Photographer. A blacksmith's son, he fought at Gettysburg and after the Civil War headed west. In 1870 he joined the Hayden Survey as its photographer. For eight years his photographs proclaimed the unique qualities of the West and provided the experience of contact with wilderness for millions of viewers. The most famous of all the Jackson photographs are those he took in Yellowstone before it became a national park and they eventually helped it become the very first national park. Was the leading photographer of the American West in the 19th century. After the Hayden Survey years Jackson had a successful commercial career that began in Denver. His commercial pictures at that time revealed the steady conquest of the Frontier by the railroads. By the 1890's he was called "America's greatest landscape photographer." He moved to Washington DC in 1924 where he wrote and painted; returned to New York in 1929 assuming the position of research director for the Oregon Trail Memorial Association and worked until he turned 99. Jackson also painted and a number of his best works were not done until the 1930s. In 1935, at age 93, he was contracted to paint four old west murals for the Department of the Interior in Washington DC.
Photographer. A blacksmith's son, he fought at Gettysburg and after the Civil War headed west. In 1870 he joined the Hayden Survey as its photographer. For eight years his photographs proclaimed the unique qualities of the West and provided the experience of contact with wilderness for millions of viewers. The most famous of all the Jackson photographs are those he took in Yellowstone before it became a national park and they eventually helped it become the very first national park. Was the leading photographer of the American West in the 19th century. After the Hayden Survey years Jackson had a successful commercial career that began in Denver. His commercial pictures at that time revealed the steady conquest of the Frontier by the railroads. By the 1890's he was called "America's greatest landscape photographer." He moved to Washington DC in 1924 where he wrote and painted; returned to New York in 1929 assuming the position of research director for the Oregon Trail Memorial Association and worked until he turned 99. Jackson also painted and a number of his best works were not done until the 1930s. In 1935, at age 93, he was contracted to paint four old west murals for the Department of the Interior in Washington DC.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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