Robert H. Vance

Robert H. Vance, n.d., Gold Rush Photographer Robert H. Vance and his Staff, Photograph, Carl Mautz Vintage Photographs, LL/62341

Robert H. Vance

Other: R.H. Vance
Other: Robert Vance
Joint: Kemp & Vance

Born: 1825 - US, ME
Died: 1876 - US, NY
Gender: Male
Active: US
 
An early daguerreotypist and photographer of California who in the winter and spring of 1851 financed, or took, a series of 300 daguerreotypes. In the autumn of 1851 these "Views in California" were shown in New York City and the catalogue of the exhibition survives. These may well include the first photographs taken of the Indians of California. The exhibition was not a commercial success and the plates were passed to Jeremiah Gurney and on to John H. Fitzgibbon and from that point on they have been lost.
 
The question of who took the "Views of California" is discussed in chapter 11 of Weston Naef's book Chasing Aurora (Available online: http://www.westonnaef.net)

Genealogy of Robert H. Vance

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alan@luminous-lint.com