here we go...
So we have an experiment here, not sure that I'm so comfortable in expressing "out loud" what I'm thinking, but here goes...
I've created this blog in conjunction with my Masters project, I'm proposing to rephotograph views of Salt Lake City that my great-grandfather shot, back in the late 1800's/early 1900's. His name was Charles Ellis Johnson, son of Joseph Ellis Johnson and Joseph's 3rd wife (yep, polygamy), Eliza Saunders (or Dean, but that's another shaggy dog story relating back to her stepfather and some unpleasantness with his business in London).
Anyway, Charlie was born in St. Louis in 1857 but spent his early years in Nebraska. Of course, Papa Joseph wasn't around a lot, due to the fact that it was known he had other family elsewhere...so it could have appeared that Charlie's mother was, in fact, an unmarried mother (!). FInally, in 1860, word came that Eliza and Charlie should emigrate to SLC., arriving in Oct. of that year.
There shall be more history to come, I'm sure. Suffice it to say, at this point, that Charlie eventually grew up, became interested in photography, opened a studio in SLC and made zillions of images, from studio portraits of LDS church officials to actresses performing at the Salt Lake Theater, landscapes and journalistic events. Even choosing what images to rephotograph will be a challenge, as there are so many to decide amongst...
stay tuned!
I've created this blog in conjunction with my Masters project, I'm proposing to rephotograph views of Salt Lake City that my great-grandfather shot, back in the late 1800's/early 1900's. His name was Charles Ellis Johnson, son of Joseph Ellis Johnson and Joseph's 3rd wife (yep, polygamy), Eliza Saunders (or Dean, but that's another shaggy dog story relating back to her stepfather and some unpleasantness with his business in London).
Anyway, Charlie was born in St. Louis in 1857 but spent his early years in Nebraska. Of course, Papa Joseph wasn't around a lot, due to the fact that it was known he had other family elsewhere...so it could have appeared that Charlie's mother was, in fact, an unmarried mother (!). FInally, in 1860, word came that Eliza and Charlie should emigrate to SLC., arriving in Oct. of that year.
There shall be more history to come, I'm sure. Suffice it to say, at this point, that Charlie eventually grew up, became interested in photography, opened a studio in SLC and made zillions of images, from studio portraits of LDS church officials to actresses performing at the Salt Lake Theater, landscapes and journalistic events. Even choosing what images to rephotograph will be a challenge, as there are so many to decide amongst...
stay tuned!
posted by jkiel at 12:34 PM
1 Comments:
Congratulation Judy. I will be a regular visitor and I wish you all the very best of luck with your Masters project, it sounds exciting.
Do you have the original photographs? If so then that sounds more than just exciting, it’s awesome to be working with images taken in a bygone age, it will be interesting to see the story unfold.
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