James M. Goins was born circa 1850 in Ohio.  In 1869 he opened a photography gallery in Chicago, Illinois with J. G. Johnson.  Goins remained in Chicago for nearly a decade, offering cartes de visite and opal miniatures.  He also made enlargements from old and faded photographs and photographs colored on oil, India Ink, or watercolor. In 1879, he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, but he left that city owing money to creditors. In 1881, Goins continued the photographic trade in Denver,  remaining in town for only one year.   Goines, photographer. Portrait of an Unidentified ..read more

Cronyn & Hibbs, Railway Photographers. Unidentified woman with a guitar, circa 1899.  Collection of the author. Last fall I attended the annual Daguerreian Society meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.  I was on the lookout for photographs by Colorado photographers at the trade fair.  An image made by Cronyn & Hibbs of a woman with a guitar caught my attention.  I thought the name Cronyn was in my database, so  I hustled up to my hotel room to check.   (Note to self:  Always ask the dealer to hold the photograph, rather than assume the photo will still be ..read more

The Longmont Museum (Longmont, Colorado) is presenting a program featuring early photographs of Longmont on Thursday, February 29 at 7 pm in the Museum’s Stewart Auditorium.   Director Erik Mason and the museum’s new Curator of History Elizabeth Beaudoin will show images selected from the Museum’s photo archive. Charles W. Boynton, photographer. 300 block of Main Street, Longmont,between 1897-1905. Courtesy of the Longmont Museum The program is presented in conjunction with the Museum’s “Picturing the West” exhibition.  The show comprises 48 images from the collection of Michael Matt ..read more

To celebrate Black History Month, this post is illustrated with a portrait of an unidentified Black woman made in a Denver studio by White photographer, J. C. Swan.  Only a few Black photographers worked in Colorado, and information about them is very limited.  An earlier post discussed one of them,  John Green.  As a follow-up to that post, Green’s best-known photograph, a portrait of Black cowboy, Isam Dart, is held by the Museum of Northwest Colorado in Craig. Justus Crandall “J. C.” Swan was born in 1849 to Samuel Prentice Swan and Calista Elnora Crandall Swan in Linckl ..read more

A couple of interesting photographs inspired this post.  I had never heard of A. E. Lickman, but the two photographs shown below made me wonder who he was and the extent of his work. Albert E. Lickman (1864-1945) arrived in New York City in 1887, crossing the Atlantic from Liverpool, England on the Steam Ship Egypt.  The Egypt made its maiden voyage between Liverpool and NYC on November 10, 1871.  The large ship could carry 120 first-class passengers and 1, 410 in steerage.     Cabin fares started at $35 a person.  The Egypt sailed until 1890 when it was consumed ..read more

Photo studios hired artists to retouch or “improve” negatives before making prints, often hiring women for these positions.   As the stories below illustrate, the field attracted young, single women and widows in need of employment.  The work could be done at the studio or in the retoucher’s home. Retouchers used a variety of lead pencils, a magnifying glass and varnish to eliminate wrinkles or freckles from sitter’s faces.  Hands, hair and drapery may also benefit from retouching. In-depth manuals on retouching were published.  In 1900, retouchers earned anywhere from 20 c ..read more

Born in Huron, Ontario, Canada, Dan Diamond worked as a cabinetmaker in Chicago before learning photography. Chicago’s cold weather, combined with the dusty conditions of a woodworking shop, irritated Diamond’s lungs. This condition would plague him for the rest of his life. Diamond returned to Ontario, studied photography, and set up a studio in Pocatello, Idaho in the 1890s. In 1896, he moved to Craig, Colorado, where his mother and two brothers resided. Craig operated a gallery from his home and also set up a photo car for his travels. Dan Diamond, photographer. McLachlan Lumber Mill – c. 1 ..read more

Elmer E. Pascoe was born on November 3, 1861, in Indianapolis, Indiana to British immigrant, James Pascoe and Pennsylvania native Louisa Synder Pascoe.  James worked as a boilermaker for the railroad.  Elmer attended public schools in Indianapolis and graduated from high school.  In 1879, Elmer moved south to New Orleans, accepting a position in the wholesale dry goods business.  A couple of years later, Pascoe traveled west to Colorado, working retail positions in several cities before settling in Denver at the photographic studio of George Stephan.  Pascoe excelled i ..read more

George Stephan was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 30, 1862, to John C. Stephan and Elizabeth Watson Stephan.  His father worked as a dentist.  George attended Cleveland public schools, graduating from high school in 1878.  George moved to Denver four years later, where his uncle Henry W. Watson ran a photography studio.  George likely learned photography from his uncle. George Stephan, photographer. Blacksmith and carriage repair shop, circa 1885, albumen silver print. Denver Public Library Special Collections, X-23880. George Stephan, photographer. Unidentified f ..read more

Amos Snuffin Bennet was born on December 20, 1869 in Omaha, Nebraska to Elisha Bennett III and Esther Ann Snuffin Bennett.  The family moved to Arapaho County in Colorado Territory a few months after his birth.  By 1892, Amos Bennet lived in Axial, Colorado, a town that no longer exists in Moffat County.  Like his peers, A. G. Wallihan and his wife, Mary Augusta Wallihan, Bennet specialized in making photographs of wild game, landscapes and portraits.  Bennet often served as a guide to hunters and fishermen visiting the area, photographically documenting their adventur ..read more