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 11 Collections and/or Records:
George Edward Anderson photographs
Collection contains eight boxes containing 130 items, including black and white oversized prints of Utah printed from negatives by George Edward Anderson.
George Edward Anderson diaries
Handwritten diaries for the years 1895-1904, 1908-1909, 1914-1915, and 1919-1920. Anderson writes about his family life, his studio in Springville, Utah, and his travels throughout southern Utah with his tent gallery. Three of the items deal with his mission for the Mormon Church in England and describe Anderson's photographing of Mormon history landmarks in the Eastern United States.
George Edward Anderson photographs of Icelanders
Contains five photographs of people who emigrated from Iceland to Utah. Portraits were taken by George Edward Anderson, circa 1890-1910. There is also a packet of pages that identifies the people in each of the photographs.
John F. Bennett photograph album of Church history
Jex family photographs
Collection includes six photographs of the Jex family taken by George Edward Anderson and Adam Anderson.
James L. Ozment collection of George Edward Anderson photographs
Collection includes eighty-three glass plate negatives taken by George Edward Anderson of the construction and reconstruction of some railroad lines in Utah and Colorado in the late 1800s. Also contains internegatives and prints of the photographs. Materials date from 1860 to 1928.
George Edward Anderson photographs of Provo Center Street
George Edward Anderson photographs of the Gardner family
This collection contains five George Edward Anderson prints of the Gardner family. The pictures are of (1) Regina Evensen Gardner, (2) a 4-generation photograph of Neil Gardner, Vernon Neil Gardner, Neil Livingston Gardner, and Archibald Gardner, (3) Neil Livingston Gardner, (4) Neil Livingston Gardner, his wife Elizabeth Ann Thomas Davis, and his son Vernon Neil, (5) Vernon Neil Gardner, son of Elizabeth and Neil Livingston Gardner.
Pictures of my life
Photograph of the Thomas Potter family
This collection contains one print of a photograph made from an original George Edward Anderson glass plate negative. The print was made by Rell G. Francis. The photograph is of the Thomas Potter Family in front of their Smithshop in Scofield, Utah, ca. 1897.
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Photographs 9
- Latter Day Saints -- Utah -- Photographs 4
- Portraits 3
- Images 2
- Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Photographs 2
- Material Types 2
- Railroads -- Utah -- Photographs 2
- Autobiographies 1
- Bridges -- Colorado -- Photographs 1
- Bridges -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Buildings -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Business enterprises -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Business, Industry, Labor, and Commerce 1
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1
- Copy prints 1
- Diaries 1
- Gelatin dry plate negatives 1
- Glass negatives 1
- Home and Family 1
- Icelandic Americans -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Indians of North America -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Latter Day Saint churches -- Apostles 1
- Latter Day Saint churches -- Missions -- England -- History 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
- Manti (Utah) 1
- Miners -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Missions and Missionaries 1
- Mormons -- Photographs 1
- Negatives 1
- Oral histories 1
- Persons -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Photograph albums 1
- Photographers -- Utah -- Springville -- History -- Sources 1
- Polygamy -- Religious aspects -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1
- Provo (Utah) 1
- Provo (Utah) -- History 1
- Railroads 1
- Railroads -- Colorado -- Photographs 1
- Salt Lake City (Utah) -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- Photographs 1
- Salt Lake City (Utah) -- Photographs 1
- Scofield (Utah) 1
- Social Life and Customs 1
- Sports -- Utah -- Photographs 1
- Springville (Utah) 1
- Springville (Utah) -- History 1
- Utah 1
- Utah -- Pictorial works 1 + ∧ less