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Both are attractive yellow/orange-mount albumen stereographs published in St. Paul and retain their original printed titles and series information.
1. “View at Trempeleau”
The mount is printed:
“VIEWS ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI”
“Published by J. E. Whitney, St. Paul”
“VIEW AT TREMPELEAU.”
The photograph depicts Trempealeau, Wisconsin, along the Mississippi River. The scene includes a rural house or farmstead at the foot of the prominent bluff, a man standing in the foreground, horses at the left and considerable early landscape and architectural detail.
The exact title “View at Trempeleau” is documented in the New York Public Library's Robert N. Dennis Collection and attributed to Joel Emmons Whitney (J. E. Whitney, 1822–1886).
2. “Minne-ha-ha — Laughing Water”
The second mount is printed:
“GEMS OF MINNESOTA SCENERY”
“FROM WHITNEY'S GALLERY, ST. PAUL”
with the title:
“MINNE-HA-HA — Laughing Water”
Minnehaha Falls and its surrounding scenery became one of the best-known early photographic subjects in Minnesota, and numerous views were produced and sold by St. Paul photographers for the growing tourist trade.
Both stereoviews date approximately to the late 1860s–1870s and are appealing examples of early photography from the Upper Mississippi region.
Condition: Both cards retain good-to-very-good photographic detail and contrast for their age, with expected albumen toning, occasional spotting and normal edge/corner and mount wear. The Minne-ha-ha view is particularly strong photographically. Both reverses are blank. Please examine the photographs carefully as they form part of the condition description.
An appealing matched pair for collectors of J. E. Whitney, early Minnesota and Wisconsin photography, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Minnehaha Falls, Trempealeau, Upper Mississippi River history and 19th-century stereoviews.
Photographer/Publisher: J. E. Whitney / Whitney's Gallery, St. Paul
Subjects: Trempealeau, Wisconsin & Minnehaha, Minnesota
Process: Albumen stereographs
Date: Circa late 1860s–1870s
Backs: Blank
