Elmer Chickering

{{Short description|American photographer}}

Image:1903 ElmerChickering.png

Elmer Chickering (1857–1915) was a photographer specializing in portraits in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He kept a studio on West Street,Directory of directors in the city of Boston and vicinity. 1911{{cite journal |title=Elmer Chickering |journal= American Art News |volume= 13 |date=Jun 12, 1915 }} and photographed politicians, actors, athletes and other public figures such as Kyrle Bellew, John Philip Sousa, Sarah Winnemucca, Edmund Breese, and the Boston Americans.

Biography

Born in Vermont in 1857, Chickering moved to Boston and set up a photography studio around the 1880s. His photographic work appeared in numerous publications, including Good Housekeeping. In 1905 Chickering renamed his business as "Elmer Chickering Co."{{cite book |author=Massachusetts. Dept. of Labor and Industries |title=Annual report on the statistics of labor, Volume 36. |year=1906 }}

In 1895 Chickering "took some pictures of A. M. Palmer's company in the play of Trilby. They naturally came into great demand at once. But here the difficulty ensued. Rushing over the wires came a message from Harper & Bros., saying that, as the characters were made up after Du Maurier's drawings, they should regard the sale of any such pictures as an infringement of their copyright. To this Mr. Chickering disagreed, on the ground that the photographs were not copies of any drawings, but of actual scenes on the stage, which any man might sketch. Telegrams flew back and forth, but Harper & Bros, would not yield. Meanwhile, the papers sought for the photographs. ... Inasmuch as he has 160 negatives, the question is of some moment."The Critic. April 6, 1895; p.266{{cite journal |author=Emily Jenkins |title=Trilby: Fads, Photographers, and 'Over-Perfect Feet.' |journal=Book History |volume= 1 |year=1998 }}

Image:1911 Chickering NewEnglandExposition MechanicsHall Boston.png, Boston, 1911]]

After Chickering's death in 1915, "the well-known Chickering Studios, West Street, Boston ... is now owned and operated by George H. Hastings and Orrin Champlain. ... Mr. Hastings, personally, manages the Chickering Studio, which is now enjoying a large and profitable patronage."Photo-era magazine, Volume 42. Feb. 1919

Examples of Chickering's work are in the New York Public Library.{{cite web |url=http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/Photographers_in_The_New_York_Public_Library_April_16_2010.pdf |title=Photographers in The New York Public Library's Photography Collection |year=2010 |publisher=New York Public Library }}

References

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Images

Image:Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins.jpg|Portrait of Sarah Winnemucca, {{Circa|1884}}

Image:ElmerChickering ca1893 Boston NYPL.png|Chickering's "Royal Studio", West St., Boston, ca.1893

Image:1897 JamesJCorbett byElmerChickering LibraryOfCongress.jpg|Portrait of James J. Corbett, 1897

Image:1897 RobertAllen BostonBeaneaters byElmerChickering LibraryOfCongress.jpg|Portrait of Robert Allen of the Boston Beaneaters, 1897

Image:1899 MildredHolland byElmerChickering LibraryOfCongress.jpg|Poster of Mildred Holland, from photo by Chickering, 1899

Image:1900 Boston infield 2350713424.jpg|Portrait of "famous Boston infield of 1900" (clockwise from left) second baseman Bobby Lowe, first baseman Fred Tenney, shortstop Herman Long and third baseman Jimmy Collins

Image:KyrleBellew byElmerChickering NYPL.jpeg|Portrait of Kyrle Bellew

Image:MabelAmber byElmerChickering NYPL.jpeg|Portrait of Mabel Amber

Image:Kaiulani in Boston, 1893, carte de visite photograph by Elmer Chickering.jpg|Portrait of Princess Kiulani of Hawaii

Further reading

=Works with photos by Chickering=

  • {{cite journal |author=Reifsnider |title='Sag Harbor': a study of Mr. Herne's drama of real life and its ethical aspects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOYXAQAAIAAJ |journal=The Coming Age |volume=3 |date= Jan 1900 }}
  • {{cite journal |title=Home life of governors: Governor Bates of Massachusetts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aG2UHazGRlIC |journal=Good Housekeeping |date= May 1903}}. Photos of John L. Bates and his family.
  • {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7IaAAAAYAAJ |title=Wilson's Photographic Magazine |year=1905 }}
  • {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuAXAQAAIAAJ |title=New England Magazine |date=May 1906 }}

=Works about Chickering=

  • {{cite book |title=Illustrated Boston, the Metropolis of New England |year= 1889}}