Exposition

1905 · 63010 — Portland OR: n.p. 1905. Oblong 12mo. 7.25 x 5.25 in. 40 leaves unnumbered. on thick black paper stock. With 25 silver gelatin photos on Velvet Velox Kodak paper mounted w/ silver corners sized 3.25 x 5 in. 1st leaf w/ reverse duplicate on verso. Padded black ribbed cloth album faint lettering stamped on front cover minor edgewear rubbing some minor bumping to corners slight curling to photos still a VG exemplar from the library of A. Rodney Eckerson 1930-2024 former purchasing agent for the Port of Portland. This souvenir photo album features 25 original photographs documenting two couple’s 1905 visit to the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition which marked the anniversary of the famed exploration across the North American continent after the Louisiana Purchase. The album opens with two photographs of the Forestry Building composed entirely of giant Douglas Fir logs; while the following photos capture the giant lagoon constructed from Guild’s Lake the Foreign Exhibits Building Agriculture and Horticulture Palace the U.S. Government Building at the end of the Bridge of Nations and Frederic Remington’s sculpture “Coming through the Rye†later renamed “Off the Trail†of four wild cowboys coming into town. Of special interest is one woman standing at the base of one of the several Native Alaskan totem poles on the shore of Guild’s Lake during the Exposition and later moved to Sitka National Historical Park in Sitka Alaska. Vernacular photo albums composed by amateur photographers during the run of the Exposition are quite uncommon and most fairgoers relied on Robert Reid Shogren and the Kiser Bros. for their souvenir images. n.p., hardcover