Grace Hudson Museum

Aurelius O. Carpenter: Photographer of the Mendocino Frontier, circa 1873

A. O. Carpenter, circa 1873

October 7, 2006 – January 21, 2007

Aurelius O. Carpenter: Photographer of the Mendocino Frontier is the first comprehensive presentation of the life and work of Grace Hudson’s extraordinary father. One of the most talented early photographers to set up shop in Mendocino County, A. O.’s (as he was commonly known) adventurous spirit, work ethic, and artistic abilities provide important visual documentation of the region’s development in the late19th and early 20th centuries. His large panoramic views chronicle the logging, tanbark, and shipping industries, which dominated the coast as well as the inland region’s bounty of natural attractions and agricultural endeavors. He also produced an important body of photographs depicting Pomo Indian individuals and communities, as well as portraits of Carpenter-Hudson family members and other early White residents.

Ukiah Roundhouse, circa 1901

Albion Cove, circa 1900

A. O. Carpenter (1836-1919) and his wife, Helen McCowen Carpenter (1838-1917) maintained their commercial photography studio at the family’s Ukiah home. In addition, A. O. traveled as an itinerant photographer throughout this rural, rugged region, hauling his cameras and supplies in a horse-drawn wagon. He set up his tent studio in small, scattered settlements, making portraits and recording outdoor views. While in the field, A. O. left Helen to operate their Ukiah studio. Unfortunately, most of their portrait production negatives, besides those of family members, are now lost.

Gualala Bridge, circa 1892

Today, outside of Northern California, Carpenter’s work is largely unknown, primarily because his photography focused on the people, landscapes, and events of the Mendocino frontier. However, the Grace Hudson Museum and Sun House has long wanted to introduce Carpenter’s work to a wider audience. Local photo-historian Robert J. Lee’s recent gift of some 700 Carpenter glass plate negatives, along with contact prints from these plates, provided the catalyst for this project. It is rare for such a large body of work to be preserved. This exhibition, therefore, not only introduces Carpenter’s photographs, it also serves to document the new field of photography during an important era of California’s settlement.

Charmian Kittredge and Frank Carpenter, circa 1894

Mollie Duncan, circa 1896

Obvious plate damage exists within many of the recently donated images. Indeed, many of these images would have been lost had it not been for Lee’s efforts. In the early 1960s, he rescued these glass plate negatives from the damp basement of the Sun House, Grace and John Hudson’s Craftsman Bungalow home. It is through Mr. Lee’s forty years of stewardship that these captured moments of history have survived. In order to preserve the life of the original images, and to allow some images to be enlarged from their original print size, for this exhibit we chose to use high quality digital prints scanned from historic photographs or modern contact prints in the collections of the Grace Hudson Museum.

John and Grace Hudson, circa 1893