Manuscripts
New Almaden Mine records
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Vol. 2. New Almaden Quicksilver Mine
Rare Books
In 1863, Watkins was commissioned to photograph the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine near San Jose, California, by William Eustace Barron, a founding partner and San Francisco merchant. This group of 8 mammoth plate photographs depict the structures and works of the quicksilver (i.e. mercury) mine set among hillsides, including smelting furnaces, metal sheds, and paths leading to mine entrances. One view depicts about 40 workers at a quarry, including several adolescent boys posed with wheelbarrows. The miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks is also seen in views titled "Hacienda" and "The Town on the Hill."
379010
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Views of New Almaden
Visual Materials
A presentation album with 45 collotype photographs, with printed captions, of the mining town of New Almaden, California, and the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Co., showing schools, churches, miners' quarters, and the mines. Photographs in the residential areas of New Almaden show schools, houses, the "English Camp" and "Mexican Camp", and the "club room". Photographs of the mines and related facilities include a boiler room, hoisting works, pump engine, mine shafts, reduction works, quicksilver furnace, and slag dumps. A few of the photographs were taken inside the mines and have the caption "Taken by magnesium light". The final image is a reproduction of a drawing of a hoisting works from 1870 done by J. Ross Browne.
photCL 79
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Title page: New Almaden Quicksilver Mine
Rare Books
A collection of 50 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, the New Almaden Mine, and Mendocino, California by photographer Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916). The prints were in a two-volume set, now disbound, containing a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." The photographs are landscape views of Yosemite and the Mariposa giant sequoias, taken by Watkins in 1861, followed by 1863 views of New Almaden Quicksilver Mine and Mendocino, both in Northern California. The mining series includes views of workers and the miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks. One view shows young boys with wheelbarrows of rock. The Mendocino Coast images focus on lumber mills near the mouths of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, with one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, in front of wood plank dwellings, and a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg.
379010
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New Almaden Quicksilver Mine / Mendocino Coast Views
Rare Books
In 1863, Watkins was commissioned to photograph the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine near San Jose, California, by William Eustace Barron, a founding partner and San Francisco merchant. This group of 8 mammoth plate photographs depict the structures and works of the quicksilver (i.e. mercury) mine set among hillsides, including smelting furnaces, metal sheds, and paths leading to mine entrances. One view depicts about 40 workers at a quarry, including several adolescent boys posed with wheelbarrows. The miners’ community of small houses and wooden shacks is also seen in views titled "Hacienda" and “The Town on the Hill.” The Mendocino Coast Views Watkins made in the fall of 1863, most likely on a commission from Jerome B. Ford, a major mill owner in Mendocino, California. Views show lumber mills along the banks of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, near where they meet the Pacific Ocean. The coastal city of Mendocino is seen on top of a high beach cliff, and there are scenic views of ocean waves crashing against boulders. One river view shows men guiding a small ferry by holding a cable mounted across the river, and a log flume is seen suspended in the background. There is one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, seated in front of dwellings made from wooden planks. The house of “Mr. Chalfant” in the town, with a fenced yard, is the focus of another photograph, and there is one view of the Fort Bragg army post.
RB 379010 : Vol. 2
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Vol. 2. "New Almaden" title page; Plates 1-8
Rare Books
A collection of 50 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, the New Almaden Mine, and Mendocino, California by photographer Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916). The prints were in a two-volume set, now disbound, containing a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." The photographs are landscape views of Yosemite and the Mariposa giant sequoias, taken by Watkins in 1861, followed by 1863 views of New Almaden Quicksilver Mine and Mendocino, both in Northern California. The mining series includes views of workers and the miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks. One view shows young boys with wheelbarrows of rock. The Mendocino Coast images focus on lumber mills near the mouths of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, with one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, in front of wood plank dwellings, and a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg.
379010
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Carleton E. Watkins mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, New Almaden Mine and the Mendocino Coast, California
Rare Books
This collection contains 50 mammoth plate, albumen photographs made in 1861 and 1863 by Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916), depicting Yosemite, the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine, and Mendocino, California. The prints are all signed by Watkins and were originally bound in two volumes, now disbound. The first volume begins with a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." Ernest Frignet (b. 1823), dedicatee, wrote several books and articles on California and the West that published in France, most notably "La Californie, histoire, organisation politique et administrative, législation, description physique et géologique. Agriculture—industrie—commerce," (Paris, 1866). The "California Friends" who presented him with the photographs are unidentified. The title pages are in decorative calligraphy by Fulgenzio Seregni, a native of Milan, Italy who came to California in 1858. He established himself in San Francisco, where he taught drawing and writing in public schools and colleges, and later became a well-known designer of marble monuments. In addition to Watkins' signature, each print has a handwritten title in the style of calligrapher Seregni, on the mount below the print. The top corners of the prints are rounded or "dome-topped," a practice used to eliminate darkened corners caused by early camera lenses. The volumes were bound by noted French bookbinder Léon Gruel (1841-1923), who operated a renowned bindery in Paris. The first leaf of each volume is stamped "GRUEL."
379010