Andrew J. Russell
One of a handful of landscape photographers who shaped our perception of the American West in the 19th century, A. J. Russell’s work stands alongside of Carleton Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge and Timothy O’Sullivan in its aesthetic power and technical virtuosity. A large group of Russell’s original glass-plate negatives are preserved in the Collection of the Oakland Museum of California.
A painter as well as photographer, Russell worked for Matthew Brady before documenting the U.S. Military Railroad as a captain during the Civil War. After the war, he secured a position as official photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad in its massive endeavor to construct a transcontinental railroad. His photographs, culminating in the iconic “Joining of the Rails” at Promontory, Utah, capture the majestic scale of western lands, the gritty enterprise of railroad building, frontier boom towns, and the effect of railroads on Native Americans.
Russell’s photographs brought the railroad, and the American West, to a mass audience. Disseminated internationally as stereo views and engravings in newspapers, and filtered through Hollywood films and even advertising, Russell’s visual style continues to influence our image of western history and mythology.
In 1969 the Oakland Museum acquired nearly 650 collodion “wet plate” negatives in both stereo and “imperial” (10 X 13 inch) formats. The original glass camera negatives were made in the field by Russell himself, making the collection unique, among major 19th century landscape photographers. The Museum also holds one of the few surviving copies of The Great West Illustrated, an album of vintage albumen prints by Russell, as well as mounted stereo views and more than 100 glass lantern slides.
Russell’s photographs illuminate powerful themes in American history: westward expansion and Manifest Destiny, the displacement of native peoples, attitudes toward landscape and the natural environment, technological history (both engineering and photographic), and the important role of art and photography in shaping and expressing cultural concerns.
For the first time, high-resolution digital scans of the original glass-plate negatives are now available for online viewing. These scans are highly detailed and rich in searchable content.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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1868
Photograph. Title: Scene in Echo Cannon, looking up the Bluffs. Image Description: (s297) see Title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.:... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Hanging Rock Echo Cannon Image Description: (s294) Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.: Transportation -- Railroads. Remarks:... |
1868
"This photograph appears to be the same location as the previous negative (no. 9) but from the opposite direction (looking West) and with the camera on the water tank seen in negative no. 9."... |
1868
Photograph. Title: 86 No Construction Train End of Track Near Bear River Gen Casement's Outfit (Scratched on negative) Image Description: See title. Engine No 66 is shown. Physical... |
1868
Photograph. Title: 154 (scratched on negative) Image Description: (s154) The Hermit's Grotto Bitter Creek Valley near Point of Rocks? Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate... |
1868
Photograph. Title: the Castle on the Mountains near head of Echo. Image Description: (s281) see Title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.:... |
1868
80 No Side Cut Green River Carmichael's Work (Scratched on negative). Cut, river and camp seen from above."Contemporaries wrote about the large number of fossils that were found while digging... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Road bridge at mouth of Weber Cannon, RR duplicate. Image Description: (s435b) see Title Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.:... |
1868
No 73 Carmichael's Camp Bitter Creek Valley (Scratched on negative). No. 73 & 75 are Panoramic (Scratched on negative). See 69.459.1912 to complete panorama. see also 66. |
1868
19 No Dale Creek Bridge Perspective View. Bridge over deep gulch."Perspective View of Dale Creek Bridge" title per Glenn Willumson. "Dale Creek Bridge was completed in 1868. It was approximately... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Warner & Whitmen (sic) Camp Weber Image Description: (s584) see Title Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.: Transportation... |
1868
Mallory's Cut near Sherman Station."Malloy was the contractor for this portion of the railroad construction. Malloy's Cut and Sherman Station were located in Wyoming." Remarks per Glenn Willumson... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Image Description: (s163) Burning Rock, Carmichael's Cut, Bitter Creek. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative, 5"X8". Sub. Cat.:... |
1868
No 70 Bitter Creek Valley No 3 Panoramic (Scratched on negative). See 69.459.1901 and 69.459.1905 to complete Panorama. Russel note scratched on negative No 1 62 No2 65 No 3 70."Russell's... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Mr. Clayton on horseback. Image Description: (s301) see Title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.: Transportation -- Railroads.... |
1868
Dale Creek from above, No 2. Bridge with men, buildings, and equipment in gulch below. See 69.459.1857. |
1868
Photograph. Title: Cheselino and Magees Works Green River (scratched on negative) Image Description: (s190) See title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative, 5"... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Image Description: shows Mormon Village in Echo Canyon (s286b) Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.: Transportation -- Railroads.... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Image Description: (s191a) At Work on the Rock Cut. See also 69.459.2171. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative, 5"X8". Sub. Cat.:... |
1868
Photograph. Title: 129 Head Qts Lara(mie) (scratched on negative) Image Description: (s129) See title. Men sitting around tents and wooden buildings. Physical Description: Stereographic... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Image Description: (s111) See title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative, 5"X8". Sub. Cat.: Transportation -- Railroads. Remarks:... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Stage Station, Hanging Rock Echo Canyon. Image Description: (s279) see Title. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat.: Transportation... |
1868
Photograph. Title: Image Description: (s205) Warm Springs Bathhouse, Salt Lake City, Utah. See also 69.459.1969. Physical Description: Stereographic collodion glass plate negative. Sub. Cat... |
1868
Photograph. Title: 115 Monument Rock near Mouth of Echo Cannon (Scratched on negative) Image Description: See title. See also 69.459.1942. Physical Description: "Imperial Plate" collodion... |