Snow Blockade, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, March 13, 1890

Processed by Padma Rubiales.

The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

1996

Snow Blockade, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, March 13, 1890

Collection number: BANC PIC 1975.020 -- ALB

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California 1996

Finding aid and digital representations of archival materials funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed and encoded by:

California Heritage Digital Image Access Project staff in The Bancroft Library and The Library's Electronic Text Unit

Digital images processed by:

The Library Photographic Service

Finding aid completed:

August 1996

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Snow Blockade, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California,

Date (inclusive): March 13, 1890

Collection Number: BANC PIC 1975.020 -- ALB

Extent: One album containing 15 mounted photographic prints: black and white; 22 x 28 cm. 15 digital objects

Photographer: Taber, I.W.

Repository: The Bancroft Library.

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Restricted original. Use of original album only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item] Snow Blockade, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, March 13, 1890, BANC PIC 1975.020, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Digital Representations Available

Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.

Related Collections

The Bancroft Library has extensive holdings of I. W. Taber photographs. See the on-line catalog for other collections.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Purchased by The Bancroft Library in 1975.

Biography

Isaiah West Taber was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts August 17, 1830. Taber went to sea at the age of fifteen and spent several years working on whaling ships in the North Pacific. He came to California in 1850, where he spent four years working first as a miner, then a farmer. Taber returned to New Bedford in 1854 where he studied dentistry and began a dental practice. An interest in amateur photography eventually became his life-work. He settled in Syracuse, New York, where he opened his first studio. In 1864 he returned to California at the inducement of the photographers Bradley and Rulofson, whom he worked for until 1871. Taber established the "Taber Gallery" at No. 12 Montgomery Street in 1871. His highly successful business was well-known for portraiture and a vast stock of California and Western views -many of which were the unacknowledged works of other photographers. Taber's success and stature in California and abroad are evident in his being awarded the photographic concession of the Midwinter Fair of 1893-94 in San Francisco, his being sent to London in 1897 to photograph the pageant of the Queen Victoria Jubilee, and his commission to photograph King Edward VII. Taber's career ended in 1906 when his entire collection of glass plates, view negatives and portraits on glass were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire. He died February 22, 1912.

(Sources: Hart, James D. A Companion to California. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978, p.439; Murray, W. H. The Builders of a Great City: San Francisco's Representative Men. San Francisco: The Journal, 1891, p.329-330 ; and Burdette, Robert J. American Biography and Genealogy. California edition. (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., [191-]), p. 756-761.)

Scope and Content

This album of 15 Taber photographs shows railroad cuts through the deep snow of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Machinery for cutting through the drifts and railroad workers are also shown in several photographs. The photographs were taken in Placer County at Emigrant Gap, Cascade, and Blue Canon. Each photo bears a printed caption and photographer's number. The title of the collection is the one embossed on the cover of the album. Also embossed on the cover is the name "W.H. Kendal," whose bookplate is pasted to the inside front cover of the album.