Carleton E. Watkins

Carleton E. Watkins

Frederick Billings' collection of Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916) photographs include mammoth prints and glass stereographs of the Yosemite Valley, New Almaden Mines, and San Francisco. Watkins's photographs helped shape America's idea of the West, visually introducing to the nation undeveloped landscapes that would be significant to the expansion of American business, finance, agriculture, government policy, and science. The photographs would influence artists and scientists and inform economies that drove west: mining, transportation, agriculture, and tourism.