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254:. Asahel remained there for two years, alternately taking pictures and working a small and largely unproductive claim. Asahel launched his photography career with that two year trip to Alaska and the Klondike. Charles Ainsworth, his mining partner, was among the many gold-seeking miners Asahel photographed between 1897 and 1899.
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One comes more intimately in touch with the mountains when he travels the trails. In the valleys the forests seem lower, the giant trees rise from one's side to tremendous heights and the lower growth reaches out a friendly hand to bid you welcome; but it is on the untrodden mountain heights that the
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Edward concentrated on securing funding for the North
American Indian project through lectures and photograph showings. Edward later became nationally recognized for his twenty-volume series of photographs of Native Americans. Asahel also enjoyed a successful career as a photographer, although he did
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The Asahel Curtis Photo
Company Photographs in the collection of the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection of 1,677 items provides one of the most valuable photographic records of Seattle, the state of Washington, Alaska, and the Klondike, covering a period from the 1850s until 1940.
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In 1911, Asahel established his own studio in
Seattle and employed a team of developers and colorists, including his sister Eva. He was hired by a number of local companies, organizations, and wealthy individuals to take portraits and promotional photos. He became more widely known for his images of
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veteran who was born in Ohio to a father born in Canada and mother from
Vermont. Ellen Sheriff was born in New York City, and both of her parents were born in England. Asahel's siblings were Raphael Curtis (1862–c1885) aka Ray Curtis; Eva Curtis (May 10, 1870, Whittaker, WI-1967, Tacoma Co, WA); and
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Curtis's involvement in the
Seattle-Tacoma Rainier National Park Committee (later the Rainier National Park Advisory Board) strained his relations with the Mountaineers. The committee, which Curtis chaired from 1912 to 1936, was formed by community business interests to take advantage of the park's
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Curtis's advocacy was not limited to the development of Mount
Rainier National Park. While serving as the official photographer for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, he also chaired its Development Committee and its Highway Committee for years. His interests reached beyond the Puget Sound region.
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When the Curtis family moved to
Washington state in 1888, Edward and Asahel were just teenagers. As their careers grew, their choice of subjects became increasingly different. Edward spent 33 years documenting the traditional life of the Native American Indians. Asahel photographed Washington's
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in the late 1930s as a representative of the
Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the timber industry led to a further deterioration of relations with the Mountaineers. It also caused a rift between Curtis and his fellow Mount Rainier boosters and effectively ended his involvement in park affairs.
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After working together for a few years, Edward and Asahel parted ways forever after a bitter disagreement over the rights to Asahel's Yukon photos, which Edward had published under his own name. From then on, the brothers traveled separate paths.
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A Virtual
Exhibition on Orotone Photographs, with information on Asahel Curtis' orotone/goldtone photograph production. Created for the University of Washington Special Collections Division by Christy Hansen, Class of 2011 Museology Graduate
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Curtis was a keen observer of people, places and events, Asahel documented the
Washington timber, agriculture, fishing and mining industries. He photographed historic events such as presidential visits, the building of the dams on the
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traveler receives a true reward for his toil. Here where vegetation makes its last stand amid a world of ice and snow, with the lower world stretching away to the distant horizon, nature unfolds in all her beauty.
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tourism potential. Curtis, through the committee, sought to promote greater accessibility to the park by building roads to increase tourism. His opposition to the expansion of the
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Curtis worked in his Seattle studio until his death in 1941. Sixty thousand of his images are held in trust by the Washington State Historical Society in
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Asahel Curtis was born in 1874 in Minnesota to Johnson Asahel Curtis (1840–1887) and Ellen Sheriff (1844–1912). Johnson Curtis was a clergyman and
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natural resources and related industries, as well as the early cities of Washington state, historic events, and its population.
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Photographs (ca. 1850s-1940) depicting activities in Washington state, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska and the Klondike.
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were named for Curtis, who made an early ascent of the mountain in 1906. The Asahel Curtis Trail is located in the
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so much that for several decades he directed his appreciation for scenic beauty and his efforts at regional
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University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Asahel Curtis Photo Company Photographs
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thus chose Curtis to be its president in the 1920s. He also participated in the affairs of the
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Panoramic view of Seattle in 1902, stitched from six Asahel Curtis photographs
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not receive the acclaim that Edward did. He married Florence Carney in 1902.
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University of Washington Libraries - Finding Aid to Asahel Curtis Papers
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Washington State Historical Society Asahel Curtis Photographs collection
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region of the United States. His career included documentation of the
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the Washington landscape that were published nationwide.
186:(1874–1941) was an American photographer based in the
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