mammoth plate
Mammoth plates are extra-large glass negative plates
(up to 30 by 40 inches). Despite their inconvenience
and fragility, the plates became something of a craze
in the mid-nineteenth century. As enlarging negatives
was impractical and largely unsatisfactory until the
1880s, mammoth plates were the only way to obtain very
large images. The most serious users of these plates
were the western landscape photographers, who found them
desirable for capturing the immensity and stillness of
their subjects.
national parks, establishment of
Within a single generation in the early 19th century,
the abundance and variety of wildlife and plant life
in America, particularly in the West, began to change.
Essayists argued for preservation; scientists aroused
public interest in the enormous variety of animals and
plants and natural environments in America. The expression
of this cultural concern was accompanied by something
even more convincing---the landscape photographs of the
West.
After the Civil War, easterners, surrounded by environmental
destruction, were treated to photographs of the West
by William Henry Jackson, Timothy O'Sullivan, Eadweard
Muybridge, and many others. These impressive works, many
of them made during geological expeditions, conveyed
to Congress the beauty of the West. Recognizing that
uncurtailed "progress" could destroy natural
wonders such as Yellowstone, Congress passed the National
Parks Act in 1872, which set aside thousands of acres
of parklands and provided for administrative structures
to manage them.
landscape photographers
In the 1860s government groups and railway companies
began to hire photographers to accompany expeditions
sent to survey the American West. The photographers were
charged with bringing back accurate views of the largely
unexplored lands. Although given scientific assignments,
photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, Andrew J. Russell,
William H. Jackson, Eadweard Muybridge, and Carleton
Watkins made photographs admired today as great artistic
achievements.
These photographers worked under difficult conditions.
They traveled with portable darkrooms, supplies of chemicals
ill adapted to climate change, and fragile glass plates
(in many cases they were extremely large "mammoth" plates).
Despite these drawbacks, they made many views that preserve
a grand yet fragile land long since overdeveloped and
overrun.
ref: Smithsonian
American Art Museum
Australia
Holtermann and Bayliss
George Freeman (Adelaide) [GN]
Freeman Bros (NSW) [GN]
Charles Nettleton (unsure of any mammoth)
India
Dr Murray [Peter Marshall] [Sotherbys] [NGA]
Borne and Shephard [NGA]
Linius Tripe [NGA]
Thailand
Francis
Chit [NLA] [online]
Hong Kong
Charles
Leander Weed (USA 1824-1903)
China
Charles
Leander Weed (USA 1824-1903)
Japan
Charles
Leander Weed (USA 1824-1903)
Ponting [GN]
Beato (not sure whether any Mammoth)
USA - west coast
Charles
Leander Weed (USA 1824-1903) [Palmquist]
Calton Watkins [GN]
Edward Muybridge [NGA] [GN]
William Henry Jackson[GN]