Eadweard Muybridge : the Stanford years, 1872-1882 (1953)

8. San Francisco Bulletin, 3 August 1877. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 19. This evidence that Muybridge had an inventive and independently theoretical turn of mind is borne out also by a series of mechanisms that he developed and often sought to patent: 1) a plate-printing apparatus, 2) a washing machine, 3) a sky-shade for landscape photography, 4) a method for photographing objects in motion, 5) the zoopraxiscope, 6) a pneumatic clock, 7 ) a picture-feeding device for magic lanterns. He was apparently well-qualified to oversee and coordinate the technical aspects of the Stanford /Muybridge research. [See Documents, A.] 9. Alta California, 30 August 1877. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 19. Quoted from Muybridge 's letter of 24 August to MacCrellish, editor of the Alta. 10. Ibid. Quoted from MacCrellish 's comments. 11. San Francisco Evening Post, September 1877. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 12. 12. For further discussion of this curious recent find at the Stanford Museum, see "Catalogue and Notes on the Work." There was certainly a photographic plate of Occident, quite apart from Muybridge 's copy negative of the painting based on that plate. 13. The Stanford Museum holds two canvases by P.R. Van Zandt of Albany, New York: 1) a sketch of Abe Edgington, "September 13, 1876 " (and on the stretcher, in pencil, "Oct. 3, 1876," which may have been the day of its receipt by Stanford); 2) an oil painting of Edgington based on the sketch, but with minor correction of position, "Feb. 1877." 14. San Francisco Evening Post, 3 August 1877. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 17. 15. British Journal Photographic Almanac, 1872/1873, p. 115. Rejlander's proposal was theoretical. 16. Depositions of Arthur Brown (18 July 1883), John D. Isaacs (18 July 1883), and Frank Shay (23 July 1883) in the case Stanford vs. Muybridge. The Collis P. Huntington Collection, George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University. See also Resources of California, August 1878. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 28. The name of John D. Isaacs, who was later said to have "devised the electrical equipment" for the project, was never publicly mentioned in contemporary sources. In the writer's opinion, Isaacs's status was overestimated in the "Semi-Centennial" celebration held at Stanford University in 1929. 17. Letter, John D. Isaacs to H. C. Peterson, curator of the Stanford Museum, 15 February 1916. Stanford University Archives. In his deposition, Isaacs had previously credited Mr. Paul Seller with an alteration in the mechanism, which changed it to "operate the release by making instead of breaking contact. . ." Contemporary accounts are apt to connect the use of electricity in the Stanford/Muybridge project to Stanford's earlier experience with it when he drove the final spike for the transcontinental railroad in 1869, and simultaneously telegraphed the news to the world. 18. San Francisco Morn ing Call, 8 June 1878. 19. Marey 's letter to La Nature is dated 18 December 1878. It was printed in the December 28th issue and appeared in English translation as well in the San Francisco Morning Call, 23 February 1879. Muybridge responded to Marey in La Nature, 22 March 1879. [See Documents, C, for texts of the exchange.] 20. The Art Interchange (Philadelphia), 9 July 1879. [See Documents, D, for the full text.] Eakins' s use of Muybridge's The Horse in Motion photographs in teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy led to his later supporting the University of Pennsylvania's invitation to Muybridge to undertake further research there. Eakins and Muybridge worked together for a brief period. 21. Cited in George T. Clark, Leland Stanford, War Governor of California, Railroad Builder and Founder of Stanford University, Stanford University Press, 1931, pp. 367-68. Mr. Frank Shay dated the first private showing as July 1878, "with quite a number of private exhibitions in Governor Stanford's house in San Francisco following. . ." (Deposition of Frank Shay, 23 July 1883). Shay, however, gave a wrong date for another important event, and may also be inaccurate in this case. [See introduction to Documents, E.] Another private showing was held at the Stanfords' San Francisco residence on 20 January 1880 (Kingston Scrapbook, p. 57), nine days after Muybridge photographed the solar eclipse at Palo Alto for Leland Stanford. The first public performance, recorded in several San Francisco newspapers, was on 4 May 1880 at the chambers of the San Francisco Art Association. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 58. 22. Alta California, 5 May 1880. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 58. Muybridge successfully exhibited his motion pictures before paying audiences from 1880 to 1897, when he retired from photography to prepare Animals in Motion and The Human Figure in Motion for publication. 23. Animals in Motion, p. 4. The zoopraxiscope was preceded by various projecting machines,even projecting phenakistoscopes, which were developed in both Europe and America. None of these, however, used images "analytically photographed from life," but only pre-posed sequences that did not require instantaneous photography as a component. 24. San Francisco Examiner, 6 February 1881. [See Documents, E.] Many San Francisco newspapers reported Stanford's intention of carrying the results of the experiments abroad. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 65. 25. Alta California, 16 November 1881. Kingston Scrapbook, p. 71. 34