T.S. (Theodore Sherman) Palmer Photograph Collection

This collection contains 87 card photographs and 3 lantern slides taken between January and September 1891 during a United States Department of Agriculture scientific expedition led by T.S. Palmer from Death Valley, California, to Mt. Whitney to collect flora and fauna. The collection includes photographs of Death Valley, as well as the Antelope Valley, Owens Valley, and San Joaquin Valley. William C. Burnett, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter who traveled with the expedition from February to May, took many of the Death Valley pictures (identified by his initials "W.C.B." in the image captions). A smaller set of Death Valley pictures was taken by John R. Spears, a New York correspondent who visited Death Valley (December 1891) in the wake of the Palmer party. Palmer and various members of his party are responsible for the remaining photographs.

The cards measure between 4 x 5.25 inches and 6 x 8.25 inches and include handwritten captions on the versos.

Item titles primarily transcribed from handwritten captions in ink on card versos; titles for items 39, 50, 60-68, 70-73 transcribed from penciled captions below images. Cataloger-supplied titles in square brackets.