Elfie Caroline Huntington
{{Short description|American photographer (1868–1949)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Elfie Caroline Huntington
| image = Elfie Huntington 1927.jpg
| alt = black-and-white photograph of Elfie Caroline Huntington looking toward the camera
| caption = Huntington in 1927
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|12|27}}
| birth_place = Springville, Utah Territory, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1949|07|24|1868|12|27}}
| death_place = Utah, U.S.
| burial_place = Springville City Cemetery
| known_for = Photography
| spouse = {{marriage|Joseph Daniel Bagley|May 1936|1936|end=d}}
}}
Elfie Caroline Huntington (December 27, 1868 – July 24, 1949) was an American photographer from Springville, Utah. She was deaf as a result of childhood scarlet fever, and became involved in photography at age 24 as an apprentice to George Edward Anderson. She started a successful photography studio in Springville with fellow apprentice Joseph Daniel Bagley; they also traveled around Utah taking photographs. Huntington was known for taking pictures of everyday occurrences as well as dark, humorous photos.
Early life
Elfie Caroline Huntington was born in 1868 in Springville, Utah Territory to William Clark Huntington and Emma Elizabeth Boyer.{{cite web |title=Biography of Elfie Huntington |url=https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/biography-of-elfie-huntington/ |website=Huntington Bagley Collection |publisher=Brigham Young University |access-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-date=May 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506201630/https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/biography-of-elfie-huntington/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Springville photographer Elfie Huntington captured ordinary people and things {{!}} Historic and Prehistoric Publications |url=https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=419386 |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=collections.lib.utah.edu |language=en}} When she was four years old, she lost her hearing due to complications from scarlet fever. Since there were few educational opportunities for children with disabilities, she did not perfect her lip-reading or speaking until her late teens. Despite her disability, she never attended a school for the deaf, but became "well educated" in public schools.{{rp|200}}
Her mother died in childbirth and her father was an Indian agent who eventually remarried and moved to California.{{Cite web |last= |date=March 10, 1989 |title=THE ALLURING ENIGMA OF PHOTOGRAPHER ELFIE HUNTINGTON |url=https://www.deseret.com/1989/3/10/18798337/the-alluring-enigma-of-photographer-elfie-huntington |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=Deseret News |language=en}} She was raised by her grandmother, and after her grandmother's death lived with her aunt and uncle.{{rp|200}} Her uncle encouraged her to pursue the visual arts.
Career
At age 24, with her uncle's help, Huntington began an apprenticeship with a local photographer, George Edward Anderson.{{Cite web |title=ON9 Elfie Huntington |url=http://otisnebula.com/otisnebula/ON9_Elfie_Huntington.html |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=otisnebula.com}}{{Cite book |last=Wadsworth |first=Nelson |title=Set in Stone, Fixed in Glass: The Great Mormon Temple and Its Photographers |publisher=Signature Books |year=1992 |isbn=1560850248 |location=Salt Lake City}}{{rp|199–200}} She learned retouching negatives, darkroom techniques, and general photography skills.{{rp|200}} During her apprenticeship, she became known in Springville for her success.{{rp|200}}
While working with Anderson, she purchased her first camera{{rp|200}} and began taking personal pictures of her family, friends, and everyday life in Springville. She stored these printed photos in albums.{{rp|200}}
In 1903, Huntington and another of Anderson's apprentices, Joseph Daniel Bagley, created their own studio.{{Cite book |last=Allred |first=Mason Kamana |title=Seeing Things: Technologies of Vision and the Making of Mormonism |date=2023 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-7258-8 |location=Chapel Hill |pages=76}} Their studio, called Huntington and Bagley, offered services such as professional portraits and film finishing. They were in business for over 33 years.{{cite web |title=The Collection and its History |url=https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/ |website=Huntington Bagley Collection |publisher=Brigham Young University |access-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521020849/https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/ |url-status=live }} Huntington and Bagley also traveled around Utah to take portraits and set up galleries,{{Cite web |title=Huntington-Bagley Collection |url=https://www.jstor.org/site/brigham-young-university/huntington-bagley/?searchkey=1684526620539&pagemark=eyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydHMiOnsiSlNUT1JCYXNpYyI6MjV9fQ%253D%253D |website=JSTOR}} as well as taking photographs of Native American ruins. They were often seen traveling together on a motorcycle.
File:Huntington, Bagley, and two men.jpg
Around 1939, a few years after Bagley's death, Huntington sold the photography studio.
= Style =
Mormon historian Mason Kamana Allred writes that Bagley and Huntington's legacy remains due to their "willingness to confront, starkly at times, the pains and complexities of life."{{rp|205}} Huntington's work was seen as "unusual" for the time period. Her work consisted of photographs of everyday occurrences such as people in a park and children playing.
Huntington also portrayed more negative aspects of daily life in Springville, such as excessive drinking and fights.{{Cite web |date=May 19, 2023 |title=About the Photographer |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V26N04_251.pdf |website=Dialogue Journal}} Her photos were also more inclusive than the work of other photographers, as her works included a photo of a man with prosthetic legs and one of herself cross-dressing, and she critiqued men's views of women in her work.{{Cite web |last=Goodwin |first=Lauren |date=April 22, 2021 |title=Technology has shaped the role of women in the Church from 'vessels of reproduction' to creative individuals with voice, Mason Allred said at FAC Forum |url=https://kealakai.byuh.edu/technology-has-shaped-the-role-of-women-in-the-church-from-vessels-of-reproduction-to-creative-individuals-with-voice-mason-allred-said-at-fac-forum |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=Ke Alaka'i |language=en}}
Collections
Huntington's work is held in the permanent collections of the Huntington Bagley Collection and the Rell G. Francis Collection at Brigham Young University;{{cite web |title=Rell G. Francis collection on Elfie Huntington |url=http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11457 |publisher=BYU Special Collections |access-date=May 23, 2023}} the Springville Museum of Art, the Mapleton, Utah Historical Photographs collection,{{cite web |title=Bagley, Elfie Huntington |url=https://contentdm.uvu.edu/digital/collection/Mapleton/id/722 |publisher=Utah Valley University |access-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-date=May 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524202927/https://contentdm.uvu.edu/digital/collection/Mapleton/id/722 |url-status=live }} and the Domestic Life Photograph Collection of the Utah State Historical Society{{cite web |title=The Domestic Life Photograph Collection |url=https://history.utah.gov/finding-aids/data/C00375/ |publisher=Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement |access-date=May 23, 2023}} among others.
Personal life
At age 68, Huntington married Bagley (then a widower) in May 1936 in a simple ceremony at their studio.{{cite web |title=Biography of Joseph Daniel Bagley |url=https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/biography-of-joseph-bagley/ |website=Huntington Bagley Collection |publisher=Brigham Young University |access-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521012830/https://lib.byu.edu/collections/huntington-bagley-collection/about/biography-of-joseph-bagley/ |url-status=live }} Bagley died six weeks after their marriage. Huntington never had any biological children, and chose not to raise Bagley's two children from his previous marriage.{{Cite web |last=Rossiter |first=Shawn |date=February 10, 2023 |title=Exhibit of 20th-Century Photographers Suggests a World of Stories |url=https://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/exhibit-of-20th-century-photographers-suggests-a-world-of-stories/ |access-date=May 19, 2023 |website=Artists of Utah's 15 Bytes |language=en-US}} She lived in Springville, Utah for her entire life and died at age 80 in 1949. She is buried in the Springville City Cemetery.{{Cite web |title=[Elfie Caroline Huntington Bagley] {{!}} BYU Library |url=https://lib.byu.edu/search/byu/record/cdm.DUP.432?holding=swde2oqrtqqlgurv |access-date=May 23, 2023 |website=lib.byu.edu}}
In addition to being known for her photography, Huntington was reportedly a skilled dress-maker.{{rp|200}}
Selected works
File:Girls Playing Cards.jpg|alt=
File:Three Women on Porch.jpg|alt=
File:Huntington and a friend.jpg|alt=
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