William Henry Jackson was one of the most prolific
American artists/photographers of the late 1800's and early 1900's. His long
life enabled him to witness and record much of
this nation's history. Jackson literally took
thousands of photographs, made hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings. He left portions of this vast collection with a number of prestigious
institutions including colleges, libraries, the Smithsonian Institute and
our own Scotts Bluff National Monument. These original
paintings are held by the Oregon Trail Museum at Scotts Bluff National
Monument. Indeed, a large portion of the art work
portrays life on the Oregon Trail and the difficulties of pioneers traveling to
Oregon.
Click to Search the monument Art Collection:
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A few of his paintings date from William Henry Jackson's service during
the Civil War. However, most were created by Jackson in the 1930s when he
was already more than 90 years old. The monument's museum collections also
contain many Jackson drawings, photographs and other Jackson-related
material.
The National Park Service and the staff of Scotts Bluff National Monument
are proud to bring you much of the collection online in digital
format. Five hundred pieces of art are available in a searchable database
complete with description. Visitors to the web siteare encouraged to record
their thoughts in the guestbook. Historians and researcher's are asked to
register. Registered users will have access to higher-resolution images and
can request quality TIFF images for use in publications.