Calfee, H. B. (Henry Bird), 1847-1912
Dates
- Existence: 1847 - 1912
Biographical History
Henry Bird Calfee (1847-1912) was a photographer in the Western United States.
Henry Bird Calfee was born in May 1847 in Kentucky to Henry Calfee and Margaret E. Cannon. He came to the Montana territory in 1870 and visited Yellowstone in 1871. Since then, from circa 1871 to the early 1880s, he spent each summer at the park taking pictures, in which he accumulated at least 295 photographs.
During the 1870s, he formed a partnership with Nelson Catlin, of which most of the photographs were taken. They ran a photographic business from Bozeman, Montana. Calfee began photographing Yellowstone between 1871 to 1874. He and Catlin maintained an active presence in Yellowstone. Their stereographs indicate they helped name several geographic features, and interacted with many migrating parties. During 1881-1882, Calfee gave lecture tours with W. W. Wylie to promote Yellowstone Park, and his photos were included in Wylies 1882 guidebook, titled "Yellowstone National Park, or The Great American Wonderland.” Calfee focused on geysers and sold them to visitors. He married Kate Latus in Missoula County, Montana on June 13, 1885. He died on February 19, 1912 in Bozeman, Gallatin, Montana.
Citation:
Ancestry, via WWW, July 13, 2017 (son of Henry Calfee and Margaret E. Cannon; m. Kate Latus in Missoula County, MT 13 June, 1885; participated in a lecture tour in 1881-1882 to promote Yellowstone Park).Library of Congress Authorities, via WWW, July 13, 2017 (b. May 1847 in Kentucky; d. February 19, 1912 in Bozeman, Gallatin, Montana).
Whittlesey, Lee H. "Everyone Can Understand a Picture: Photographers and the Promotion of Early Yellowstone." Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Summer, 1999 (Calfee and Catlin ran a photographic business in the early 1970s in Bozeman, MT; began photographing Yellowstone between 1871 and 1874; took at least 295 photographs of Yellowstone).
The Yellowstone Stereoview Page, via WWW, 23 June 2017 (Calfee, Bird; b. 1847; d. 1912; partnership with Catlin; activities and time spent in Yellowstone; Lecture tours and guidebook; information about the series).
Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:
Collection of Yellowstone National Park stereographs
Contains 36 Yellowstone National Park black and white stereographs, with a few duplicates of varying quality. The dates range from 1871 to 1910. The stereographs were produced by several photographers, the main contributors being Joshua Crissman, Henry Bird Calfee, and the Nelson (Nelse) partnership.
Paul Rubinstein collection of Yellowstone stereoviews
Contains 110 black-and-white stereoviews, taken in the Yellowstone Park area in 1871-1872. Negatives by Joshua Crissman of Bozeman, Montana. 107 of these negatives were published and marketed by William Isaac Marshall in 1876. Three stereoviews by Lovejoy and Foster, using some of Crissman's negatives.
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- Yellowstone National Park -- History 1