An extensive collection of early color-printed postcards of Yellowstone National Park, illustrating the range of natural wonders, geysers, buffalo herds, hot springs, and the like, that make the Park famous. The views are all after photographs by F. Jay Haynes, who, like William Henry Jackson, used the latest color printing technologies to market and popularize his photography to a wider public. All of the postcards have the "HAYNES-PHOTO" credit in lower right corner, all printed in Germany.
Frank Jay Haynes (1853-1921), usually known as F. Jay Haynes, was a noted photographer of the West, becoming the official photograher of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1881. That same year Haynes visited Yellowstone National Park for the first time and acquired a franchise for a photography studio within the Park. He soon styled himself the official photographer of Yellowstone. Earlier in his career he peddled chromolithographs from a horse-drawn carriage, an experience which may have guided him in marketing Yellowstone images through color-printed reproductions. Indeed, he pioneered the use of color printed postcards to reproduce his photographs, and was one of the earliest photographers to do so on a large scale.
Haynes was also the official photographer of the Northern Pacific Railway. This position allowed him to purchase his own Pullman car, which he outfitted with a photography studio. The Haynes Palace Studio Car ran from 1885 until 1905, giving Haynes access to the views along the railroad, which he copyrighted and sold under his own name....Haynes also pioneered other uses of his photographs, including the manufacture of postcard views in 1897 and as illustrations in The Haynes Guidebook to Yellowstone, which was issued annually from 1890 to 1966 - Jamie M. Allen, Picturing America's National Parks, page 31.
The postcard views are all color-printed, likely using the Photochrom process (or a knock-off), which allowed for continuous-tone, full-color reproduction of black and white photographs. Photocrom was invented in the 1880s by the Swiss company Orell Füssli, popularized in the United States by the Detroit Publishing Company, which initially held exclusive U.S. rights to the process.
Here follows a selection of the views (transcribed from printed captions on the postcards). All are views in Yellowstone Park.
- Hymen Terrace and Valley, Yellowstone Park
- Liberty Cap and Hotel
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Jupiter Terrace
- Pulpit Terrace
- Moonlight on the Lake
- Yellowstone Lake and Mt. Sheridan
- Natural Bridge
- Hot Spring Cone
- Jackson Lake and Teton Mountains
- Gardiner Canyon
- Eagle Nest Rock
- Mammoth Hotel
- Hayden Valley
- The Mud Geyser
- Cupid's Cave
- A Park Buffalo
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- The Buffafo Heard
- Swan Lake Valley
- Electric Peak
- Norris Geyser Basin
- Firehole Cascades
- Fountain Geyser
- Overflow of Excelsior Geyser
- Prismatic Lake
- Biscuit Basin
- Morning Glory Spring
- Riverside Geyser
- Giant Geyser
- Entrance Old Faithful Inn
- Old Faithful Geyser in Winter
- Bee Hive Geyser
- Trout Fishing, Lake Outlet
- Mount Washburn
- Tower Falls 110 ft.