F. Jay Haynes Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: Photo 2029

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The F. Jay Haynes collection consists of 131 images collected from various sources. The collection has been organized into fifteen files: Jamestown, N.D., Badlands, Yellowstone Park, Brainerd, Minn., Montana, Railroad Construction, General, Fargo, N.D., Bismarck, “Far West” – Steamboat, Dalrymple Farm, Grandin Farm, Emerson, Man., F. Jay Haynes, and the Northern Pacific Railway. The file contains 66 stereograph images, and 65 photographic prints most made from 4x5 copy film negatives housed at the Institute. The Jamestown file contains stereograph images of the E. P. Wells residence, Central Hotel, J. J. Bush residence, the Wells Block, the Catholic and Presbyterian churches, First National Bank. The Badlands file contains seventeen stereograph images of various Badlands scenery. The Yellowstone Park file contains seventeen stereograph images of various park scenes and geysers. The Brainerd, Minnesota file contains three stereograph images of bridges over the Mississippi River, and interior of specimen room N.P. L. D. The Montana file contains three stereograph views and one print of various Montana frontier scenes. There are eight stereograph images in the Railroad Construction file, showing Northern Pacific Railroad construction camps and cuts through the Green River Valley, Badlands, Beaver Creek Valley and Sweet Brier Valley. The General file contains items including a mine shaft, Bear Butte, Eagle Nest Rock, a Mississippi River scene, and a print of President Chester Arthur’s ambulance train, for his 1883 expedition. The Fargo, N.D. file contains forty two gelatin silver prints, produced from the 4x5 plastic copy negatives. The images show various Fargo scenes taken during the town’s settlement period during the 1870s and 1880s. The Bismarck, N.D. file includes gelatin silver prints of Main Street and the Northwestern Express Stage and Transportation Company. The Dalrymple Farm and Grandin Farm files contain gelatin silver prints of the two Bonanza Farms showing various scenes. The Emerson, Manitoba file contains one reprint of a photograph depicting the first customs office in the northwest. The F. Jay Haynes file has two prints of his Palace Studio railroad car, exterior and interior, and one print of his studio at the corner of Front Street (Main Avenue) and 8th Street South in Fargo. The Northern Pacific Railway file has a print of a snow plow locomotive and a hunting party with a N.P. observation car.

Dates

1870s-1890s

Creator

Haynes, F. Jay (Frank Jay), 1853-1921. (Person)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection remain is in the public domain.

Biography

F. Jay Haynes was born in Saline, Michigan, on October 28, 1853. In 1876 he moved to Moorhead, Minnesota where he opened his first studio. The next year he traveled 400 miles by stagecoach photographing Dakota Territory. He married Lily V. Snyder on Jan 15, 1878, and in that same year he made a photographic journey to the West Coast. Haynes was the first photographer in the Fargo-Moorhead area, however Jacob Skrivseth has the distinction of being the first to have a studio with-in the city limits of Fargo. Both men opened their Fargo studios in 1879. Haynes moved into his newly constructed Fargo studio at 725 Front Street on May 19th of that year, Skrivseth had opened his studio in March. In 1881 Haynes made his first trip to Yellowstone Park where he made a collection of stereoscopic views, and eventually he opened a park concession to sell pictures. Haynes was asked to take photographs of several historic occasions. First, when U.S. President Chester A. Arthur toured Yellowstone Park in 1883, Haynes was asked to take the pictures. When the golden spike was driven linking the east and west Northern Pacific railroad in 1883, Haynes was commissioned to take the photographs, and he was also asked to become the official photographer of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Haynes outfitted a Palace train car into a photo studio, which he used to photograph towns from Puget Sound to Chicago. In 1889, Haynes moved his studio to St. Paul, Minnesota. He continued his adventurous trips to Yellowstone and helped develop its large tourist business. He died March 10, 1921 in St. Paul. Haynes’ personal papers and extensive negative and print collection are preserved at the Montana Historical Society.