Special Collections and University Archives is pleased to announce an updated finding aid published for the Jodie Wallick photographs (PH200_006). The finding aid is available on Archives West.

This collection features photographs taken by Jodie Wallick during the late 1800s and early 1900s. There is little information about Wallick, but it is documented that she held both a U.S. and a Canadian patent for a photo holder she developed. Wallick clearly had a drive and creativity which she applied to photography.

The photographs in this collection document aspects of frontier life including travel between Oregon and Alaska, buildings relating to mining and milling, images of leisure activities, and landscapes. The collection includes images of Sumpter, Oregon, Rampart City, Alaska on the Yukon River, and Dutch Harbor, Alaska. There are numerous images of mine and mill buildings including Columbia Mine & Mill and a mining operation on the Little Manook River in Alaska. She also photographed the traveling party and miners at work, giving us a glimpse into the lives of those around her.

Jodie Wallick was active at a time in history when it is rare to find female photographers. She is featured in one photograph-a portrait of her holding a violin-but aside from that she is behind the camera documenting life on the mining frontier, the people around her, and things of interest through her eyes. In one image Wallick arranges pieces of Alaskan Native craftsmanship into an artistic arrangement for a photograph. In others she captures the beauty of the landscapes surrounding her. She was a frontier of breaking down gender barriers, perhaps without even realizing it.

–Emily Haskins, Special Collections Intern

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Sources:

United States Patent Office. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907.

The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyright and Trademarks. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau. 1906