Framing the West: Timothy O’Sullivan

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho. (LOC)

Black Cañon, above camp 7 (LOC)

Cañon de Chelle. Walls of the Grand Cañon about 1200 Feet in Height.

Enjoy a rare view of the American West as photographed by Timothy O’Sullivan in the late 1800s. O’Sullivan began his photography career as an apprentice to Mathew Brady, the famed U.S. Civil War photographer. The joint exhibition and publication “Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O’Sullivan,” put together by The Library of Congress and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, contains incredible images from two government expeditions into the Western U.S.: the King survey of the 40th parallel and the Wheeler survey west of the 100th meridian.

Happily, Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress have just uploaded highlights of this collection to The Commons for you to annotate, tag, share and enjoy.

Tufa Domes, Pyramid Lake, Nevada (King Survey)

Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho, View across the Top of the Falls (Wheeler Survey)

Iceberg Cañon, Colorado River, Looking Above (Wheeler Survey)

Boat crew of the "Picture" at Diamond Creek (LOC)

See and learn more more about this important colloborative effort in the Timothy H. O’Sullivan group on Flickr. If you have contemporary images of the locations in these O’Sullivan photographs, you’re welcome to add them to the group!

Photos from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution.