Rephotographic survey project photographs, 1977-1997

The Rephotographic Survey Project, which operated between 1977 and 1979, visited the sites of photographs taken in the nineteenth century and rephotographed them. The original landscape, photography from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada were originally made by William Henry Jackson, Timothy O'Sullivan, John Hillers, Andrew J. Russell, and Alexander Gardner.

The purpose of the project was to rephotograph the exact site that several 19th century photographers had photographed in the West. The Project was sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Polaroid Corporation and features the work of 19th century photographers William Henry Jackson, Timothy O'Sullivan, John K. Hillers, and Andrew J. Russell. Each pair in this set consists of a reproduction of the 19th century photograph and the corresponding photo taken by the project team. The project team consisted of Ellen Manchester, Director; Mark Klett, Chief Photographer; JoAnn Verburg, Research Coordinator; Rick Dingus and Gordon Bushaw, photographers. The 19th century images in this set are copy prints made from original albumen prints. In most cases the copy negatives were made by the team. Surface imperfections in the originals are reflected in the copies. The prints in this set were made from the project's 4 x 5" field negatives. Both copy prints and project prints were made on Agra Portriga Rapid paper and archivally processed. The prints were made by Mark Klett and Wayne Jenkins between 1984 and 1985. This set was collated and issued by Mark Klett on April 10, 1997.