Photographer of the Early West the Story of Arundel Hull

Description

History is usually told in words. Arundel Hull told it in photographs. Photographer of the Early West by Eugene A. Miller — Hull’s youngest grandson — is the biography of the young man who captured America’s westward expansion on camera.

Fascinated as a boy by the newly developed wet-plate process, Hull apprenticed himself to a photographer and set out for the frontier. Still only in his early twenties, he worked along the Union Pacific Railroad, documenting emerging towns, railroad workers, and everyday life as far west as Green River, Wyoming.

Miller writes from family connection and deep research, explaining the demanding collodion process — coating, sensitizing, exposing, developing each glass plate while still wet — and the extraordinary determination field photography required in the 1860s West. A marvelous find for lovers of western history and early photography: a pioneer brought into full view at last.

History is usually told in words. Arundel Hull told it in photographs. Photographer of the Early West: The Story of Arundel Hull by Eugene A. Miller is the biography of the young man who captured America’s westward expansion on camera.

Fascinated as a boy by the newly developed wet-plate process, Hull apprenticed himself to a photographer and set out for the frontier. Still only in his early twenties, he worked along the Union Pacific Railroad, documenting emerging towns, railroad workers, and everyday life as far west as Green River, Wyoming.

Miller, Hull’s youngest grandson, writes from family connection and deep research. He explains the demanding collodion process — coating, sensitizing, exposing, and developing each glass plate while still wet — and the extraordinary determination field photography required in the 1860s West.

Beyond the technical marvels, this is a story about the human dimension of expansion: the towns, the workers, the women and children who built new lives. A marvelous find for lovers of western history and early photography, Photographer of the Early West brings a pioneer into full view at last.