[A set of fifty stereoscopic photographic views, taken on the 1871-1874 expeditions of the Wheeler Survey, with series title on the verso of each mount:] Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian

Book Description

[Washington]: War Department, Corps of Engineers, [1873-1874]. 50 stereoscopic albumen prints (42 by O'Sullivan, 8 by Bell), on original card mounts (4 x 7 inches), the mounts with the series number, photographer's name and descriptive title on the verso. Modern morocco- backed cloth box. A rare complete set of this fine series of stereoscopic views from Lieutenant George Wheeler's 1871-74 expedition in the West, one of the first systematic surveys of the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The expedition was a large-scale government topographical and geological survey of the region west of the 100th meridian, including Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Idaho. These photographs, taken by the expedition photographer Timothy O'Sullivan and his interim replacement William Bell, are numbered 1 to 50 on the rear of the mounts, which also bear captions identifying the scenes. The series begins with an image of the starting point for O'Sullivan's photographic work on the expedition, aboard small boats about to ascend the Colorado from Camp Mohave, Arizona, and continues more or less chronologically. The photographic crew set their own pace, on a boat named Picture. Included here are photographs of the Grand Canyon, New Mexico pueblos, Zuni villages, Navahos, Apaches, and many beautiful landscapes by these two major American photographers of the west. In 1872 O'Sullivan left the Wheeler survey in order to work for Clarence King's 40th Parallel Exploration, but he returned in 1873 to accompany Wheeler in Arizona, New Mexico, the Sierra Blanca Mountains and Canyon de Chelly. During O'Sullivan's absence a British-born photographer named William Bell served as his replacement. Late in 1873 O'Sullivan did his last work in the west, photographing Shoshone Falls on the Snake River (in southern Idaho). The last seventeen views here, though dated 1874, must be from 1873 since O'Sullivan had by then apparently returned east. This is a complete series of fifty stereoscopic views issued to display and promote the government sponsored topographical survey of the west. Cf. James D. Horan Timothy O'Sullivan America's Forgotten Photographer (New York, 1966); Kittredge "We are what we see: photography and the Wheeler Survey Party" in Perpetual Mirage. photographic narratives of the desert west (New York, 1996), pp.63-67; cf. D. Wolf The American Space (Middleton, Ct.: 1983); George M. Wheeler Wheeler's Photographic Survey of the American West, 1871-1873 (New York: Dover Publications, 1983).

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.