The Western Photographs of John K. Hillers

Myself in the Water

Author: Don D. Fowler
Illustrations B/W Photos
Dated: 1989
Publisher: Smithsonian
Edition: 1st
Size: 4to
Binding Hardcover Dust Jacket
Type: Photography
Notes & Literature John Karl Hillers (1843, Hanover, Germany – 1925) was an American government photographer.
Hillers came to the United States in 1852. He was a policeman and then a soldier in the American Civil War, first with the New York Naval Brigade, then in the army, he re-enlisted after the war and served with the Western garrisons until 1870. He worked as a teamster in Salt Lake City, when he met John Wesley Powell.
Originally hired as a boatman for the second Powell expedition down the Colorado River in 1871, Hillers began to replace Walter Clement Powell, John W. Powell's cousin and assistant to the expedition's photographers, first to E.O. Beaman and then to James Fennemore.
Hillers was Powell's chief expedition photographer on the trip down the Grand Canyon the next year.
He went on to spend twenty years exploring and photographing the American West, and is known particularly for his portraits of Native Americans.
He was the first staff photographer of Powell's Bureau of Ethnology (from 1879) and after returning to Powell's US Geological Survey in 1881 continued Bureau of American Ethnology work until he resigned in 1900. Although he officially retired in 1900, he continued to take photographs for the United States Geological Survey until 1919.
He was the photographer of the first James Stevenson expedition to the Southwest, which brought Frank H. Cushing to Zuni.
3,000 negatives from the Powell Surveys and 20,000 negatives from his association with the Bureau of Ethnology have been credited to John K. Hillers.
John Karl Hillers is the namesake of Mount Hillers, in Uta
Condition Report Very Good

Any description and/or condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Orange County Estate Liquidators shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.Unless otherwise stated, all artwork sold by Orange County Estate Liquidators is assumed to be "after", "school of", "manner of" or "circle of" and will carry no warranties or guarantees as to authorship or authenticity whether stated or implied by other parts of this agreement or description. Ignorance of terms by buyer (s) is no excuse to bring action against the auction house or consignor.