Anderson, George Edward, 1860-1928
Dates
- Existence: 1860 - 1928
Biography
George Edward Anderson (1860-1928) was a photographer and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
George Edward Anderson (Ed, as he was called) was born October 28, 1860, in Salt Lake City, to George A. Anderson and Mary Ann Thorn, and was the oldest of nine children. He was apprenticed as a teenager under the renowned photographer, Charles R. Savage. It was at Savage's Temple Bazaar that he became friends with fellow apprentices John Hafen and John F. Bennett. Hafen was later to become an accomplished artist and Bennett was to become instrumental in preserving Anderson's collection of glass plate negatives.
At the age of seventeen, Anderson established his own photography studio in Salt Lake City with his brothers, Stanley and Adam. He subsequently established a studio in Manti, Utah in 1886. In the fall of 1888 he moved his studio to Springville, Utah, with his bride, Olive Lowry. He is perhaps best known for his traveling tent studio, set up in small towns throughout central, eastern, and southern Utah, where he captured the lives of the residents. These studios thrived throughout the years 1884-1907.
Although today we might think of Ed Anderson as a portrait photographer, his clear and artistic studio portraits are complemented by thousands of documentary portraits taken near homes, barns, and businesses. They document not only families but also small town Utah history. He documented, among other things, railroad history, mining history including the Scofield mine disaster, and the building of temples by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pure landscape photographs were never his interest, but to many Church members, his 1907-1908 photographs of Church history sites are their only acquaintance with Anderson's photography. He photographed these sites while traveling across the country to begin his LDS Church mission in England from 1909-1911. The Deseret Sunday School Union of the Church published some of the views, as Anderson called them, in a booklet entitled The Birth of Mormonism in Picture.
Upon the completion of his mission, Anderson returned to South Royalton, Vermont, and set up a photography studio near the birthplace of the prophet Joseph Smith. He added a number of Church history site photographs, as well as portraits of Church members and local residents to his growing collection. Finally, in November 1913, he returned to his family and home in Springville, Utah.
After a seven year absence his photographic business was unhealthy and his family life was strained. But business and money were never the motivating forces of Ed Anderson's life—art and religion were his driving forces. Continuing to experience financial and marital strains, Anderson tried to revive his traveling tent studio but was met with little success. He was, however, able to earn some money from the sale of The Birth of Mormonism booklet.
The later years of Ed Anderson's life were spent in documenting families and life in Utah Valley and traveling to newly constructed temples. In 1923, he traveled to Cardston, Alberta, Canada with Church authorities for the dedication of that city's temple. He was to spend two years in Canada, thus returning to Springville in 1925. Though ill in the fall of 1927 and despite his wife's urging not to go, Anderson went once again with Church officials to document the dedication of another temple, this time in Mesa, Arizona. It was to be his last trip. He died of heart failure on May 9, 1928, after being brought home to Springville.
Citation:
His The Utah photographs of ... c1979: t.p. (George Edward Anderson) CIP gally (Springville, Utah; d. 1928)Phone call to pub., 1/19/79 (b. 1860)
Church history in black and white, c1995: p. xv (George Edward Anderson, known as 'Ed' or 'Eddy' throughout his life)
Wikipedia, viewed October 11, 2010 (George Edward Anderson (October 28, 1860-May 9, 1928); early American photographer known for portraiture and documentary photographs of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temples; born in Salt Lake City, Utah; photography studio in Salt Lake City and 1886 in Manti, Utah; Moved studio to Springville, Utah in 1888; LDS Church mission to England 1909-1911; died heart failure on May 9, 1928 in Springville, Utah after being brought home from Mesa, Arizona)
Found in 39 Collections and/or Records:
Apostles and temples from 1835 to 1886
Albumen photograph made by George Edward Anderson depicting all prophets and temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints up to 1886.
John F. Bennett photograph album of Church history
Collection of portraits of early Provo residents
Materials include 19 photographs of early residents of Provo, Utah, dating from between approximately 1850 and 1900. The photographs are individual portraits from a variety of photographic studios, including those of George Edward Anderson, C. R. Savage, Fox & Symons, and T. E. Daniels.
Robert W. Edwards collection of railroad materials
Collection consists primarily of images relating to the Union Pacific Railroad taken by George Edward Anderson between 1880 and 1920. Also includes manuscripts of Union Pacific Railroad condensed profile, Union Pacific Railroad 1969 Annual Report, 80 yr. Anniversary of Auerbach Co. (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1864-1944, Union Pacific Locomotive Vol. 1 and 2, 12 packets and loose papers of Railroad Articles and Blueprints, and a Panorama of Salt Lake City done in half-tone (newsprint).
George Edward Anderson duplicate prints and manuscripts, 1860-1928
Includes eighteen duplicate prints of the glass plate negatives of various railroad lines in Utah and Colorado. Also included are newpaper clippings and a magazine about George Edward Anderson and his photographs.
George Edward Anderson exhibit prints, 1877-1927
George Edward Anderson exhibit prints, 1877-1927
George Edward Anderson glass plate negatives, 1860-1928
Includes eighty-three gelatin glass plate negatives taken by George Edward Anderson. The majority of these photographs are of railroads being built and the reconstruction of bridges in Utah and Colorado.
George Edward Anderson internegatives, 1860-1928
Includes 164 internegatives that correspond to the glass plate negatives taken by George Edward Anderson. The majority of these photographs are of railroads being built and the reconstruction of bridges in Utah and Colorado.
George Edward Anderson negatives, 1860-1928
Includes seventy-three negatives that correspond with photograph items one through seventy-three taken by George Edward Anderson. The majority of these photographs are of railroads being built and the reconstruction of bridges in Utah and Colorado.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Collection 24
- Archival Object 12
- Digital Record 3
- Subject
- Photographs 30
- Railroads -- Utah -- Photographs 7
- Bridges -- Colorado -- Photographs 6
- Bridges -- Utah -- Photographs 6
- Business, Industry, Labor, and Commerce 6
- Railroads 6
- Railroads -- Colorado -- Photographs 6
- Images 5
- Material Types 5
- Portraits 5
- Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 4
- Fine Arts 4
- Latter Day Saints -- Utah -- Photographs 4
- Negatives 4
- Provo (Utah) -- Photographs 4
- Copy prints 3
- Gelatin dry plate negatives 3
- Social Life and Customs 3
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 2
- Commencement ceremonies 2
- Glass negatives 2
- Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Photographs 2
- Photographic prints 2
- Albumen prints 1
- Art 1
- Autobiographies 1
- Buildings -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Business enterprises -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Cabinet photographs 1
- Cardston (Alta.) -- Photographs 1
- Church Government 1
- Colleges and Universities 1
- DVDs 1
- Diaries 1
- Education 1
- Fashion 1
- Gelatin silver prints 1
- Home and Family 1
- Icelandic Americans -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Indians of North America -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Internegatives 1
- Interviews 1
- Latter Day Saint churches -- Apostles 1
- Latter Day Saint churches -- History 1
- Latter Day Saint churches -- Missions -- England -- History 1
- Latter Day Saint families -- Alberta -- Cardston -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint families -- Utah -- Spanish Fork -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint missionaries -- Illinois -- Nauvoo -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint temples -- Alberta -- Cardston -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint temples -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saints -- Alberta -- Cardston -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saints -- Idaho -- Rexburg -- Photographs 1
- Manti (Utah) 1
- Media and Communication 1
- Miners -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Missions and Missionaries 1
- Mormons -- Photographs 1
- Nitrate negatives 1
- Oral histories 1
- Persons -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Photocopies 1
- Photograph albums 1
- Photographers -- Utah -- Springville -- History -- Sources 1
- Photographs -- Collectors and collecting 1
- Photography -- West (U.S.) -- History 1
- Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1
- Postcards 1
- Prints 1
- Provo (Utah) 1
- Provo (Utah) -- History 1
- Railroads -- United States -- History 1
- Railroads -- United States -- Photographs 1
- Safety film negatives 1
- Salt Lake City (Utah) -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- Photographs 1
- Salt Lake City (Utah) -- Photographs 1
- Scofield (Utah) 1
- Seminars 1
- Sports -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Springville (Utah) 1
- Springville (Utah) -- History 1
- Utah 1
- Utah -- Pictorial works 1 + ∧ less