Yellowstone Discovered

Past Exhibition

Yellowstone Discovered: William Henry Jackson’s Lost Prints Reveal the Park for America

This special exhibition, which recurs periodically at the Center, features a selection of rare Albertype photographs of what became Yellowstone National Park, in digital reproduction form. The images taken by photographer William Henry Jackson while on the 1871 geological survey of the park led by Ferdinand V. Hayden, reveal the area’s spectacular landscapes and geologic wonders. After the trip Jackson and his partners produced beautiful prints called “Albertypes” from gelatin-coated glass plates.

For this exhibition, collector Dr. Robert Enteen has loaned an album of Albertypes—the most complete set known to exist—to the Center’s McCracken Research Library in honor of the National Park Service’s (NPS) 100th Anniversary in 2016.

First created in 2016, the Yellowstone Discovered special exhibition is once again featured in the Center of the West’s John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery. The exhibition was supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council.

Read more William Henry Jackson and his quest to publish his Albertypes in this Points West Online article.

Images below:

• Albertype William Henry Jackson photo. Hot spring in Yellowstone Lake, 1871. Plate XVI. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, USA. From the collection of Dr. Robert Enteen. WHJ-A.070
• Albertype William Henry Jackson photo. Boiling Cauldron at Sulphur Mountain, 1871. Plate XII. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, USA. From the collection of Dr. Robert Enteen. WHJ-A.067
• Albertype of William Henry Jackson photo. Expedition rider measures distance with this early odometer. U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories, 1871. Plate LI. Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, USA. From the collection of Dr. Robert Enteen. WHJ-A.054
• Albertype of William Henry Jackson photo of “1st boat on Yellowstone Lake.” U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories, 1871. Platte XXXV11. From the collection of Dr. Robert Enteen. WHJ-A.040