Landmarks & Legacies - Epic Wonders of the National Parks

The Society’s holdings comprise over 4,000 items specifically relating to the historical geography of the United States of America, dating from the 17th century to the present day. Highlights include a set of ‘mammoth-plate’ prints of Yosemite National Park taken between 1860 and 1872 by Carleton Watkins, the common theodolite (circumferentor) believed to have been used by Jeremiah Dixon in the Mason-Dixon survey of the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary, 1763-69, and early 18th century maps of North America by cartographers such as Thomas Jefferys, Guillaume de L’Isle and Johann Baptist Homann.

In the footsteps: Carleton Watkins, Photographer | In the footsteps: William Henry Jackson | In the footsteps: Gustav Nordenskiold

In the footsteps of: Carleton Watkins, Photographer

Carleton Watkins is considered by many to be one of the most important practitioners of early photography. Perhaps best known for his sequence of images of Yosemite taken in the early 1860s – which would lead to its foundation as a national park. Watkins inspired later photographers such as Ansel Adams, in his pursuit of making dramatic and awe-inspiring images of the natural environment.
Watkins travelled widely, making photographic excursions to Northern California, the Sierra Nevada mining regions, the Pacific Northwest and Utah, capturing the expansion of cities such as San Francisco and Salt Lake City during the Californian gold rush and the development of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads.

In the footsteps of: William Henry Jackson

William Henry Jackson was an American explorer and photographer whose scenic photographs of the American West helped draw people to the region and were integral in convincing the U.S. Congress and the American public of the need to preserve the landscapes as national parks.
In 1870, Jackson became the official photographer for the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (USGS) and joined Ferdinand Hayden’s 1870 expedition to the Yellowstone River and Rocky Mountains. Following the success of this expedition, Jackson was invited to join a further eight USGS expeditions. He became one of the first to photograph Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and the Mesa Verde region, capturing the first photographs of the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.

In the footsteps of: Gustav Nordenskiold

Gustav Nordenskiold, a scientist and the eldest son of the Polar explorer, Baron Erik Adolf Nordenskiold, set out on a worldwide trip that he hoped would cure his tuberculosis. However, he arrived in Denver, Colorado, in June 1891, and decided to cut his world tour short to visit the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde. This break in his world tour became permanent and he spent several months alongside Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason (who had both visited Mesa Verde in 1888), carrying out an extensive and detailed archaeological survey of the numerous cliff dwellings. He reported his findings and detailed photographic studies in newspapers and scientific publications, including The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, published in 1893.