before my new job begins in July.

This first appeared in 2008 on my other website Capturing the Soul:

After writing my last post I began to prepare to get my thesis up on this site. Today I scanned the text pages.  I may even have the attribution list up this weekend.  I need to scan images, the slowdown being in organizing them.

To become psyched to to all of this I did a Google image search on William Henry Jackson to get an idea of what is on the web. I found a wonderful website American Photochrom http://www.photochrom.com/ that is a gallery of Willliam Henry Jackson’s Photochrom post cards. There are histories of the Photochrom process, the Detroit Publilshing Company, and Williiam Henry Jackson, as well as  images of what is available for sale.

Cathedral Rock Near San Diego

One of the images that is available to purchase is #53064 of Cathedral Rock Near San Diego.

The Original Version

It is the same image as Jackson’s 011107 San Diego Cal Cathedral Rock La Jolla, Copyright 1899 Detroit Publlishing Co. This is a sepia toned photo.

I’m including another version.  This one I created on PhotoShop Elements. I removed the color creating a greytone so that it would look like a black & white.As you can see, each has it’s own feel and look.

Unfortunately you can’t go to La Jolla  to rephotograph this image. Cathedral Rock is no longer there.

In many ways this website/blog has been 30 years in the making. I began working on my master’s thesis “A Catalogue of Negatives of San Diego in the William Henry Jackson Original Glass Negative Collection” in 1980. I chose this project after having worked at the Colorado Historical Society as a National Museum Act Intern in 1977-78. I selected the photographs used in the exhibits “the Coloradoans” and “From the Hands of the Ancient Ones” (which I also scripted).

A lot has happened since then. At that time I didn’t have a personal computer–few people did. There was no open internet access. Digital photography was unheard of. But what I did have was open access to the stacks at the Colorado Historical Society Library because of my previous internship there. Armed with my Bronica ETR-S, white cotton gloves, and a copy stand I made copy negatives of the prints of the images (which were contact prints of the glass plate negatives), but was also able to handle the glass negatives as well.

My timing for the research was right. Shortly before I began my research the Colorado State Archive returned the nine volume “Directory of Photographs of the Detroit Photographic/Photochrom Company” to the Historical Society after being missing for over thirty years. I was the first researcher to use the directories.

I selected to work on the San Diego photos because 200 negatives was a manageable number to work on and I was living in San Diego (born and raised there) which allowed me the opportunity to do my research on the locations and San Diego history on my days off from work.

To create my thesis I had to follow the strict guidelines of style, margins and pagination. As I mentioned earlier this was pre-personal computer so this meant renting an IBM Selectric typewriter and hiring my sister to type it. This meant retyping after finding errors or necessary edits.

The photos took the most time. I didn’t use all of the images because I had to make contact sheets (ten sets) and then trim the image and then mount them onto the pages. About halfway through the process I became terribly ill and discovered that I was allergic to photographic fixer, so I had to hire someone to complete the  contact sheets.

As I build this website I realize how much more there is than just the San Diego photos. I know that the site will evolve into more than just the thesis.