Speakers Bureau Speaker
Jeremy Rowe, Mesa
Dr. Jeremy Rowe has collected, researched, and written about 19th and early 20th century photographs for twenty-five years. He has written Arizona Photographers 1850 – 1920: A History and Directory and Arizona Real Photo Postcards: A History and Portfolio, and curated exhibitions with many regional museums. He worked with the Library of Congress American Memory project, a digital historic photographic collection, and manages vintagephoto.com. He is the Executive Director of the School of Computing and Informatics at ASU.
Presentations are suitable for high school as well as adult audiences.
19th Century Arizona Through the Stereoscope
During the last half of the 19th century, virtually every parlor in the country contained a stereoscope and collection of stereo views. In the time before printed photographic reproduction, radio, or movies, stereographs were a significant social focal point for families and visitors. Stereo views were sent home from travels, used in education, traded, and collected actively worldwide. Arizona and the West were popular subjects, and stereo photographers actively documented the development of our state. Discover the history of stereo photography in Arizona, from the Hayden and Powell surveys of the Grand Canyon in the 1870s to the entrepreneurs and local photographers documenting the development of our state. The images selected to accompany this engaging presentation are high quality copies of original stereographs and depict activities in many little known regions of the state, as well as of the development of the camps, forts, and towns throughout the Territory. Background information about the processes and techniques for making, reproducing, and marketing the photographs is included, as well as a reflection on the changing societal perception of the West in photographic style.
• Host organization provides computer projector and screen.
Post Card Images of Arizona, 1900 - 1920
After the turn of the century, there was an explosion in amateur photography, and changes in postal regulation made the photographic postcard a popular communication medium. Within a few years, millions of photographic postcards were sent, exchanged, and collected each year. The popularity of the photographic postcard coincides with a time of significant growth and development of Arizona, and thousands of images were produced of the social and cultural development of our state. For the first time, amateur photographers joined professionals to document parades and public events, fires and other natural disasters, developing communities, mining, Native Americans and their ceremonies, and virtually every other activity of daily life in the pioneer period of our state’s history. This presentation provides a survey of photographic postcard images taken between 1900 and 1920 that depict a broad range of subjects. Appropriate background information about the processes and techniques for making, reproducing, and marketing the photographs and of the boom in post card collecting are included, as is the reflection of the changing societal perception of the West in photographic style and captions on the cards themselves.
• Host organization provides computer projector and screen.
Silver Images on Glass Plates - Early Photography in Arizona, 1850 - 1920
Photography has shaped public perception of Arizona and the West. This program presents a chronological history of the development of photography in Territorial Arizona and the social and market pressures that influenced the subjects and images. Examples of various formats used and images of daily life, public events, personalities, mining, Native Americans, and the built environment are included. The images selected to accompany the presentation are high quality copies of original photographs and depict activities in many little known regions of the state, as well as of the development of the camps, forts, and towns throughout the Territory. Appropriate background information about the processes and techniques for making, reproducing, and marketing the photographs is included, as is the reflection of the changing societal perception of the West in photographic style and captions.
• Host organization provides computer projector and screen.
