Snapshots of the Past

[Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, Calif.] – Historic Reproduction

[Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, Calif.], [ca. 1865] — historic photograph
[Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, Calif.], [ca. 1865]. Historic photograph from the Yosemite collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of [Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, Calif.]. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

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[Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite Valley, Calif.]

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Bridal Veil Fall drops roughly 620 feet beside the granite wall at the mouth of Yosemite Valley, and this albumen print from about 1865 captures it at a time when few Americans had seen the place firsthand. The valley had been granted to California by Congress in 1864 as a protected public trust, and photographers working there in the mid-1860s, including Carleton Watkins, helped turn its waterfalls and cliffs into national images. Large-format plates like this one recorded the falls in fine detail, so the spray and the sheer rock face read clearly even today. The print is a useful reminder of how photography shaped early support for preserving the valley.

Created / published[ca. 1865]
Medium1 photographic print : albumen.
GenreLandscape photographs 1860-1870.Mammoth plates 1860-1870.Albumen prints 1860-1870.
SubjectsWaterfalls--California--1860-1870. Mountains--California--1860-1870. Yosemite National Park (Calif.)--1860-1870.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan9,507 × 7,583 px · prints to 32 × 25 in at 300 dpi
Referencetif09990_BridalVeilFallYosemiteValleyCa

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