Clara Sheldon Smith (July 1862 – November 1939)[1] was a photographer based in California in the late 19th and early 20th century known for portrait photography and photographs of the Northern California landscape.[2]
Career
editClara Sheldon Smith set up the Ramona Art Studio in Marysville, California in the Sacramento Valley.[3] Ramona Art Studio, at first run out of a tent, focused on portraiture. At the turn of the century Smith had a contract with the city of Marysville to photograph its prisoners. From 1900 to 1908 she photographed over 500 local criminals.[4] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Smith documented the damage in a panoramic photograph which she shot from high up in a helium-filled balloon.[5] In 1908 Smith sold her studio to C.C. Green and retired from photography.[6]
Collections
editSmith's work is held in permanent collections including:
- The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California[7]
- Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, Yuba City, California[8]
Legacy
editClara Sheldon Smith's photographs of Marysville criminals have been compiled, and paired with archival research into the lives of her subjects, in Arne Swenson's book "Prisoners".[9][10]
References
edit- ↑ Hathaway, Pat. "Clara Sheldon Smith, Photographer". California Views. The Pat Hathaway Photo Collection. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ Sutton, Shamaya (Jul 21, 2023). "Museum gains new insight into Marysville's past". The Appeal Democrat. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ Ressler, Susan R. (2003). Women Artists of the American West. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 334. ISBN 9780786410545.
- ↑ Sonstegard, Dr. Viki. "Clara Sheldon Smith: Intrepid Photographer". Women Out West: Art on the Left Coast. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ Bullough, William A. (1991). "Reviewed of Shadowcatchers: A Directory of Women in California Photography before 1901 by Peter E. Palmquist". California History. 70 (3): 310–312. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Street, Richard Steven (1982). ""We Are Not Slaves": The Photographic Record of the Wheatland Hop Riot: The First Images of Protesting Farm Workers in America" (PDF). Southern California Quarterly. 64 (3): 205–226. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ "Marysville photographs/ Clara Sheldon Smith /Ramona Studios". The Online Archive of California. University of California Libraries. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ Stark, Julie (Oct 2011). "Clara Sheldon Smith, Art Photographer" (PDF). Sutter County Historical Society. LIII (4). Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ Svenson, Arne. "Prisoners". Arne Svenson. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
- ↑ Svenson, Arne (1997). Prisoners. New York: Blast Books. ISBN 978-0922233182.