Interest in early 20th c. hand-colored images by "Harris" has been rising in current years, in particular in Harris's Florida scenes. But I will wager that most collectors do not even know Harris's very first name, let alone something around his background.
We had no details on Harris ourselves till numerous years ago though we pointed out Harris in a earlier write-up and asked readers to provide us with any identified details. As a outcome we received an write-up on Harris postcards, and an short article that were published on Harris by the St. Augustine Historical Society in 1991, each of which shed considerable light on the hand-colored photography profession of William James Harris.
William James Harris (1868-1940) was born on October 12, 1868 in Herefordshire, England. His household emigrated to America in 1870, settling in the Wilkes Barre, PA location. Identified in his youth as each "Will" and "Willie", by age 20 he apprenticed below a neighborhood photographer. Inside one year he was able to commence his very first photography business although living with his parents and working his initially studio Inside their house.
In 1890, the 22 year old Harris moved with his loved ones to W. Pittston, PA exactly where, though he continued working a studio in his parents property, he also started his profession as a traveling photographer. In the course of the early 1890's, he spent considerable time photographing coal miners and mining operations in eastern Pennsylvania's coal regions. Quickly thereafter he started using the railroads to transport him, and his photography gear, to the mountains, lakes, cities, and wherever else he decided to take his camera. Cabinet photos sold by Harris about this time listed his address as West Pittston, PA; Tunkhannock, PA; Pittston, PA; Penn Yan, NY; Binghamton, NY; and Keuka, NY
In 1893 Harris traveled to the World's Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Though there his started the initially of a number of next promotional feats. One of the focal points of the 1893 Columbia Exposition was the initially-ever introduction of George Ferris's terrific "Ferris Wheel". And it was Harris who was the very first to photograph it. He envisioned that by climbing upon a roof about the similar height as the Ferris Wheel's center shaft, he would be able to make a view whereby the curves of the wheel have been not distorted vertically by viewpoint. This photograph was so impressive that Harris donated 2000 of them to the Ferris Wheel Enterprise, both of which integrated his name and address, which helped to generate an early name for the young photographer.
In 1895 he married Maude Dunn, a marriage that was brief-lived since she died all of a sudden and unexpectedly in 1897.
Shortly after Maude's death, Harris and some pals opened a tourist business in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, promoting photographs of Buck Hill Falls, the Delaware Water Gap, and other regional attractions to vacationers and neighborhood residents. Even though working from the "Harris Gallery" his solutions also integrated cabinet cards and tin-form photos,. This transportable studio after once more served as an terrific promotional feat since it enabled him to each promote his business, and method his photographic function, wherever he went.
About 1901, Harris married a second time, creating Marion E. Briant the second Mrs. Harris. With each other they had 2 kids, a daughter (Ruth) and a son (Carver). This marriage lasted till around 1920. After the divorce, Marion Harris returned to her Dover, NJ house with Ruth, leaving Carver with his father.
Quickly thereafter, Harris married Ella Anderson, his third and final marriage.
Lake Hopatcong: It was in 1898 that Harris moved to a region that would play a very important part in his life...Lake Hopatcong, NJ. Positioned in northern New Jersey, it really is 9 miles of coastline and coves create it New Jersey's biggest lake and at the turn of the century, Lake Hopatcong had come to be a summer season mecca for the wealthy and popular. Conveniently Situated to neighborhood New York city, Lake Hopatcong provided an straightforward summer time trip from the city heat and a number of summer time "cottages", which in quite a few situations have been additional enjoy mansions, started springing up about the lake. Harris Soon identified the will need for his photographic solutions here For the duration of the summer season months.
Attractive sunsets became the Harris trademark though functioning on Lake Hopatcong and he was farsighted sufficient to set himself up on a part of the lake that was identified as getting the greatest sunsets. And becoming the terrific promoter that he was, Harris started advertising his studio as providing the very best sunset images on the lake. Quickly vacationers started flocking to his studio for their individual and loved ones photos on Lake Hopatcong.
In a different move of public relations genius, Harris made his personal individual "Floating Studio" in the summer time of 1899. Replacing his land-primarily based transportable studio, this floating studio was essentially a houseboat in particular outfitted as a photographic studio. Named the "Harris Photo Float", this 16'x50' floating studio was able of traveling about the lake, and even had a unique porch for his well-known sunset photographs. Even though other photographers have been also functioning about the lake, Harris' floating studio and his present for promotional impact gave him a competitive edge over the other photographers and he controlled a sizeable component of the lake's photography business. However, in 1903 Harris' floating studio sprang a knothole leak and sank, taking with it substantially of Harris' photographic gear.
Yet he Soon recovered from this disaster and went on to continue a practically 40-year connection with Lake Hopatcong. Harris continued his summer season visits to the lake till as late as 1939, whilst he was in his 60's and his photographic profession started winding down.
St. Augustine, Florida: In 1898 Harris moved to St. Augustine, Florida exactly where he opened the "Acme View Business enterprise". Harris's Florida photographic solutions integrated the sale of cameras and gear, free of charge photographic directions to amateur photographers, the use of his darkroom, as properly as skilled photographic solutions to regional residents or going to vacationers. He also lost no time in photographing the Wonderful sights in St. Augustine and the surrounding Florida countryside.
Harris Soon fell in love with St. Augustine and to a bigger extent, almost all of Florida. Involving 1898 and 1940 Harris started a photographic profession that most of us would aspire to reach these days...summers along the shorelines of Attractive Lake Hopatcong, NJ... and winters in warm and sunny St. Augustine, FL.
St. Augustine presented a form of photographic subjects that appealed to Florida's rising tourist trade such as the Fountain of Youth, the Oldest House in America, Ft. Marion, City Gates, and The Old Slave Marketplace, Involving other people.
In 1912 Harris started a long, and at times controversial, partnership with the St. Augustine Historical Society. Serving as its business manager and head curator, Harris was instrumental each in recruiting new members to the Historical Society as effectively as selling each the history and heritage of St. Augustine. Although on his watch, particular members started to dispute some of the Historical Society's unsubstantiated claims...was the "Oldest House in America" essentially as old as claimed?. Was the "Old Slave Marketplace" essentially a "Slave Marketplace" or was it basically a "Public Make Industry".. The "...effectively, they could were..." responses by particular location business folks met resistance from other historical purists, and some adjustments in St. Augustine's historical claims resulted.
Regardless of the controversy, Harris's association with the St. Augustine Historical Society lasted till his death in 1940 and all the even though, Harris continued to advertise his St. Augustine postcard and photography business.
Harris Postcards: It was in 1893 even though going to the Columbia Exposition that Harris saw a glimpse of the subsequent coming trend...postcards. By 1898 Congress passed a law authorizing the manufacture and use of "Individual Mailing Cards" and what began as a trickle Quickly exploded into a substantial business. And Harris was in a fantastic position to earn his share of the business. The phone was not But commonplace and postcards Quickly became a key suggests of casual communication. In 1901 Harris was promoting a grouping of 30 Lake Hopatcong views that had been in a position of becoming inserted into a letter, so converting them into postcards was a comparatively straightforward activity. Soon converting significantly of his current stock into postcards and adding new views both year, Harris Quickly had actually hundreds of Lake Hopatcong postcard views and became recognized about Lake Hopatcong as "Harris, the Postcard Man". Any one wishing to send a individual message around their specific getaway or vacation on Lake Hopatcong ordinarily did it utilizing a Harris postcard. In 1909 alone Harris claims to have sold over 200,000 Lake Hopatcong postcards and projected even a lot more for 1910.
As his postcard business grew, he expanded into the souvenir and novelty field, promoting paperweights, cups, fancy holders, and other assorted wooden and birch bark novelties, all with the name "Lake Hopatcong" on them. Whilst such a souvenir business was common in St. Augustine and other locations, Harris was one of the very first to get started such a business at Lake Hopatcong.
As the postcard craze started to wind down about 1915, Harris were watching from a distance the results of Wallace Nutting in Massachusetts and Quickly decided to enter the field of hand-colored photography himself. With his background, it was a organic.
Hand-Colored Images: Harris's earliest try with hand-colored pictures came while he 1st hand-tinted his Lake Hopatcong postcards. After functioning in black & white for various years, beginning about 1905 Harris assumed that the added color could lead to enhanced sales. However he also Quickly discovered that the added expense of hand-coloring his postcards led to a greater unit value, and at some point to reduced sales. At some point Harris went the route of so quite a few other postcard photographers of getting his postcards made in color on substantial-run color printing presses.
As part of his New Jersey summer time-Florida winter cycles, Harris started taken new photos with the intention of hand-coloring them for re-sale. His greatest promoting images Quickly came to be from the New York Adirondack Region (in particular Ausable Chasm) and Florida (in particular The Singing Tower), even though his northeastern images came from In the course of a 4-state region and his Florida images came from For the duration of the whole Miami-St. Augustine stretch.
Just before long, "Harris Photographs" started to replace "Harris the Postcard Man" as his main supply of earnings. According to his son Carver..."what funds he had, he produced from colored images". And apparently he created sufficient income to invest in homes in Florida and New Jersey, an imposing car or truck, a house-car, and numerous launches and speedboats (which enabled him to get about Lake Hopatcong more rapidly than ever).
Enjoy Wallace Nutting photos, Harris photographs had been commonly hand-colored images, tipped onto a linen-variety matboard, and signed with the "Harris" name decrease proper, and title reduced left, typically signed in pencil. Most Harris photos have been matted, even though a fair quantity had been "close-framed" and signed straight on the picture without the need of any matting. And pretty at times you will nonetheless locate an original "Harris" label either on the matboard back or on the backing paper.
But Harris images carry quite a few subtle variations Among Nutting and some of the key Nutting-Love photographers:
• Most Harris images have been oblong views, with the length normally becoming additional than twice the width (or vice versa).
• Harris only sold Exterior (outside) views. He don't sold Colonial Interior scenes.
• You will only see the name "Harris" signed on the picture, don't "W.J.' or any other variation of his initial or middle names. There is also do not any mention of Harris's initial or middle name on any of his picture labels.
• While the "Harris" name is typically written parallel beneath the picture, often you will see the "Harris" name written at a 45 degree angle.
• Whilst much more uncommon, it really is not unusual for the Harris name to be decrease left and the title to be reduce correct.
• Most Harris signatures are signed in pencil
And maybe most diverse from Nutting, numerous Harris photographs are hand-colored "photogravures" pretty than hand-colored images. Though his earliest scenes had been designed on photographic paper, some of his later and very best-promoting views had been reproduced in bigger black & white quantities utilizing the photogravure printing course of action, and then individually hand-colored. Whereas Nutting had almost one hundred colorists at his peak, Harris do not had far more than 5 individuals coloring his photographs at any offered time.
One fascinating story around Harris images relates to various of his photographs that function a egret standing in the Florida water. Apparently for the sake of simplicity, Harris carried a "stuffed" egret as part of his photographic gear, presumably simply because it was much easier to shoot a nevertheless bird for impact really than a live, uncontrollable bird. He was also identified to carry a stuffed alligator for impact as effectively.
Not surprisingly, Harris was ordinarily his personal most effective salesman and his photographic expeditions also became sales trips as nicely. Anytime he went into the countryside to shoot new photos, he commonly stopped at quite a few art and present shops along the way to reach new wholesale and retail orders for his picture business. It was estimated that extra than 70 shops on each coasts of Florida alone carried Harris's hand-colored photos. A number of hotels applied Harris images on their walls to advertise the beauties of early 20th c. Florida, and it's estimated that Harris would generally have to have far more than 25,000 photographs per season basically to satisfy the demand of his Florida sales outlets.
And as the Florida season would end Harris would pack car, head back north, and start off the cycle all over once again at New Jersey's Lake Hopatcong.
The Final Years: William James Harris died on August 2, 1940 after suffering Throughout a long illness and was buried in his adopted city of St. Augustine. Even though not as nicely recognized as Wallace Nutting or some of Nutting's other contemporaries, Harris did realize a considerable level of fame. He enjoyed a affordable economic good results in his selected photographic field, he enjoyed the travel and operate Involving the northeast in the summer time months and Florida in the winter months, he had a unique household life, he made a powerful bond with his adopted city of St. Augustine, FL, and his photographic functions definitely helped to popularize Florida far more than any other photographer of his time.
And now far more than ever, collectors of hand-colored photography are actively looking for the Wonderful hand-colored images of William James Harris.
Michael Ivankovich is a Bucks County PA Auctioneer, House Downsizing Consultant, and Private House Appraiser in Doylestown PA. He has been specializing in Wallace Nutting and other Early 20th Century Hand-Colored Photography for far more than 35 years and is the author of quite a few books on the subject. He is a licensed and bonded Pennsylvania Auctioneer and has been Referred to as Pennsylvania's Auctioneer of the Year by the Pennsylvania Auctioneers Association. You are invited to visit his net web-site at http://www.michaelivankovich.com
What are your images and prints value? If you are curious around the price tag of your photos or prints, visit this hyperlink: http://www.wnutting.com/hyperlinks/appraisal.html
You can accomplish Mr. Ivankovich at (215)-345-6094 or by e-mail: details@michaelivankovich.com
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