Jackson, William Henry

In 1843, William Henry Jackson was born in Keeseville, New York. As a child, Jackson became interested in photography. After service in the Civil War, he opened a studio in Omaha, Nebraska. Here, Jackson photographed local Native American tribes and scenes from the Union Pacific Railroad. From 1870 to 1878, Jackson was the official photographer for the United States Geological and Geological Survey of the Territories. Photographs taken by Jackson during this time showed the remarkable surroundings of the United States’ American West, including Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and the cliff dwellings of Colorado (Mesa Verde National Park). When the survey was finished, he opened a studio in Denver, CO, in 1879.

In 1897, William A. Livingstone, Jr., one of the founders of the Detroit Photographic Company, persuaded the William Henry Jackson to join the firm. By doing so, the Detroit Photographic Company added the thousands of negatives produced by Jackson to the company’s image inventory. Jackson's photographs included city and town views, images of important buildings, scenes along railroad lines, and views of hotels and resorts from all over the world, including North and South America and Europe.

In the 1890s, the Detroit Photographic Company purchased the rights to use the Swiss "Photochrom" process of converting black-and-white photographs into color images, printing them by photolithography. This process allowed large scale production of color postcards, albums, and photographic prints for sale to the general American public, including those images taken by Jackson.