Tag: Una Wheeler Whinnerah

Ouray County’s 19th Century Photographers (Part 2)

This post provides a chronological list of all known 19th century  professional studio photographers in Ouray County between 1892 and 1900.   See my earlier post for photographers working between 1880 and 1891.  This post shows how quickly some studios changed hands.  Did I miss any photographers?  Can you provide any additional biographical details or photographs?                                                                   

cabinet card
Brumfield, photographer. Portrait of a woman in her home. Albumen silver print. Ouray County Historical Society.

1892-1898                                                           Micheal Brumfield (c. 1855-1922) Brumfield arrived in Ouray in 1890, working with John E. Gilbert as Brumfield & Gilbert.  Brumfield split his time between Ouray and Silverton, making landscape views and portraits.  The Ouray Herald reported on his panoramic view of Ouray produced in 1896.  In December 1896, Powell briefly took over Brumfield’s Ouray studio.  Brumfield returned to Ouray for the 1897 Christmas season.  Johnson took over his studio in January 1898.  Brumfield continued to operate out of Silverton until 1911. His portrait of the unidentified women (left) was likely made in the woman’s home, rather than a studio.

1896-1897                                                                                                                        W. A. Powell succeeded Brumfield in November, 1896.  He photographed Ouray’s July 3, 1897  snowstorm, selling more than 500 copies of the scene.  Later that month, Powell and his wife left Ouray for Boise City, Idaho.  His studio was taken over by the Reed boys.

1897                                                                                                                           Reed No further information found.

1897-1898                                                                                                                     Edward John Fowler, (1871-1927)  E. F. Fowler was born on August 11, 1871, in Chicago.  He attended the University of Michigan.  In 1897 he produced a souvenir booklet entitled “Around & About Ouray.” No copies of this booklet are known to be extant.   He was active in the Ouray Camera Club.  By 1900 Fowler had moved to California where he worked as an engineer.  Fowler died in San Francisco on October 19, 1927.  

1898                                                                                                                                    Johnson, possibly R. H. In January 1898 Johnson advertised as “successor to Brumfield.”  But in  March 1898, Thomas McKee purchased the fixtures of this gallery.

Thomas M. McKee  (1854-1939)  McKee’s primary studio was located  in Montrose, Colorado where he worked with his wife, Mrs. Amanda S. Kauffman McKee.  He opened his Ouray quarters, about 35 miles south of Montrose, in January 1898.

Mrs. Amanda S. Kauffman McKee  (1863-1919)  Mrs. McKee ran her husband’s studio when he traveled.

George Dalgleish   Dalgleish, worked in Georgetown and Silverton, and for a short time in Ouray.  The Ouray Herald reported on October 13, 1898 that Dalgleish sold his Ouray gallery to Morton E. Chase.

Morton E. Chase  (1861-1939) operated studios in Greeley and Colorado Springs before setting up shop in Ouray in October 1898.  In 1902, Chase went to work for Brumfield in Silverton.

Una Wheeler  After joining Ouray’s camera club, Wheeler perfected her skills to become a professional photographer.

Beaumont Hotel
Attributed to Una Wheeler, photographer. Beaumont Hotel, Ouray, silver gelatin print, circa 1895. History Colorado. Accession # 2000.129.939

1899-1900                                                                                                           Orlando Fred Tyler (1857-1917)  In 1899, Tyler arrived in Colorado, setting up a studio in Ouray in the Opera House block.  He advertised for a  young  lady to learn to finish photographs that November.  In March 1900 he opened a photography school at his gallery, planning to teach amateurs how to use their Kodaks.  By September 1900, Tyler had moved to Pueblo, Colorado.  

Working Dates Unknown   I have seen prints by both of the firms listed below at the Ouray Historical Society, but I have been unable uncover other details or date the studios.                                                 Ouray Art Gallery
Brumfield & Smith, a partnership of Michael Brumfield and an unknown individual named Smith.

Thank you to Gail Zanett Saunders, volunteer photo archivist, OCHS, for providing access to the work of several Ouray photographers during my visit.  Additional thanks to Kathy Gibson for bringing Frank S. Balster to my attention.  This research trip was possible due to the generosity of the The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research.

 

 

Una Wheeler, Camera Club Member to Professional

 

Portrait
Portrait of Una Wheeler Whinnerah, 1895, Ouray County Historical Society

Earlier this month I took a road trip to the Ouray County Historical Society’s Research Center to continue my study of  19th century Colorado photographers. Seeing examples of Una Wheeler’s photographs was the highlight of the trip.

Una Wheeler was born in Wisconsin on Valentine’s Day 1875 to Charles Augustus Wheeler and Abbie Eastman Wheeler.  She was the niece of  George M. Wheeler, superintending engineer of the Geographical Survey of the Territory of the U. S. West of the 100th Meridian.

In 1877, the family settled in Ouray, Colorado far from the amenities that the adult Wheeler’s enjoyed growing up on the East Coast.  Charles Wheeler, a surveyor and prominent citizen of Ouray, died unexpectedly from pneumonia on January 5, 1888 at the age of 38.  That left Abbie to take care of his wide-ranging business interests and their two children, Una (14) and Edward (11).  Charles’s nephew, Walter Wheeler, seven years younger than Abbie, stepped in to help with Charles’ businesses and ultimately married his aunt, Abbie.

Abbie and Walter performed in Ouray’s theater community.  They provided their children with a wide range of educational opportunities.  Una learned photography and classical dance.  Edward attended college in Denver.

Bachelor Trestle
Una Wheeler Whinnerah, photographer. Bachelor Trestle, circa 1900. Modern silver gelatin print from glass plate negative. Ouray Historical Society and The Huntington Library.

Around 1898, Una joined Ouray’s camera club.  While initially an amateur, Una eventually operated a photography studio out of the family’s home.  She photographed local landmarks, scenic views and mining interests with 5 x 7″ glass plate negatives.  Her friends  often posed whimsically  inside mines and with mining equipment.  

She displayed her photographs in the lobby of Ouray’s Beaumont Hotel and she sold her views at the San Juan Drug Company, alongside the work of other photographers.  Una offered both black and white and hand-colored photographs.  Later, when postcards gained favor, her work was printed in Germany–the place for  high quality and affordable postcards.

ore cart
Una Wheeler Whinnerah, photographer. Three woman and an ore car, circa 1900. Modern silver gelatin print from glass plate negative. Ouray Historical Society and The Huntington Library.

Wheeler married engineer, Richard Whinnerah, in 1902.  A few days before the wedding, seventy-five women attended  Ouray’s first bridal shower, gifting a total of 117 kitchen gadgets to Una.  The church, decorated with evergreen and apple blossoms, was filled to capacity for the wedding.  The couple traveled by train to California, enjoying a six-week honeymoon before returning to Ouray.  Their union would produce four children. 

After her marriage, Una continued to use her 5×7 camera and glass plate negatives, realizing that the quality of the glass plate negatives exceeded anything made with a simpler Kodak camera.  She mainly documented her children and their activities.  The Whinnerah’s lived in Ouray until 1930 when they moved to California for a few years.  They returned to Colorado when Richard was offered a job with the highway department.  In 1942 they retired to Rosemead, California.  Una Whinnerah died on June 22, 1957, in Los Angeles, CA.

In 1993, The Huntington Library in Pasadena, California acquired 347 5×7” glass plate negatives from the family of amateur historian, John B. Marshall, of Colorado.  The negatives were housed in a wooden box labelled: Rick Whinnerah, Rosemead, Calif.  The collection, attributed to Una Wheeler Whinnerah,  includes views of Ouray, as well as photographs of the Whinnerah children dating from 1898 to approximately 1912.  

Thank you to Gail Zanett Saunders, volunteer photo archivist, OCHS, for providing access to the work of several Ouray photographers during my visit. This research trip was possible due to the generosity of the The Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund for Historical Photographic Research.