Susan Parish at Light Table with an 8 x 10 negative

Photo by Carl Cook, 1983

Photographers

The Susan Parish Collection

A Photograph Archives

Est. 1983

The SPC is a privately owned photographic archives containing over 200,000 original negatives and images dating back to the 1860's.   Ms. Parish, a native of Olympia, Washington, began making and collecting photographs as a child in the 1950's. View more about her journey as a collector/photographer here.

The SPC encompasses the full spectrum of the photographic medium, as well as materials and documents related to the history and process of this art/communication form as an important adjunct to its holdings and as a asset for the community. This reflects her curatorial tenet that "although the photographic objects are privately held, the collection as a whole is invaluable to the public and the study of history”.

The SPC not only documents the natural and cultural landscape it also traces the entire history of photography including its aesthetic movements and technological advancements. Processes from Daguerreotypes, salt prints, Woodbury types, albumen prints, ambrotypes, tintypes, film and contemporary processes such as digital photography are represented. Contemporary color and black-and-white photographs, negative and transparencies—along with a small selection of videotapes and films are held in the collection.

The SPC reflects the central role photography plays in our image-based culture, both as an expressive medium and as a documentary record.  

Although the backdrop of most images in the SPC are Washington State, there are photographs and their negatives from 23 other states in the union and over 35 countries. Including fine photographs of Alaska, including the Gold Rush and early steam boating; Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, California and even international locations such as;  Africa, Canada, Mexico, Tahiti, France and Spain.

And, while the entire collection illustrates the complex and varied history of the medium, its major areas of strength are in the modern and contemporary periods and in social and physical documentary photography.

This includes:  19th century works in portraiture, social documentary and photojournalism; Modern works, of pre and post-World War II regional photography, constitute the strongest area of the collection.

Subject matter is extensive ~ with the common themes associated with the historic Pacific Northwest and its natural and cultural landscape well represented; i.e. logging and old growth forests, railroading, beautiful landscapes of shorelines and mountains, steam ships and tug boats, dusty main streets of emerging cities, portraits of Native Americans and multi-cultural pioneers, recreational activities such as skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting, as well as many historical events of national note.  An important part of the collection is the extensive coverage of Washington State Government including construction of the State Capitol buildings.

LINKS

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

THE SHADOW CATCHERS

JOURNEY OF A SHADOW CATCHER

Statement by Susan Parish on her work as a photographer

and preservation of historical photographs