EARLY WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS OF WASHINGTON STATE
(1862 - 1940)
© Susan Parish 1999
Although Mary never became what one refers
to as a " professional photographer", she was a serious and very talented artist.
As a pioneer in the Pacific Northwest, wife of a prominent politician and mother
of three, her photographs
reflect not only her personal interests of the surrounding landscape and simple family
pleasures, family portraits and local events, her photographs also document and
purposely illuminate the pioneer and Native American way of life at a
critical time in American history. Her images are skillful, intriguing and timeless documents of the American
West.
Mary at 25, photo taken in Seattle, WA
EARLY LIFE AS A PIONEER IN THE OREGON TERRITORY
Mary Rowland was born in McMinnville, Oregon Territory, in 1862. Her mother had
traveled west along the Oregon Trail with an older brother and settled into
central Oregon. However, in 1876, her mother's asthma drove the family to search
out a drier climate and they moved north into the valley of the Yakima River
area of Ellensburg in the central plains of Washington Territory. It was December when they
reached Ellensburg "with a light team and a heavy load", and "there was
nothing in sight save sage brush and dead rose bushes". Neighbors
were miles apart and there was no mail unless someone rode across the mountains
to Yakima to fetch it. Provisions were laid in once a year brought in from The
Dalles, Oregon along the Columbia River where they had come up from Portland by
steamboat. Mary later remembered to an historian capturing her oral
history that she thought it was fun to
be a pioneer child. Her family home was nothing more than a small log cabin in a
grove of pines west of town but it had sheltered a happy, busy family.
MARRIAGE, MOTHERHOOD AND LOTS OF COURAGE
At 18 Mary married a local fellow and soon bore a son. Two years later for unknown reasons, she left them both behind and went west to the Pacific Coast. According to her diary of 1882, she lived in Seattle with family friends and "earned her keep" as a live-in seamstress. Back home her husband filed for divorce on grounds of desertion. She missed her son greatly which led to depression and ensuing illness. After a year away she traveled back to her parent's home and Ellensburg.
AUSTIN MIRES, POLITICIAN AND PARTNER
For her 21st birthday Mary had her portrait made while
in
Seattle (photo above) and there she met a bright and ambitious young attorney.
Austin Mires moved to
Ellensburg and Mary soon followed.
It was a good marriage and a happy family life. Three children, Anna, John and
Eve, came from their union. Mary's son, Frank, from her short first
marriage, came to live with them in 1892 when he was 12.
Mary
passed over in the family home at 406 Ruby Street in Ellensburg, WA in December of 1940.
It was where
she and Austin first started their life together and where she had raised her family.
REMINISCENCES ON MARY'S PHOTOGRAPHY
When
I first started to print from Mary's negatives, I thought they were very
intimate glimpses of family life at the turn of the century; family
outings, camping trips, fishing on the nearby rivers, portraits of her family,
friends and visitors, local Native Americans that she knew well and did
household work for the family, the early Ellensburg Rodeos, the new Washington State
University, etc. The more I looked, however, the more I saw. These were not just 'family and community visual
history', these were not just beautiful and enchanting
images. What I originally thought was the work of a housewife looking for
adventure, her image making was deliberate and educated. They were the work of a very
serious and a very talented
photographer.
Mary started making photographs
about 1901 I discovered in her husband's diary dated September 22, of that
year. He wrote, "Mary took and printed her own photographs".
I
have not learned how her
interest started or how she learned all she did about the art and craft of
photography. Out in the open plains of
central Washington there no classes in photography. I can only surmise that she subscribed to camera magazines. Nevertheless, I do
know that she was serious enough about her camera work that she experimented
with double exposures, unusual lighting effects, and upon viewing some original
cyanotypes and miscellaneous toned photos, used various darkroom
techniques and chemistries.
PHOTOGRAPHING "THE VANISHING RACE"
Mary also seemed to be deliberately documenting the lifestyle of the her era; the community and the changes that were taking place around her. Both her and her husband were well aware of this "vanishing race" as Native Americans were called in every magazine of the time, and also of the significance of the changes they were witnessing. Austin, after all, was a legislator and took part in making the laws that were governing theses same Native Americans. Although there were others, most belonged to the Yakama tribe. Mary made many portraits of the women, many of whom were basket makers, and managed to put together a remarkable collection that has since been donated to the Kittitas County Museum. She also discovered the rare "Ellensburg Blue" agate.
CONTINUED DISCOVERY
I am still discovering Mary's images and their significance and have not yet made prints from all of her glass plates. Putting together the story of her life and putting names and dates to the negatives is a very time and energy consuming process. However, the more I discover the more I realize their beauty and her rare talent.
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