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Lone Mountain College Collection of Stereographs by Eadweard Muybridge, 1867-1880
BANC PIC 1971.055--STER, ALB, PIC, AX, B (Former accession number: 1905.16892. Some copy negatives are available under this
number.)
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Lone Mountain College Collection of Stereographs by Eadweard Muybridge.
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1971.055--STER, ALB, PIC, AX, B (Former accession number: 1905.16892. Some copy negatives are available under this
number.)
Extent:
1700 stereographs, 6 albums and 39 oversize prints
1727 digital objects
Photographer:
Eadweard Muybridge
Repository:
The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Languages Represented:
English
Originals restricted. Viewing prints are available under the call number BANC PIC 1971.055--PIC. Individual prints, original
stereographs and albums may be viewed only with the permission of the Curator of Pictorial Collections.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted
in writing to the Curator of Pictorial Collections. 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.
[Identification of item],
Lone Mountain College Collection of Stereographs by Eadweard Muybridge, BANC PIC 1971.055, 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.
Note
The Bancroft Library has a large collection of photographs by Muybridge; see the Guide to Pictorial Collections for more listings.
See also:
Catalogue of Photographic Views Illustrating the Yosemite, Mammoth Trees, Geyser Springs, and Other Remarkable and Interesting
Scenery of the Far West, by Muybridge
, published by Bradley and Rulofson in 1873.
Materials Cataloged Separately
Identifier/Call Number:
Title:
Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 71/189c:
Title: Eadweard Muybridge Papers: additions, 1818-1839.
Removed from photographic collection.
Identifier/Call Number: xF870.P5M82 1893:
Title: Descriptive Zoopraxography; or, the Science of Animal Locomotion Made Popular
Identifier/Call Number: xffF870.P5M75:
Title: Animal Locomotion: an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements, 1872-1885
Identifier/Call Number: xfF870.P5M76 1899:
Title: Animals in Motion ; an Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Progressive Movements. Commenced
1872, completed 1885.
The Eadweard Muybridge Photographic Collection was originally owned by Monsignor Joseph M. Gleason; it was later acquired
with his library by the San Francisco College for Women (Lone Mountain College). The Collection was purchased by The Bancroft
Library in March of 1971.
Edward James Muggeridge was born on April 9, 1830 in Kingston-on-Thames, England. He was the second of four sons born to John
Muggeridge and Susannah Smith Muggeridge. John Muggeridge was a grain, coal and timber merchant and Susannah Smith Muggeridge
came from a prosperous family engaged in the business of carrying by barge. At the age of 22 Edward decided to go to America
and he changed his name to Eadweard Muygridge. He took the spelling of his first name from the "Coronation Stone," which had
been discovered in Kingston in 1850. Seven Saxon kings had been crowned upon this stone and two kings named Eadweard appeared
on its plinth. As for the spelling of his last name, the "muy" may have been added to reflect some Spanish ancestry, and "gridge"
was later changed to "bridge."
Upon his arrival in New York, Muybridge secured employment as a commission merchant for the London Printing and Publishing
Company. One of his first friends in the U.S. was daguerreotypist Silas T. Selleck, who sparked Eadweard's interest in photography.
When Selleck went West and established a successful photography studio, Muybridge soon followed. In 1855 he settled in San
Francisco, where he opened a bookstore at 113 Montgomery Street. In his free time Muybridge explored California; he was so
overwhelmed by the beauty of the state that he began to think about photographing landscapes. Muybridge was aware of the potential
of new photographic markets in America and he considered the possibility of photography as a second career. In 1860 he returned
to England where he spent several years regaining his health (he was injured in a stage coach accident during the trip from
SF to NY) and studying photography more seriously. Around 1866 he returned to America, altering his surname from Muygridge
to Muybridge. When he arrived in San Francisco he joined Silas Selleck in the photography business. The following year Muybridge
took his "Flying Studio" to Yosemite and made numerous photographs which were presented in 1868 under the pseudonym "Helios."
Over the next couple of years he made photographs of the San Francisco Bay Area, Alaska, and the Pacific Coast.
In the Spring of 1871 Muybridge married Flora Shallcross Stone. A year later he became acquainted with the Leland Stanford
family and this marked the beginning of his motion photography. Over the next couple of years, in addition to his motion studies,
he photographed the Modoc Indians and U.S. soldiers in Northern California, Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad.
In February of 1875, after being acquitted for the murder of his wife's lover, Muybridge went south to photograph Panama and
Central America. He returned to San Francisco in November upon hearing of his wife's death. The rest of his career was spent
primarily on the motion studies, first at Stanford University and later at the University of Pennsylvania. Eadweard Muybridge
died May 8, 1904 at 2 Liverpool Road, Kingston-on-Thames.
The Muybridge Lone Mountain Collection of photographs consists of 1700 stereographs, 6 albums and 39 individual photographs
taken during the years 1867 to 1880. Most of the albums contain single stereo size images arranged in Muybridge's series number
order and are imprinted with his "Helios" trade name. These albums may represent his own record of his work. He spent most
of his time from 1867 to 1873 photographing California, Alaska and the Pacific Coast; this work is documented in
Catalogue of Photographic Views Illustrating the Yosemite, Mammoth Trees, Geyser Springs, and Other Remarkable and Interesting
Scenery of the Far West, by Muybridge
, published by Bradley and Rulofson in 1873. The greatest number of these images are in stereographic form, intended for mounting
and sale on cards, but some were made in larger sizes for framing or albums. Photographs 1-278 do not appear in the
Catalogue.
Subjects covered in this collection include: Alaska (1868), Big Trees (Calaveras and Mariposa Groves), British Columbia, Buena
Vista Winery, Sonoma Co., Calistoga, Chinese, the Earthquake of 1868, Farralon Islands, Geysers, Indians of Yosemite, Light
Houses, Marin County, Missions, Modoc War, Panama and Central America (1875), Railroads, San Francisco and The Bay Area, and
Yosemite Park.