Camera Workers: British Columbia, Alaska & Yukon, 1858-1950

Camera Workers: The British Columbia, Alaska & Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950 - P - Volume 1 (1858-1900)

Updated: 2007.07.02.

NAME: Palmer, Emily (Miss).
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 2 Cordova St. E. (Graveley-Spinks Block)/1892-1893.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 412 Westminster Ave./1890; 427 Princess St./1892; Princess St., corner of Jackson Ave./1893.
WORK INTERVAL: 1892-1893.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: She worked for J.M. White.
REFERENCES: WIL90; WIL92; WIL93.

NAME: Partridge, Samuel C.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: San Francisco, CA.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897.
STATUS: Commercial.
SUMMARY: He photographed the departure of the Excelsior from San Francisco on July 28, 1897, 12 days after its arrival from the Bering Sea. Cohen credits the photo to G.G. Cantwell and states it is the arrival scene on 16 July. F. La Roche published a cropped version of this image as the first in his album.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: La Roche (1898); Cohen (1977:12).

NAME: Patterson, M.
VARIANT: Paterson, M.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: New Westminster.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Begbie Block/1894.
WORK INTERVAL: 1894.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL94.

NAME: Peabody, Henry Greenwood.
LIFE DATES: 1855 04 27-1951 03 25.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles County, California, USA.
WHERE ACTIVE: BC, principally the Selkirk and Rocky Mountains, and western US.
WORK INTERVAL: 1887-1930.
STATUS: Commercial (visits).
SUMMARY: Independent photographer who marketed his work through Soule Photograph Company (Boston, MA) and subsequently hired by the Detroit Publishing Company, a postcard publishing firm.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: LC (Detroit Publishing Company negatives).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: California Deaths Database, 1940-2000 Death Index Summary; Jezierski (1999); Touring Turn-of-the-Century America (Web Site: American Memory, Library of Congress); Dan Anderson to David Mattison, e-mail (dates of birth and death and place of death), 2007 04 18.

NAME: Pelletier, E. LeRoy.
LIFE DATES: 1868? __ __-1938 09 07.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH: Orchard Lake, MI.
WHERE ACTIVE: White Pass (Skagway) Trail Dawson, Yukon.
WORK INTERVAL: 1897-1898?.
STATUS: Photojournalist.
SUMMARY: According to his colleague E. Hazard Wells, he was a reporter for the New York Times and in Dawson by early November 1897. Tappan Adney implies that he travelled with the " Christy" Party. Adney reproduces two of his photographs taken in Dawson. A portrait of Pelletier appears in Atwood (1930).
According to one obituary, Pelletier was a superb publicist and achieved his greatest success in that field while employed by the Ford Motor Company. Pelletier was writing a biography of Henry Ford at the time he died aged 70. Pelletier was a former president of the Detroit Sourdough Club and a member of the Toronto Sourdough group. He was survived by his wife Gertrude, two sons, a daughter and one brother, Frank Pelletier, of Vancouver, BC.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Adney (1900); Alaska Weekly (Seattle, WA), 1938 09 16/8 (obit.); Wells (1984).

NAME: Peters, James.
LIFE DATES: 1853 __ __-1927 05 07.
BIRTHPLACE: Saint John, NB.
PLACE OF DEATH: Victoria.
WHERE ACTIVE: Quebec; Northwest Territories; Victoria.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR: Work Point Barracks, no. 11 (Esquimalt)/1897.
WORK INTERVAL: 1888-1897.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Considered Canada's first military photographer because of his work during the 1885 Northwest rebellion while commander of 'A' Battery of the Regiment of Canadian Artillery, Captain Peters was transferred to Esquimalt in 1887 as commander of 'C' Battery. He photographed the 'C' Battery camp on the Skeena River during a policing action. Captain Sir William Wiseman, commander of HMS Caroline which conveyed 'C' Battery to the Skeena, was reputed to be an amateur photographer.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA (attributed) OOA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN97; BVIPA GR-1415, file 12180 (probate); Dominion Illustrated, 1889 05 04 (11 photos of a goat hunt in the Rocky Mountains taken by " Major Peters" ); Western Recreation (1897 04); Colonist, 1927 05 08 (obit); Koltun (1984).

NAME: Peterson, Louis.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 112 Government St./1885.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1885.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He was a partner in Peterson & Crowell.
COLLECTIONS: see Peterson & Crowell.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Peterson & Crowell.
REFERENCES: WIL85.

NAME: Peterson & Crowell.
VARIANT: Peterson's Photographic Gallery.
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 112 Government St./1885.
WORK INTERVAL: 1885.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This was the partnership of L. Peterson and G.W. Crowell the gallery was known as the Elite Photo Gallery.
COLLECTIONS: BVIPA.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: " Peterson & Crowell, Portrait and Landscape Photographers Government Street, Victoria, B.C." on verso of cabinet print.
REFERENCES: WIL85.

NAME: Pierce, W.C.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Nanaimo; Washington (state).
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Church St./1895-1897?.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: same as business address.
WORK INTERVAL: 1895-1897.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He was a partner in Larss & Pierce and Adams & Pierce.
COLLECTIONS: see Larss & Pierce and Adams & Pierce.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Larss & Pierce and Adams & Pierce.
REFERENCES: WIL95; HEN97; Letter, Claes Jacobson to Mattison, 1984 11 28.

NAME: Pierie[?], W.
VARIANT: Peierie, W. Pierce, W. C. [?].
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 603 Cambie St./1897.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: WIL97.

NAME: Pike, Warburton Mayer.
LIFE DATES: 1861 09 20-1915 10 20.
BIRTHPLACE: near Wareham, Dorsetshire, England, UK.
PLACE OF DEATH: Bournemouth, England, UK.
WHERE ACTIVE: Stikine River District; Cassiar District; Yukon.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR: Saturna Island/1884-.
WORK INTERVAL: 1892-1893.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Pike was an explorer who made a canoe voyage between the spring and September 1893 from Fort Wrangel, Alaska, through the Cassiar District of BC to the Pelly Lakes and down the Yukon River to the Bering Sea. Photographs from his voyage were included in his account (1896) of this trip as engravings. The photos were taken by a Kodak camera, model unknown.
Pike led a group of investors in an ill-timed scheme to cash in on the Klondike stampede via the Stikine River route. With federal aid, he intended on constructing a railway from Glenora or Telegraph Creek into the Yukon. Whether he photographed aspects of this venture while in the field is not yet determined.
Pike returned to England and committed suicide following depression as a result of being rejected for active service in the British Army.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Pike (1896); Encyclopedia Canadiana (1970); Murray (1994); BVIPA Reference Room VF.

NAME: Pillsbury, Arthur Clarence.
LIFE DATES: 1870 __ __-1946 __ __.
BIRTHPLACE: Medford, MA.
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Discovery (Pine City); Skagway, AK; Yukon Territory; Nome, AK; Yosemite National Park, CA; Palo Alto, CA.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR: Wrangel, Alaska; Palo Alto, CA.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1898-1900 (BC- Alaska-Yukon); 1906? (Yoho National Park, BC).
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked the Alaska and Yukon Territory gold camps during the Klondike gold rush. He also operated in partnership with V. Cleveland as Pillsbury & Cleveland. A photograph of Discovery is dated April 24, 1899. Adney reproduces a Pillsbury & Cleveland photo taken at Nome on October 3, 1899 . Pillsbury worked under the name Alaska View & Photo Co. in Skagway in 1900. He also used the business name A.C. Pillsbury Co. and Pillsbury Picture Co. (US Copyright Office registration, January 1907). He is listed as a Yosemite Valley photographer in the 1914 Mariposa County, CA, voting list.
His granddaughter, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, started the Arthur C. Pillsbury Foundation to memorialize his life. She is also writing a book, The Silence of the Wind, about her talented ancestor.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS: LC (panoramic photos, Yoho National Park); Private collection.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: " A C Pillsbury V. Cleveland The Scenic Headquarters for Alaska Views & Lantern Slides Alaska Geographical Society Skaguay, Alaska..." or " A C Pillsbury Photographer Alaskan Scenic Views Headquarters at Wrangel Branch of Juneau, Skaguay & Sitka" on verso of print prints may be numbered and captioned.
REFERENCES: Adney (1900):461; Harrison (1980); Letter, James de T. Abajian, 1985 08 24;; BVIPA Visual Records Division Photographer File; Taking the Long View (Web Site: American Memory, Library of Congress); Arthur C. Pillsbury Foundation (Web site; inactive, 2007 07 02).

Pillsbury & Cleveland see Pillsbury, Arthur Clarence and Cleveland, V.

NAME: Piper, Charles James.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 59 ½ Government St./1893.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Cadboro Bay/1893.
WORK INTERVAL: 1893.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked for the Queen Art Photo Studio. In 1894 he was listed as a bookkeeper for the Paragon Oil Company and by 1897 he had gone into real estate.
REFERENCES: WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; WIL97; Voters List, 1894.

NAME: Piper, Charles Thomas Wood.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 59 ½ Government St./1893.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Cadboro Bay/1893.
WORK INTERVAL: 1893.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: Proprietor of the Queen Art Photo Studio, he became manager of the Paragon Oil Co. the following year and was a real estate agent by 1897.
COLLECTIONS: see Queen Art Photo Studio.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Queen Art Photo Studio.
REFERENCES: WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; WIL97; Voters List, 1894.

NAME: Platt, Mrs. Thomas C.
VARIANT:
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver?; U.S.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1891.
STATUS: Amateur.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: A newspaper reference to her work states that

she was going abroad for her health, and she will take her photographic camera with her. She is an indefatigable enthusiast in this line, and has a valuable collection of pictures which she has taken in her travels through the United States. They include phases of home life in the south and the west, and are particularly interesting because of their very special character.

COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: World, 1891 09 03/1/6.

NAME: Pond, Edwin Percy.
LIFE DATES: 1872 __ __-1943 06 01.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH: Juneau, AK?.
WHERE ACTIVE: Juneau, AK.
WORK INTERVAL: 1893-1943 (Juneau).
STATUS: Commercial.
SUMMARY: Partner in Winter & Pond.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS:see Winter & Pond.
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: see Winter & Pond.

NAME: Popular Photo Parlour.
WHERE ACTIVE: Vancouver.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 55 Cordova St. (Sullivan Block)/1896.
WORK INTERVAL: 1896.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This studio was operated by C.W. Bart.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HOD96.

NAME: Porter, Nathaniel Joseph.
LIFE DATES: 1873? __ __-1953 03 20.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH: Vancouver.
WHERE ACTIVE: B.C.; Victoria.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 109 Pandora Ave./1898-1899.
WORK INTERVAL: 1897?-1899.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: His obituary reported that he had toured the province as an itinerant photographer in 1897 with Almeron Newman in a horse-drawn cart. Most of the photographs were lost in a fire in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1917. Married in 1898, he operated music and art stores in Moose Jaw from 1900-22 when he joined the Osborne Calendar Co. He moved to Vancouver in 1937 and retired in 1951.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN98; HEN99; Province, 1953 03 25/3 (obit.); Silversides (1988).

NAME: Power, William.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 59 ½ Government St./1893.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: 139 Yates St./1893.
WORK INTERVAL: 1893.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked for the Queen Art Photo Studio. The 1894 and 1895 directories listed him as a barber, while the latter directory also showed as a driver for Erskine, Wall & Co.
REFERENCES: WIL93; WIL94; WIL95.

NAME: Prather, J.B.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Alaska; Yukon.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Juneau, AK/1898-1899.
WORK INTERVAL: 1898?-early 1900s.
STATUS: Amateur?.
SUMMARY: He self-published The Land of the Midnight Sun which included photos of his trip to the Klondike goldfields.
COLLECTIONS/FORMATS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Prather (1899); Douglas Island News (Juneau), 1899 02 08/4, " A Thing of Beauty" (review of the book); Cohen (1977).

NAME: Pratt, John Francis.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Chilkat River, AK.
WORK INTERVAL: 1894.
STATUS: Amateur (visit).
SUMMARY: A surveyor with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, he visited the Chilkat River in southeastern Alaska during the summer 1894. According to Sinclair and Engeman's article, he took more than 40 glass plate negatives of Tlingit Indians and scenery along the river. The next year he presented his work through lantern slides to National Geographic Society members.
COLLECTIONS: UWL (negatives).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Sinclair and Engeman (1991).

NAME: Prest, William Archie.
LIFE DATES: ____ __ __-1902 11 __.
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Cranbrook; Fort Steele.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: Cranbrook/1899-1900; Fort Steele/1900.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1899-1900+.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He operated Prest & Co. His widow, Mrs. Prest, and their son, Cecil H. Prest, succeeded him in the business. See also: Camera Workers, volume 2.
COLLECTIONS: see Prest & Co.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: see Prest & Co.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: HEN99 (photographer, Cranbrook); HEN00 (photographer, Cranbrook and Fort Steele); Voters List, 1900 (South Riding, East Kootenay Electoral District, Cranbrook, no. 1225); Cranbrook Herald, 1899 04 06/1 (opens studio); see also Prest & Co.

NAME: Prest & Co.
WHERE ACTIVE: Cranbrook.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1899 04-1900+.
STATUS: Studio.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: This company, operated by W.A. Prest, opened for business in early April 1899. The studio moved to a new location early in March 1900. In addition to a " combination view picture of Cranbrook that is the best in that line they have yet produced," the company was also noted for a " view of the principal buildings of Cranbrook. ... It is just the thing for a Christmas souvenir to send to eastern friends." See also: Camera Workers, volume 2.
COLLECTIONS: ABA (prints).
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN99; HEN00; Cranbrook Herald, 1899 04 06/1 (ad), 1899 12 28/4 (" combination view picture" ), 1900 03 08/1 (studio move), 1900 12 06/4 (" principal buildings of Cranbrook" ).

NAME: Preston, George.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Victoria.
BUSINESS ADDRESS/YEAR: 56 ½ Fort St./1897; 56 Fort St./1897-1900.
HOME ADDRESS-YEAR:
WORK INTERVAL: 1897-1900+.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: His studio was that previously occupied by Spencer & Hastings and O.C. Hastings. J. Savannah was also located at this address. Preston moved to Vancouver after the turn of the century and worked there as a photographer.
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; WIL99; HEN00.

NAME: Pyman, Henry.
LIFE DATES:
BIRTHPLACE:
PLACE OF DEATH:
WHERE ACTIVE: Somenos.
BUSINESS ADDRESS-YEAR: Rose Hill Farm ?/1898.
HOME ADDRESS/YEAR: Rose Hill Farm/1898.
WORK INTERVAL: 1898.
STATUS: Commercial.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
COLLECTIONS:
IDENTIFYING MARKS:
REFERENCES: Voters List, 1898.