PHOTOGRAPHS
Jackson, William Henry
U.S. (1843 - 1942)
Hot Springs on Gardiner's River, Upper Basin
1871
Albumen print
6 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (17.1 x 22.2 cm) image and sheet size; 10 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. (27.6 x 35.2 cm) mount board size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection
FA 2001.83

The advent of photography in 1832 coincided with an era of American westward expansion. William Henry Jackson's image of Yellowstone's Mammoth Hot Springs was taken during his expeditions with the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1860s and 1870s. The image presents both the terrific beauty of the American landscape and man's small, but expanding, place within it. The figure in the photograph is Thomas Moran, fellow artist and member of the Yellowstone expedition. Together, Moran's paintings and Jackson's photographs convinced Congress to establish Yellowstone as a national park in 1872 and later encouraged park tourism. Taking a photograph in the 19th century required great technical ability. Jackson converted a wagon into a portable darkroom and brought with him hundreds of heavy and delicate glass plates. Using bottled chemicals, he employed a newly-invented process called wet-collodion. Within minutes of exposure the plate had to be developed, fixed, washed, and dried or the image would disappear. Each glass-plate negative could take almost an hour to create, depending on light, weather, and geographic conditions. In Yellowstone the hot spring water cut the cleaning and drying time in half, but in other areas mountain snow had to be melted, slowing the process considerably. Despite the challenges of geography and materials, Jackson created some of the most important and iconic images of the American West.