William Henry Jackson and the Detroit Photographic Company
Born, in Keeseville, New York in 1843, William Henry Jackson grew up selling his sketches to neighbors. After the civil war, Jackson moved to Nebraska, where he learned the early art of photography and combined it with his artistic eye and spirit of adventure.
In 1867 the U.S. Department of the Interior organized the Hayden Survey Party for mapping unknown regions of the American West. Jackson joined the party in 1870 as chief photographer. Jackson was the first to photograph the Indian Ruins near Mesa Verde. His years of experience with the Hayden Survey took him all over the West. He soon established himself as the greatest landscape photographer of the 19th Century. It was Jackson’s early photographs of Yellowstone that played a large role in Congress creating America’s first national park in 1872.
Later he settled in Denver, where he opened a commercial studio. His early photographs of the frontier along with the advent of new railroads and mining opened the eyes of the entire world. In 1893, Jackson became the official photographer of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Through a connection with one of the events organizers, he was offered a five-year, all-expenses paid trip around the world with the Transportation Commission of the Field Columbian Museum. For over 2 years Jackson toured parts of Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. Returning home, financial pressures from an on-going recession created by the 1893 Silver Crash, forced him to look at an offer from the Detroit Photographic Company.
The Detroit Photographic Company’s operations began in 1888, supplying photographs for magazines and books as well as other related items such as advertising calendars. In 1897, William A. Livingstone Jr. and Edwin H. Usher invited W.H. Jackson to join as a partner in their firm. For the small sum of $5,000 and a portion of the company’s stock, Detroit Photographic acquired 20,000 of Jackson’s negatives. Jackson moved and assumed his new role in the Detroit Company in 1898. Rights to a special patented process developed in Switzerland by the PhotoGlob Co.of Zurich had been purchased by Livingstone in 1897. Combining the huge array of Jackson’s negatives, especially those of National Parks, with their newly acquired secret process, proved to be an outstanding decision for the company. The process was difficult and involved many artisans using lithographic stones imported from Bavaria. Using a labor intensive asphaltum process, instead of a halftone, up to 14 individual stones were used to produce the rich color found in each photochrom. The final step of an added varnish coating produced an image of exceptional quality and desirability. In 1903 Jackson assumed the position of Plant Manager at the factory, and with his unusual memory for color, he overaw operations and made decisions on photographs and postcards to be used and produced by the company for world wide distribution.
Because the production process was so labor intensive, these high quality postcards and photochroms were more expensive than other fiercely competing publishers’ similar products. In 1924, Detroit Photographic Company officials found themselves with considerable financial difficulties and were forced into receivership. Jackson left the company that year. Finally in 1932, an entire liquidation of the Detroit Photographic Company’s inventory took place and many of the remaining assets were purchased by the F.J. Haynes Company, of Yellowstone fame.
Frank Haynes had established himself as “Official Photographer of Yellowstone” after opening his first store in Mammoth Hot Springs in 1884. Haynes had become a photographer himself promoting his own photographs and park guides for many years. In 1916 Frank sold the concessionaire portion of the business to his son Jack. A 1930 agreement with the National Park Service, allowing concessionaires to sell merchandise, other than park related material, opened up a whole new market for Jack Haynes. Being familiar with Jackson’s photographs as well as his competitor, the Detroit Photographic Company, Haynes made a purchase of much of the remaining inventory and photochroms during the final liquidation. These images were made available in the 1936 Haynes catalog. These original Photochroms were unknowingly stored for a number of decades in the Haynes Company’s Bozeman warehouse, some being transferred to a St. Louis warehouse during the 1970’s, while others remained in the Haynes family garage. One of the largest estate- auctions ever conducted in the state of Montana, took place in 1993, after Isabel Haynes, Jack’s wife had passed away. Perhaps the largest collection of Yellowstone Memorabilia was available on the auction block. Many of these surviving photochroms were purchased at the auction by a Montana antique dealer.
Had it not been for the financial difficulties of the Detroit Photographic and Jack Haynes foresight, many of William Henry Jackson’s original images could have been easily destroyed. All of the Photochroms in the 50000 series were produced by the company between 1898 and 1905. In 1939 Jackson donated the remainder of the Detroit Photographic Negatives to the Edison Institute in Dearborn Michigan. Jackson died a few years later at the age of 99. Duplicate images and negatives were donated to the Colorado Historical Society in 1949. That same year much of the photographic material taken east of the Mississippi River was then given to the Library of Congress. Today Jackson’s famous photographs are found in local and national museums including the Smithsonian.In November, 2004, I had the unique opportunity to purchase the remaining Detroit Photographic inventory originating from the Haynes Auction. It has further enhanced my personal collection and hopefully provided others a chance to own an original of a very unique piece of American History.
