Old Faithful

In 1871 the photographer William Henry Jackson joined Ferdinand Hayden’s Geological Survey to document an area of northwestern Wyoming that was later designated Yellowstone National Park. As an unpaid correspondent, Jackson was permitted to keep the negatives he made during the expedition. An astute businessman, he subsequently marketed albums and prints of his landscapes, which were the first views of Wyoming that many Americans saw. Unlike most albumen prints, the example here was not pasted to a rigid support; nevertheless it survived in good condition and required only minor repairs upon its recent arrival at the Art Institute.