tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151835662024-03-13T03:03:48.606-07:00IMAGE"I will help people understand the Miracles of Nature by extending the scope of human vision."Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-29030249922137446172022-10-04T13:44:00.002-07:002022-10-04T13:44:55.335-07:00What inspired you to work for freedom, our agency as individuals and for free markets? <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I wrote this to a good friend of mine, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kate O'Brien. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The subject was what inspired us to work for freedom. My story included two people who inspired me. One of them was my grandfather, Arthur C. Pillsbury. Read on to discover the other one. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I found a copy of
Atlas Shrugged on a shelf in the family library when I was 12. I had already
read everything else, so I took it back to my bedroom and opened it. Mother
tried to take it away from me when I failed to come out for dinner. She could
not wrest it from my hands, and she did try. Dad told her to leave me alone,
that I would get hungry soon enough. I finished the book after dawn the next
morning. I was ravenous and ate two servings of breakfast. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Later, Mother said
to me, <i>"I knew I should have stopped you from reading that book."</i>
She need not have worried about my becoming a devotee of Rand’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Then, I knew
little about Ayn Rand, actually assumed Ayn was a male name. It was not until
after I have become a Libertarian, by which I mean, had joined the LP, in 1973
that I got to know people who knew Ayn. One of my new friends had taken the
classes in NY from Branden. This moved me to start researching Rand's life,
which brought me to Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Patterson. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">It is not
intellectually honest to take ideas, mark them as your own, and give no credit.
Clearly, this had been what Rand did. But what I had learned about her
relations with her family, her husband, and other associates also disappointed
me greatly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I had already
found out that John Hospers was a pedophile from a close friend from my Junior
High School, Webster, West LA. He had firsthand knowledge of this. I was shocked.
This was confirmed to me, though I did not doubt Tommy, by several other
sources. People can disappoint you. But I had both these experiences before
encountering Ed Crane, who I had learned about through a woman who had
'volunteered' to work in his office (apartment), around 1973 - 1974. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Volunteering, she
told me, was typing for a half hour and then having sex with Crane. Girls were
scheduled at hour intervals, half an hour of typing, a half hour of bedroom
duties. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The ideas of
freedom resonated with me very early on. This included the value of each
person, regardless of gender or any other differences in color or background. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My cousin, Jimmy,
he told me to call him Cousin Jimmy, had explained these to me when I was about
5. He had read The Fountainhead and then seen the movie. He told me about the
scenes, the dramatic conflicts over freedom against tyranny. But he had not
liked how the movie was taken from the book and was determined to remake it.
Unfortunately, he died before this was possible. I would have to say Cousin
Jimmy was, and remains, my own personal champion and advocate for freedom,
though others might not agree.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Jimmy’s name was
James Byron Dean. I will always remember Jimmy and our conversations; these
introduced me to a wider world of ideas. When I have time, I’ll finish writing
the Jimmy Stories. One or two of those were up at <a href="https://starforchristmas.us/">Star for Christmas</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Cousin Jimmy also
awakened my interest in the natural world, which was sparked with his comments
about my grandfather’s work while I was showing him the photos and other items
in the cabinet where these were stored in the living room. I also handed him
Grandfather’s book, which he leafed through, exclaiming. He said he had to get
the book for himself! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Arthur C.
Pillsbury was determined to open people to understanding everything around them
which was, then, beyond human sight. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I’ll likely never
know if he bought a copy of Grandfather’s book, <i>Picturing Miracles of Plant
and Animal Life</i>, published by J. B. Lippincott in 1937. Grandfather’s
inventions and innovations included the first specimen slicer for a
microscope(1892) https://tinyurl.com/39rspcvn, the first circuit panorama
camera (1897), his proposed senior project while majoring in mechanical engineering
at Stanford. His Senior Advisor told him not to bother building the camera
because it would not work. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/56dfjn9v">https://tinyurl.com/56dfjn9v</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Grandfather built
it, it worked. He left school and went to the Yukon in January of 1898, having
found clients who wanted photos of the Gold Rush and later the panoramas and
other photos of the 1906 Earthquake in San Francisco. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">He made the first
nature movie (1909) <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ytuwty2v">https://tinyurl.com/ytuwty2v</a>,
made to persuade John Muir, a friend of his, to use films to stop the allocation
of the Hetch Hetchy, the first lapse-time motion-picture camera to record the life
cycle of plants, (1912) <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ytuwty2v">https://tinyurl.com/ytuwty2v</a>,
he built this to stop the mowing of the meadows in the National Parks, the
first microscopic motion picture camera (1925).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He borrowed a lab room at UC Berkeley and showed the first film to an
eminent group of scientists in various disciplines teaching there. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/3usx8t9x">https://tinyurl.com/3usx8t9x</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Their reaction was
funny. They had not realized they were seeing cells dividing. Imagine! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His next invention was the first X-Ray motion
picture camera (1929), followed by the first underwater motion picture camera
(1930). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">He went on to
identify the process of osmosis in plants in October 1942. This was published
in Popular Science. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/mss47wen">https://tinyurl.com/mss47wen</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seeing is believing. The
films he made, and showed, around the world and on every major campus in the
United States, impacted generations. Most people forgot his name, however,
because it was excluded in the media because his views were recognized as dangerous
to the powers, then feeling the potential for controlling the minds of
Americans. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The only article
which appeared at the time was published in Sunset Magazine in the April 1927
Issue <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yx682z5y">https://tinyurl.com/yx682z5y</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Grandfather’s life was too
full to talk about in one article. But on freedom and his goals, this is
enough. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arthur C. Pillsbury
believed it was possible to understand the world and keeping knowledge open to
everyone was essential. The ignorance and unwillingness to see into the future
became clear to him at an early age through his own life experiences. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He also believed firmly that
the autonomy of the individual to learn, experiment, and improve their
understanding was the right path for humanity. He called this the
"Knowledge Commons." Today we would say, Open Source. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These experiences through
life grew and reinforced my conviction that the free market and individual
agency, to choose and to do, causing no harm to others, were essential to each
of us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-64245378693238398222020-03-28T04:05:00.001-07:002020-03-28T04:05:29.991-07:00The Century Story - The Cover-Up by the National Park Service, Stephen Mather, Horace Albright and Ansel Adams <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Today, we live in a world of Greed, Deception and Avarice. This was created by men and women who saw only their own ambitions, ignoring every value which makes us human. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It is time to understand them and change our direction. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span id="goog_1432633429"></span>The Century Story</span><span id="goog_1432633430"></span></a></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-line;">
Pillsbury made and showed the first nature movie in 1909 at the Pillsbury Studio in Old Village.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-line;">
<br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /></div>
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Determined that people see the similarities between all life, he filmed 500 separate species</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-line;">
of wildflowers in just Yosemite, using his newly invented lapse-time camera in 1912.</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And yet you have never heard of him or his accomplishments.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No Centennial for the first-ever <u style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a class="wz-link" data-attached-link="{"type":"Web","url":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---First-Nature-Movie.html","title":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---First-Nature-Movie.html"}" href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---First-Nature-Movie.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration-line: none;">Nature Movie, 1909</a></u>, shown in Yosemite</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No Centennial for the first-ever change in policy by showing one film. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">October 14 - 16 - <u style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a class="wz-link" data-attached-link="{"type":"Web","url":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---The-Flowers-are-heard.html","title":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---The-Flowers-are-heard.html"}" href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---The-Flowers-are-heard.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration-line: none;">Superintendents Conference</a></u>, Yosemite </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span>(How often has THAT happened in history?)</div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" />
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Produced the First Lapse-Time Camera - The Wildflowers<br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); background-color: white; color: #010000; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; white-space: pre-line;">
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">First showing <u style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a class="wz-link" data-attached-link="{"type":"Web","url":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Lapse-Time-Camera.html","title":"http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Lapse-Time-Camera.html"}" href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Lapse-Time-Camera.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration-line: none;">Lapse-Time Nature Movie</a></u> - </span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1912.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Is it possible these accomplishments were overlooked?</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nope. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><br style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-21850241314962393972019-12-08T20:26:00.001-08:002019-12-08T20:26:39.447-08:00Have a Joyful Season and a Blessed New Year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4sPoc2cEY5o/Xe3LHQ8C_cI/AAAAAAAATEg/NFWoiB_Eq7gRMwI6Ywjbm3aNrEQ3NONOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ACP%2BGraphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4sPoc2cEY5o/Xe3LHQ8C_cI/AAAAAAAATEg/NFWoiB_Eq7gRMwI6Ywjbm3aNrEQ3NONOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/ACP%2BGraphic.png" width="536" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-large;"><b>There Comes a Time for the Facts</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arthur C. Pillsbury was a genius who changed our world and launched a movement to give all of us an understanding of our natural world - and ourselves. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stephen Mather was a psychopath whose only success in life was self-dealing and other felonies. <b><a href="https://acpillsburyfoundation.com/mather">Get the Facts</a></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Merry Christmas</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-57316690695326732152019-05-09T16:52:00.000-07:002019-05-09T16:52:02.833-07:00The Wildflower Man of Yosemite, Arthur C. Pillsbury<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster, granddaughter of Arthur C. Pillsbury<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For over a century
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i> has been
covering this story, important to those of us who love Yosemite Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The people who worked there, lived there, and
build the human history, along with the original Miwok inhabitants are well
known to Mariposa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This article begins
with a story which includes David Curry, his family, Arthur C. Pillsbury, and
the mission which drew him to the Valley and the roots of the National Park
System.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with covering the
day-to-day activities of people in Yosemite, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i> ran articles about people and events of note, as
did other local papers of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Assembled, we see a lapse-time film on the lives of individuals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On May 24,</span> <span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1924 the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Mariposa
Gazette</span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">
published an article by E. G. Reynolds titled, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Interesting Out-Door Men, Arthur C. Pillsbury, the Photographer Artist
of Yosemite Valley.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Readers of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i>
perused a short biography, with accompanying sketch of Arthur C. Pillsbury. A
brief overview of the plucky innovator providing insights from his college
years at Stanford University, to plans for the new Pillsbury Studio then being
built on what today is the footprint occupied by the Yosemite Visitor’s
Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Studio built by Pillsbury
included an auditorium with seating for 375 people so that, as was printed in
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i> in 1924 “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">visitors
may have opportunity to view Mr. Pillsbury’s moving pictures.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The first of these films, recognizable today as a Nature Movie, was
shown in 1909 at the Studio of the Three Arrows, or the Pillsbury Studio in Old
Village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This use of film stunned
viewers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1910, Pillsbury’s film shows
& narration were regular attractions to the Valley, put on several times a
week on the porch of the Studio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
small child, my dad’s first job was sweeping up the porch in the morning
starting when he was eight years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Father and his sister, Grace, were raised in Yosemite and would remember
it as their childhood home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The old studio was small and cramped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dad told me when he was running the postcard machine there, beginning
when he was around 15 in 1918, Ansel Adams, who worked there as a janitor, took
the photographic workshops offered, instead of wages. Adams kept tripping over
the machine and spoiling post cards, Dad told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">As small as it was, as many as ten people worked there at one time to
wait on tourists, frame pictures, assemble products, tint photos, including the
sets of Flower Specimen Cards sold<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>both as sets in finely finished wooden boxes and enclosed in a cardboard
envelope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was always something new
to be seen and purchased, which kept tourists coming back in after film
showings to look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The ‘staff’ was comprised mostly of students from Stanford and Berkeley
along with local young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young men
and women, they occupied the small tents clustered in the area in back of the
Studio, spreading back to also enclose the Yosemite Chapel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">It was different in the new Pillsbury Studio at New Village. Measuring
40X60 feet, not including the auditorium, the building was designed </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of granite and logs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reynolds described this as, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“conforming to the general scheme of
architecture for the village.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">PHOTO OF THE PILLLSBURY STUDIO - New Village BYU Collection<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pillsbury had
received, according to the article, a 15-year concession in the Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was longer than any business except the
Yosemite Park & Curry Company (YP&CC) then headed by Don </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tresidder</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, husband of Mary Curry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To obtain this
concession, Pillsbury had rendered invaluable services to the Park Service for
its campaign to establish the National Park Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among these services was a showing of
Pillsbury films, accompanied by a lecture presented to the National Press Club
in Washington D.C. on October 21, 1915, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Washington
Post </i>reporting, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Members of the
National Press Club and their guests were taken on a tour of Yosemite National
Park by Arthur Pillsbury, the California photographer, with the help of the pictures
taken by himself of this wonderful country from seemingly impossible
points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Pillsbury added to these
pictures a description of the grandest playground in the world.</i>” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The brief report goes
on to mention, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“At the conclusion of his
lecture, Stephen T. Mather, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, in charge of
national parks, spoke of the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Hlk507135844">good roads movement now
being conducted by his department.” </a></i><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507135844;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Mather was determined to establish
himself as Director of a separate agency within the Department of the Interior
to run the National Parks, but this would have nothing to do with the roads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who Was Arthur C. Pillsbury?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The article appearing
in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i> began with
Pillsbury at Stanford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While at
Stanford, the article relates, Pillsbury had drawn attention with his mid-1890s
photos of the first inter-class “rush” using a small vest-pocket Kodak which
cost him $5. Participating students were still counting their bruises from the
rush, while Pillsbury began developing his films. The set of sixty-four
snapshots, taken in one hour, were reported as, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“every one of them good,”</i> and generated a strong demand from other
students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This early instance of
photo-journalism sold over $100 worth of the snapshots, all printed by his own
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pillsbury developed the film in
the dark-room he had rigged up, very unofficially, on the unfinished top floor
of Encina Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mariposa Gazette</i>, which interviewed
Pillsbury quoted him as saying, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">“I never will forget those pesky little solio prints,” says
Arthur C. Pillsbury, the artist photographer of Yosemite Valley. “Every one had
to be squeegeed and I was heartily sick of them before I was through, but they
brought in the money.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PHOTO FROM STANFORD
RUSH BY PILLSBURY <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rush Photo from solio
Pillsbury College Album AC Pillsbury Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
minor, but amusing incident in Pillsbury’s life, points to his application of
the technology of photography which would not be recognized by the term
“photojournalism’ until 1925.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today
these images would be categorized as Street Journalism, a form of
photojournalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not long before, on
December 12, 1892, we learn from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Daily Palo Alto</i>, another local paper which published information about
people, that Pillsbury had purchased a “new movie making instrument,” (a movie
camera).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would also be used to
generate income by the young entrepreneur for recording sports events and,
after 1895, for making nature movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In addition to
attending Mechanical Engineering classes, Arthur C. Pillsbury had opened a
photography studio and bicycle shop. This was necessitated by the fact his
parents could not afford to finance college educations for himself and his
older brother, Ernest Sargent Pillsbury, who would follow his parents into
practice as a physician.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arthur Pillsbury’s
parents had relocated to California from Brooklyn, New York, where his mother,
Dr. Harriet Foster Pillsbury, had received her medical degree, awarded in
1880.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family lived in the barn
located on their fruit farm, while building their home on the farm, located
just outside Auburn, California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The kids called their
mother Dr. Mama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They understood their
mother had decided to obtain a medical degree because so many women needed
services which would not be provided otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Women being attended by a male doctor would not ask questions, and male
physicians were constrained from offering information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But women doctors could, in the privacy of
their practice, provide such information, and did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This answered the crying need for women to
understand about their bodies, pregnancy, and the methods by which a woman
could control when she wanted to have a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Otherwise, these subjects were closed to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rights of women
to self-determination and full exercise of the individual freedom inborn to all
of humanity were being denied to women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is easy to overlook this now, after the battles have been fought and
mostly won.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Transcendentalists had
advocated freedom for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
taking up this kind of practice, Dr. Mama knew she was breaking the law, but
recognized a higher authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arthur
Pillsbury would demonstrate this in how he ran his business, which included
women routinely, and by making fun of accepted gender styles in clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pillsbury championed pants for women to
explore Yosemite, and also held a contest in 1916 encouraging men to dress like
women in bathing suits of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
young men you see were mostly working at the Studio or taking photo workshops
there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PHOTOS OF 1916 BEAUTY
CONTEST AND GIRLS IN PANTS – Grace Album – AC Pillsbury Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contest and Girls in
Pants for the first time, the first figure on the Left is AC, wearing a wig,
two students and last, Grace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Also active in the
First Congregationalist Church of Auburn, Dr. Harlin Pillsbury served as
Treasurer there until the family relocated to the Stanford area, where Drs.
Harlin and Harriet started a small hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both Pillsbury sons,
Ernest and Arthur, could study whatever interested them, as well as attending
the local Normal school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family
remained close all their lives, tied by bonds of affection and commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On December 12, 1892,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daily Palo Alto</i> reported that, “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury,`96
is at work during his spare time on a pneumatic tire safety bicycle, which,
when completed, will weigh only twenty- eight pounds. The framework of the
wheel is made in a somewhat novel way and is of steel tubing. Pillsbury intends
to make everything in connection with the machine except the tires, which he
will get ready made."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">By February
14, 1893, A. C. Pillsbury was the Rambler Bicycle agent, and business at his
shop was brisk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same paper reported
in December that year<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, “Pillsbury &
Co. are making a new tandem bicycle one of the lightest roadsters ever run was
made by Mr. Pillsbury and is used by him daily. Its weight is 17 pounds.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During this period Pillsbury applied
his mechanical skills to new products, which he cheerfully reported in his
partial autobiography<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The business grew rapidly, soon I was
buying, selling + renting, and even building special kinds. I designed the
engine and built the first motorcycle in California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was air cooled and without cooling rings,
but it ran, even if it did burn our racing trunks when we trained for the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>inter-collegiate races, then came a sociable
wheel which was quite the rage, it had a wide handle bar, a saddle post, to a
double set of cranks, a trip around the Stanford Quad with a pretty girl beside
you would almost<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>break<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>up the classes.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One can only imagine how A.C.’s
youthful interest in all parts of the world around him was viewed by the school
administration and professors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
still living in Auburn, California, Pillsbury had been cross-breeding exotic
types of chickens, selling the resulting eggs and off-spring as part of his inquiries
in Biology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arthur C. Pillsbury had learned early
that authorities were often mistaken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He recognized at age 13 he would need
to see beyond what was then possible, to understand the inner workings of the
systems within living things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A. C. learned
about microscopes as a small child, because his parents used them in their
practice as physicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The couple brought two microscopes when
they came to California in 1883, the first such instruments to enter the
state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A. C. knew he was not seeing a
living example of life on slides, but something dead, the life removed from
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Producing a thin enough sample to be
viewed, was a problem which he would solve while at Stanford; yet he was
intrigued with seeing movement of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He was at the same time, intellectually
alive to all parts of the world around him, a highly skilled mechanic and
machinist, and an intellectual who carried with him small books of the
classics, including Thoreau and Emerson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Both Transcendentalist men had been well known to his family
personally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of Emerson’s sons worked
as a teacher in the co-educational school his grandparents ran in Sandown, New
Hampshire. He integrated these innovative insights into running businesses, all
of which were highly profitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giving
people what they wanted for reasonable prices and good quality, were standards
followed in all of his businesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition, his salespeople were able to provide a flow of information which was
both interesting and informative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
elements were always the basis on which his success was founded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He was a small man, standing about 5’5”
in height, and describing himself in his partial autobiography as
‘stocky’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This self-perception came in comparison
to his older brother, who was extremely thin and lanky, as was his father,
grandfather and great-grandfather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr.
Harlin Henry Pillsbury, A.C.’s father, was the descendant of
Transcendentalists, as was his mother, Dr. Harriet Foster Pillsbury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the previous generation, Benjamin
Lewis Pillsbury and his wife, Sarah Jane Sargent Pillsbury, had maintained a
stop on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves, while running the first
co-educational high school in New Hampshire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their two daughters attended Mt. Holyoke College, the first of the Seven
Sisters. All of the Seven Sisters were the work of women and men who lived the
values of equality to end the exclusion of women from higher education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">In 1895, a
Bicycling Club was organized at Stanford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pillsbury would ‘Letter’ in Bicycling, and soon be exhibiting a new
safety light. A.C.’s personal College Album contained multiple images of people
on bicycles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">PHOTO – AT
PILLSBURY CO. BIKE SHOP ON TRIPLET BIKE, AC, KITTY AND ERNEST – AC College
Album – AC Pillsbury Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">By April 19, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Palo Alto News</i> announced that, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“A. C. Pillsbury & Co., was building a
large two-story store and flat in the lot occupied by their present store and
the lot adjoining.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>This became
necessary because his two businesses were growing rapidly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury was
also planning for a trip which would change his life, a journey by bicycle to
Yosemite and Kings River Valley, with a friend and classmate, Frank Watson; and
his cousin Bernard Lane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea of
visiting Yosemite sprang from a suggestion by Dr. Mama’s old associate, Susan
B. Anthony, who was making her last trip to California that year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The young
men, the paper reported, would carry with them, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“their camping outfits, consisting of aluminum cooking utensils, 32
calibre rifle and shotgun combined, blanket, camera and fishing tackle, whole
outfit weighing about ten pounds apiece. They expect to be gone about three
weeks and anticipate a pleasant trip. Mr. Pillsbury will ride a 16 - pound
rambler."<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Standing in a Yosemite meadow,
still clasping the handles of his bicycle, wildflowers up to his waist, Arthur
C. Pillsbury was immersed in the beauty surrounding him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that moment he fell in love with the all-encompassing
glories of Yosemite, sensing the connections between all living things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a man who had found his life
mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Returning to Stanford, he
turned his mind to making the living reality of all life accessible to
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On November 28 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Palo Alto Times</i>
reported<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, “An Ingenious Piece of
Work"...and it was for Mr. A.C. Pillsbury, our ingenious young bicycle
man, to first introduce one [microtome] of domestic manufacture."
Microtomes [are] used to cut insects so they can be seen in microscope." </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Technologies of all kinds, many
extensions of photography, were his tools of choice for carrying out his
mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this time, Pillsbury
fell in love with Miss Ella C. Wing, the daughter of the professor who would be
his senior advisor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PHOTO – ELLA – FROM AC COLLEGE
ALBUM – AC Pillsbury Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two were married November 4,
1896 in San Jose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">But Ella was not enchanted when her new
husband surprised her with his partnership with Julius Boysen for a photography
studio in Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ella left him,
rejecting the idea she should spend part of her time in the wilderness of
Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She began studies to become a
nurse at Cooper’s Medical College, today’s Stanford Medical Center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon after, Pillsbury sold his half-interest
in the studio, including hundreds of photos he had taken of Yosemite, to
Boysen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Throwing
himself into work, Pillsbury produced the design of his chosen senior project,
a Circuit Panorama Camera, spending the summer of 1897 in the beauties of
Yosemite</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> doing photographic work and
considering the vistas which could not fit into the aspect ratio limitations of
ordinary cameras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon his return home
he still hoped Ella would change her mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then, on August 28 he attended
with his family a lecture at Nortree Hall to be given by Fernand de Journel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“To the Yukon Gold Fields - Klondike and how
to get there.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event featured
stereopticon views and promised to be interesting at a cost, per person of 50
cents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event drew only a small
crowd, and the photos were reported as being poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">On September 1, Professor<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>C.B. Wing, Ella’s adopted father and
Pillsbury’s Senior Advisor, returned to Stanford from a trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pillsbury showed the design to his
father-in-law, to be told tersely, not to bother to build it because it could
not work, and that Ella was planning on having their marriage annulled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A.C. built the camera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Fired with
enthusiasm for the challenge of photographing the unfolding action in the
Yukon, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Palo Alto Live Oak</i> notes
on 8 September, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It is reported that A.C.
Pillsbury will leave in a few days to try his fortune in the Klondike gold
region."<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Ella obtained her
annulment on November 25, 1898, remaining single for the rest of her life, and
continuing to work as a nurse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had
finally told her husband she did not think herself suited to marriage with
anyone, and why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He respected her wish
and held the reason confidential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury closed
his stores, sold off his inventories, including the Stanford Rush photos, and
equipment and prepared to be gone for two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His father, Dr. H. H. Pillsbury decided to
accompany him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family was concerned
about his sudden decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following
report appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Palo Alto Times</i>
on January 25:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“A.C. Pillsbury accompanied by his father,
Dr. Harlin Henry Pillsbury, leaves tomorrow [Tuesday, January 25] for the
mining regions of Alaska.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr.
Pillsbury's gasoline launch will be shipped to Seattle, from which place the
launch will be employed as a means of conveyance to Dyea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is expected that this voyage will consume
about a month's time. as stops will be made at a number of Indian villages for
the purpose of photographing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ocean
trip is a twenty-foot gasoline launch is considered a perilous undertaking by
many, but Mr. Pillsbury, who is skilled in handling the boat, laughs at the idea
of danger.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">From Dyea the launch will be taken over the
Chilkoot Pass by means of the gasoline engine and a tackle system which
Pillsbury has invented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Pillsbury
goes to the Klondike primarily as the representative of Eastern magazines with
mining as an incidental.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">He will not, however, refuse to interest
himself in any gold bonanza which he may run across.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is an expert photographer and carries with
him the most complete photographic outfit yet taken into the Klondike country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a liberal contract with Frank Leslies'
publications for a series of views.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Dr. Pillsbury will probably return to Palo
Alto next fall while Arthur plans to remain away two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The TIMES joins their host of friends in
wishing them a safe and profitable trip."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The version of the story which A. C. wrote
himself, included in his Partial Autobiography, is somewhat different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
procured a 22-foot gasoline launch and with almost no knowledge of boating
equipped it as a photographic boat, packed film paper, chemicals, etc. in water
tight cans, shipped it to Seattle, and then started through those 1500 (closer
to 1,000) miles of inland channels for Alaska. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although
I knew almost nothing about the difficulties or dangers to overcome and my
father who accompanied me knew less, we had the large scale charts and pilot
book and managed in one way or another to find our way among the many islands
and channels, we crossed Queen Charlotte Strait and Milbanke Sound, two places
where there were no protecting islands, then came Dixons (Dixon) Entrance, a 45
mile ocean crossing a thousand miles from Seattle and the beginning of Alaskan
water. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
made the crossing but in rounding Cape Fox, the last open water, a storm came
up suddenly and blew us on shore, before we struck our cabin windows were stove
in and we were almost flooded with the great waves that that went clear over
the tiny boat. The tide was flood and turned just as an enormous wave, it
looked 50 feet high, picked up the launch and landed it on top a reef just a
little way off shore, the boat broke in two and the engine dropped out, with
the anchor line we both scrambled over the rocks on shore and caught the bow
from being carried off. The tide receded rapidly, and we were able to save a
good deal of the wreckage, the film + cameras were not hurt, the food came
ashore, the potatoes all peeled from beating on the rocks and the flour formed
a crust sealing itself in.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
was in February and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. We build a
cabin out of wreckage and dried out everything, the next day at low tide, we
raised the engine + cleaned it up and got everything as well protected as we
could. our charts were lost but I remembered an Indian village marked some ten
miles down the coast. We concluded that was our only hope of rescue so on the
fifth day with one dry match and just enough food for lunch I started to find
it. Scrambling over rocks, through the snow and thick timber near shore,
swimming an inlet 200 yds wide with my clothes on a log pushed in front of me,
took all day. Just at dusk across another inlet nearly a quarter mile wide, I
could see the village, shouting soon brought a canoe with half a dozen very
much surprised Siwaskes.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They
took me in and I was the honored village guest. A storm came up during the
night, and it was the fourth day before I could rejoin my very much worried
father. The wreckage was given to the Indians and they carried us and our
equipment in their sloop to Mary’s Island, the custom house at the entrance of
Alaskan waters. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here
was a larger launch with a disabled engine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
took the contract of repairing it and also bought a Columbia River open boat
and put my engine into it. Some of the repair work required the use of a lathe,
so in a borrowed 12 foot dingy I rowed to a cannery 110 miles away and did the
machine work for both boats. The cannery people were so surprised at the job I
did on their lathe they offered me a job but I was not looking for that kind of
work so rowed back to Mary Island and soon had both launches running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
trip to Wrangle about 200 miles towing my smaller launch was made and delivery
of the 35-footer to the delighted owner accomplished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this time my father concluded he would
return to California and I cruised to the scenic parts of South Eastern Alaska,
going into the bottle necked bay to Le Conte Glacier, then to the Windom +
Foster glaciers and over to the Muir in Glacier bay. These trips I made alone
camping on the beach at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PANORAMA – NOME ALASKA JUST BEFORE
WINTER 1899 from BYU Collection<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury returned home to spend Christmas
with his family on December 2, arriving, according to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Palo Alto Live Oak</i>, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ACP
brought home many fine AK photos... He had the good fortune to procure from
another picture taking exhibitor one of the finest photographic outfits that
money and skill can produce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He expects
to return to Alaska after Christmas.”</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">And he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1899, Pillsbury traveled to the headwaters
of the Yukon River and, alone, set out on a journey of 2,600 miles down the
mighty waterway photographing the opening of mining towns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began selling panoramas of each town taken
from local mountains, and from the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pillsbury established several studios in Alaska, and one in Seattle
during this period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury met John Muir, then
aboard the </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Edward H. </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Harriman
</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">cruise, on a two-month expedition to explore the waters and
coastal territory of Alaska.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the
ship, he photographed Muir, who he would encounter many times elsewhere,
especially Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Muir would later
insist on having Pillsbury photos for his last book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The Yosemite.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photo
he took of Muir, was misattributed, which is true of so many of his images
today, later published with correct attribution in <u>Camera Craft</u>, in 1901
in an article about John Muir by Olaf Ellison titled, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The Mountain’s Ease (John Muir)”.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Despite many attempts to
persuade Muir, the famous naturalist would decline the use of film as a means
to persuade America to save the Hetch-Hetchy from San Francisco land and water
interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Returning to live in
California, A.C. relocated to the Los Angeles area, where his brother, Dr.
Ernest Pillsbury, and parents were then living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From Southern California, Pillsbury built up his business, providing
images for postcards, his own and others, and photos for newspapers, magazines,
and books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The subjects included a photo
chronicle of the California Missions, the Mount Lowe Railroad, most of the
towns in Southern California, and Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pillsbury also worked as a stringer for Underwood and Underwood, a wire
service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">PHOTO OF TEDDY ROOSEVELT WITH
JOHN MUIR – California Historical Society<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">In 1903, Pillsbury met Mr.
Williams, manager of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">San Francisco
Examiner</i>, who offered him a position in charge of the photographic
department. A. C. held the position for three years, resigning to start the
Pillsbury Picture Co., which was incorporated on March 27, less than one month
before the Great Fire and Earth Quake which occurred on April 18, 1906.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">At the time,
A.C. was living in Oakland and his home was fitted up with developing and
printing rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Examiner</i>, he also had a studio </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">on Second Street, one block
from Market Street. The shop burned on the second day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of Pillsbury’s effects including his
priceless Alaska negatives went with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">On the morning
of April 18<sup>th</sup> Pillsbury was in bed when, as related from his
Autobiography, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the quake shook me out of
bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It did some light damage to the
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I grabbed my cameras and started for San
Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, I had saved my
press badge when I left the Examiner and knowing all the police in the city I
could go everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">That Wednesday I covered the entire city,
making 5 X 7 Graflex views and panoramas of the burning city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happened I was the only professional
photographer who pictured the burning city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My newspaper experience taught me what to
take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over 70 snap shots, and two
panoramas one from the top of the Merchants Exchange Building covering the
wholesale section and just at noon one from the top of the St. Francis Hotel
showing almost the entire city in flames.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">PHOTO<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First Day Picture 1: 8 aspect ratio of the
inventor’s Circuit Panorama Camera <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“This negative 44 inches long brought in
from $500 to $700 a day while the excitement lasted some six weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Panorama exhausted the film available + I
took it out of the camera and carried it in my pocket leaving the camera itself
in the check room of the hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">It burnt up that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the snap shots was one of the burning
of the Palace + Grand hotels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The heat
was so great it scorched the lens making the balsam run spoiling it and the
bellows soon dropped to pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Our home was the only place that had running
water and dark rooms in those troublesome times and so was soon a busy
factory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sales men bought material in
every city within 500 miles rushing it to us; Others filling orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">A set of pictures + a story was sent to
every large paper in the U.S. and abroad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>New cameras were telegraphed for and the smoking ruins pictured every
angle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Over the next
three days, flames swept across the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Efforts to make fire breaks by blowing up buildings only worsened the
disaster, complicated by broken gas lines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over this time, Pillsbury built a set of 150 negatives which chronicle a
disaster which still today awes and horrifies people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was inevitable, given the lack of training
and preparedness of the city and government. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">On the first
day Pillsbury had rescued an old acquaintance from his years in Auburn who was
fleeing from the fire with her brother, Jesse Banfield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AEtheline
had four brothers, three of whom would soon be working for Pillsbury. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">AEtheline
Banfield had lived near the Pillsbury family home in Auburn but married early
to an older man named Arthur Seneca Deuel, who was a physician.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Deuel died soon after the birth of their
only child, born July 16, 1892.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boy
was named Arthur for his father, Dr. Deuel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two were married May 13, 1906 in Marin
County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time of the marriage
AEtheline’s son was 14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The funds
earned over those weeks made it possible for Pillsbury to fulfill his long wish
to have a studio in Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pillsbury
purchased <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The Studio of the Three Arrows</i>”
from Harold A. Taylor and Eugene Hallett, who had been operating it since
1903.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The likely reason for the sale was
the increase in the yearly fee for operating in the Valley, which went from $1
in 1906 to $250 in 1907.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taylor was a
gifted photographer who would continue to come to Yosemite for many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Pillsbury’s
goal in establishing a studio in Yosemite began as soon as he arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the next years he would survey the
wildflowers of Yosemite, first identifying those which were best for the
studies he would do with the lapse-time camera that he intended to design and
build.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Then, he would
produce nature films which would emotionally connect the viewer to the lives of
the flowers, animals, birds, waterfalls, and trees of all kinds around
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking out each problem which
presented itself, he searched for ways to help us see the matrix in which all
of us exist, the air which eddies around us, unseen but always present as we
breathe, the clouds which carry water each flowing endlessly, and across the
stones and earth which carry their own histories through time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His intentions were not speculation, careful
observation reveals his carefully planned direction, and his adjustments of
mechanical technology to the life cycles of his topics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arthur C.
Pillsbury photographed the White Fleet both from on-board some of the
vessels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as the Fleet entered the
San Francisco Bay he had positioned himself to obtain the best image possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The event took place on May 6, 1908.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From the Pillsbury
Autobiography: </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The arrival in San Francisco of our
Fleet (1908) in command of Admiral {<span style="background: white; color: black;">San
Francisco was the last port-of-call for fleet commander Evans, still suffering
from gout. He was relieved by Rear Adm. C. M. Thomas.) </span>was an event of
great moment. Photographers from as far as Chicago gathered to picture the
arrival and who ever got the best pictures was sure of a great regard. The
Examiner retained me for three days, with publication rights of everything I
made. The fleet was to steam into the Golden Gate in single formation of the
battle ships, with the destroyers on either side of this line; the logical
location for the picture was Alcatraz Island in mid channel and most of the
camera men were there including two of my men.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
had inspected every possible location + decided on Point Bonita, at the far
outside northern entrance of the Golden Gate. There was a beautiful arch rock
in the fore ground, and the setting most ideal. the rivalry was keen among the
camera men, each watching the other. I had not even told the Examiner what I
was going to do, only that I wanted a good launch at daylight and had obtained
my permit from the army officer in charge of the fortifications.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Luck
was with me. I was the only photographer on the Point. and the fleet came
steaming in to the Golden Gate in perfect formation also in the northern
channel nearest me the sky was overcast but the light perfect and my trusty
panorama did its self proud, the fleet steamed on by me, the grey fog settled
down and the proud procession disappeared into it. The other camera men could
only see two or three of the battle ships at once, and my picture of the
hundreds taken was the only one showing the entire fleet entering the Gate. It
was so good the Examiner ran it full size 3 feet long across both pages and its
sale almost equaled that of the fire pictures; it was a thing of beauty, as
well as of historical value.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The steps he
planned began with his nature films, the first showed in 1909 in late summer on
the porch of his studio after dark. Pillsbury used postcards to jumpstart
attendance at his showings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">That same year, Pillsbury was
active in the newly formed Pacific Aero Club, fascinated by the possibilities
of flight, especially as these applied to photography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, in June 1909 he displayed “The Fairy”
his newly purchased balloon, purchased from renowned early aviator,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roy Knabenshue, who had built it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Fairy had a 10,000-cubic foot capacity,
the smallest manned balloon in the Bay area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Shown with it was Pillsbury’s panoramic automatic camera built to be
used from the balloon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wooden Wings Over the Golden Gate, Page 5 –
37.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From the
Pillsbury Autobiography<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">: “</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">It
would seem that after the stress and adventure of my two years in Alaska, and
the harrowing experiences attendant on the earth-quake and the burning of San
Francisco that I might reasonably anticipate a season of comparative peace, as
peaceful as the conduct of any business allows. this I found was not to be, for
now followed what I mentally tabulate as tiny arial flight,” I had watched
Jackson of Chicago, one of my competitors on the arrival of the fleet (White
Fleet, 1908) send his camera up with a kite; I had experimented myself and made
a few good pictures but did not consider the method dependable. Still air
pictures had great possibilities and I wanted them. Roy Knabenshue, and Beachey,
afterwards the star of the airplane, were making a cut-away ascension in what
had been a captive balloon. I went with them and made my first air pictures we
sailed over the city and the bay crossed the Berkeley hills and landed in a
little meadow, all very fine with two such experts, but as it was foggy, the
pictures were not so good.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pillsbury
was determined to have aerial photos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After acquiring the Fairy from Roy Knabenshue, he waited for calm
weather to capture aerial photos of the rebuilding of San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Day was to be October 30 with the Fairy
tethered from a tugboat in the Bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marriage
to AEtheline was comfortable for both of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>AEtheline filled her time with a round of club meetings and time spent
with her family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A train of Banfield
family members, young and old passed through their home but none of them shared
Pillsbury’s interests, such as flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arthur
had learned not to tell AEtheline when he planned an expedition she might
consider risky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since this definition
covered nearly everything he enjoyed he learned to be careful about what he
told her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not really knowing your spouse
is one of the hazards of suddenly assumed bonds of marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was
true of the flight of his aerial balloon acquired in 1909,” the Fairy,” planned
out carefully for October 30, 1909.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
the Fairy rose from the deck of the tugboat in San Francisco Bay the wind was
in abeyance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A glorious day of sunshine
and calm was exactly what Pillsbury needed to make the multiple panorama photos
of the rebuilding of the great city, now rising from its ashes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From
Pillsbury Autobiography:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">“The Fairy, I named her, on account of her ethereal beauty.
This I bought, and with the help of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one
of my workmen, took it to the gas works at the foot of Powell St. for
inflation. Next we filled our sand bags, stretched out the balloon and put it
inside the net, which we placed inside out + had to change but finally we
inflated it. then walked it over some telegraph wires to the bay, where<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we tied it to a launch with about 500 feet of
rope. Luck was with us, for it was not only a beautiful day, but what is much
more unusual, in San<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Francisco, a nearly
windless one. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">These conditions were ideal and I made picture after picture
as the launch towed the balloon down the water front. This was a year after the
fire and the city was rapidly recovering from the conflagration. I finished my
film and signaled the launch to start back; in the mean time the wind had
spring up and the balloon instead of being vertically over the launch was blown
off on an angle of 45 degrees. Starting back, against the increasing wind the
basket kept diving into the bay. So I was compelled to hold the cameras in the
air to keep them dry. The wind increased in force and between the gusts the
launch crew hauled in the rope & I passed the cameras to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wind had now reached such velocity that
the balloon acted as a huge sail and made progress by the launch impossible.
Seeing my predicament, a launch was sent to my assistance from a battle ship
then in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>harbor,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but before it reached me, the rope parted
close to the basket and I, shouting “Goodbye” to the anxious launch crew, shot
up into the air in the basket whose sole ballast and equipment was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the one small man who was I. Although this
was my first solo aerial flight, I realized that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>prevent an explosion in the higher air I must open the neck of the
balloon which had been tied at its inflation. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Accomplishing
this in my besopped condition was far from easy or pleasant, but I finally
managed to climb onto the ring above my head and untie the string closing the
bag. I assure you the shivers chasing themselves over me were not all caused by
the increasingly cold air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about
4:30 it had taken all day to do the things that afterwards I could do in an
hour and a half.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I
was wet + cold, the balloon shot up over 10,000 feet, a most wonderful sight,
the entire peninsula of San Francisco was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>below me. I could see the cities San Mateo, Palo Alto + San Jose to
those south-ward Alameda Oakland + Berkeley across the bay Tamalpais (Mount)
and the Golden Gate to the Westward and the Faralines (Farvaijone Islands) in
the distance. I sat with my feet over the edge of the basket in the sun and
every five minutes made notes on what I could see. about 5 as I drifted low
over the bay I ran into a cloud bank, that condensed the gas + the balloon
began to sink I had no ballast, but bits of paper throw out shot up above me. I
was still over the bay and it looked a lost balloon + a dunking if nothing
worse. Just before it struck the land breeze caught me and I came down in the
tulles a hundred yards in shore, we bounced up 50 feet came down again in a
slough plowing through it making a big splash + a thump climbed out went
through a fence knocking it down and across the marches as fast as a horse
could run, finally the basket dropped into a slough + the overhanging edge
caught the basket, + by sitting in the water I held the balloon down till the
bas had escaped, this all took less time than it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>does to write it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Well
I climbed out looking like a mud hen without a hat, mine went on the first
bounce, the balloon was not even wet, it had stayed in the air while I acted as
the dragging anchor. I folded it up and was just starting with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it on my back when some engineers on the
Bumbarton cut off just being built who saw me come down and then disappear as
the balloon emptied its self of gas, came out to find me, they came in a row
boat up one of the sloughs, even then my troubles were not over, we started for
the Rail road the tide<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>went out + left
us stranded in the mud, so holding clothes tied around our necks we waded
ashore dragging one leg after the other through the thick mud, at last we
reached shore and the R.R. a train came along and I sat in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the smoker by the stove to thaw out.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">At home Mrs. Pillsbury knew nothing about my adventures the
papers had telephoned saying I had made a noteworthy ascension and asked for
pictures but did not say I had not been found. One reporter was still there and
was busy getting my life story, when I popped in covered with dried mud. She
seemed quite disappointed, to think I was alive. She had lost her scoop; <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">I called up the Examiner and their city editor Jimmy Nourse
told me he had just won $20.00 on me, from “Heine” of the Marine Exchange, who
had watched the balloon break loose and shoot up above the clouds through his
marine glasses. Heine had bet Jim Norse I would never come back, when
Norse<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>took the bet Heinie claimed Norse
must have some late dope on it, Norse was a good friend and enjoyed telling me
about it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">The evening papers had carried heavy headlines saying I was
lost in the sky from which their was no return. The morning papers said I had
ascended into heaven with my films, had with angels for them and came out
victorious. The film had got wet and sealed themselves up the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>moisture only going in an eighth of an inch,
when they were cut apart and developed, they came out wonderfully well and we
had a big sale on them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone said I had cut loose for the publicity story, but
they bought them just the same. All the old time aeronots (aeronauts) seemed to
think I was an experienced balloonist after that + they came to me for advice,
this was before the days of the aeroplane,”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The
evening papers had carried heavy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>headlines saying I was lost in the sky from which their was no return.
The morning papers said I had ascended into heaven with my films, had with
angels for them and came out victorious. The film had got wet and sealed
themselves up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>moisture only going in an eighth of an inch,
when they were cut apart and developed, they came out wonderfully well and we
had a big sale on them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="mso-list: skip; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">In January of 1910, Pillsbury
was in Los Angeles filming and photographing the Dominguez Air Show from 300-feet
in the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also attending was his
brother, Dr. Ernest Sargent Pillsbury, and his nephews and niece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Ernest had participated in the first road
rally sponsored by the Automobile Club of California in 1900 and enjoyed the
edge technologies of the naught years with his brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arthur Pillsbury spent the evenings with his
brother and family, which included their mother, Dr. Mama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their father, Dr. Harlin, had died in
December of 1907 at Ernest and Sylvia’s home in Hollywood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="mso-list: skip; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Arthur’s article for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sunset Magazine</i> includes some of his
photos and provided an overview of the event and this was also covered in his
partial Autobiography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“I took my “Fairy” to Los Angeles had it
captive at the first flights of Paulham, Beachey and others and made the first
pictures from above looking down on them as they circled below me. Knabenshue
had a dirigible he had made. It was a long limber sausage like affair and would
cave in at the flew (sp?) when under way. he walked a pole underneath to keep
its nose pointed up or down when the small engine pushed it forward and all
sorts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of other queer contraptions were
being tried out. one big three storied<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>affair got up headway enough to run a couple of hundred yards across the
field then tipped over.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Beachey flew from a circle and around the
field landing in the same circle. Paulham flew an monoplane with the aerolons
(ailerons) strapped showing he did not need the device patented by the Wright
Bros.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">“The
Examiner was using my pictures + I wanted a set from the ground so one of the
regular photographers went up the second day which turned out very windy and
the little Fairy whipped back + forth on her anchor line. the first time it
almost touched the ground the photographer lost his camera and the next time
out he tumbled himself which ended his aireal ambitions.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Charlie
Field editor of Sunset Magazine made a cut away ascension + when they landed
they had to pry his hands loose from the guy rope they were so cramped from
hanging on.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A week later all the aviators
came to S.F. for exhibition flights and prepared to do the same thing in
pictures for the S.F. Examiner. We inflated in the lee of a row of trees and
some half dozen of us walked the balloon across the field to the starting
point. the wind was shipping it so much<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>could hardly hold it, suddenly
it ripped from top to bottom and what had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a beautiful silk bag 25 feet
in diameter disappeared like a bubble.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">This scene
was played out not long after Pillsbury showed the first nature movie ever made
at his studio in Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He does not
mention the event, which thereafter was repeated several times a week the next
season, in early 1910.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know this
because Pillsbury had had post cards printed which provides a unique form of
advertising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">PHOTO – FRONT
AND BACK OF ADVERTISING POSTCARD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1910–
AC Pillsbury Foundation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">In 1911
Pillsbury’s life changed abruptly and permanently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with all major changes, some things were
dropped for lack of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other things
became routines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In June of that year
Arthur C. Pillsbury was still active in the Pacific Aero Club and with another
gentleman, Mr Kneiling, was at work building an original biplane and motor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe this was designed to become an
aerial photographic platform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Then, on
September 3, Arthur Pillsbury’s brother and sister-in-law Sylvia, were killed
in an auto accident on their way to celebrate their wedding anniversary with
their children in Santa Barbara.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within
hours, AC was on a train on his way to meet the children, who had also been in
the car, in Ventura, where the bodies had been taken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The court
system in Los Angeles was notoriously corrupt, and what followed was a struggle
for custody of the three minor children and control of the large estate which
Ernest and Sylvia had left without protection as they had died intestate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of a family member, Title Insurance
Company, then struggling to evade bankruptcy, was granted control of the
estate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">But what
mattered most was the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still in
shock from watching their parents die so horribly, the three clung to their
grandmother, Dr. Mama and to their Uncle Arthur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Title Insurance floated the idea they
should have physical custody of the children, AC had the children’s possessions
and family heirlooms packed up from the home in Hollywood and shipped to his
house in Berkeley, taking the children out of the jurisdiction of the Los
Angeles Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He immediately sat the
children down, and asked if he could adopt them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: .75pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The papers
were filed, and the children ages six to 13, went into the court in Alameda
County on November 13<sup>th</sup> and affirmed their wish to have their Uncle
Arthur become their father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
AEtheline would not be their mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
refused to join in the adoption, instead allowed to control the support money
which would be allotted to the children by the Title Insurance Company. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the time, this was not a small amount for
ordinary families, but it was far less than Ernest and Sylvia had spent on
their children routinely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In today’s
purchasing power this amount was $2,503.71 a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The probate
would not close until young Arthur turned 18 and the bodies of Ernest and
Sylvia, also seized by Title Insurance and cremated, would not be buried until
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The requests
of Title Insurance to the court document the flow of property they sold, which
includes pages of stock holdings and real estate in Los Angeles along with
personal property.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The agreement
between AEtheline and Arthur to obtain her consent to allow her husband to
adopt the three children included his guarantee he would be the one who cared
for them for six months of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is why they were raised in Yosemite at the Pillsbury Studio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Yosemite
would always be, for them, their childhood home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The three
went on photo shoots with their new father, who they continued to call Uncle
Arthur and worked, as was expected in the Pillsbury Family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was true of all of the generations back
to at least the Revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be
true of Young Arthur’s family as well when he married and had children of his
own after earning his PhD from Stanford University in Civil Engineering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">But having AC
as a father was a magic experience for them in most ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, they had lost much, their parents, their
home, their friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they had also
gained amazing richness in many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Their new father
included them in carrying out his experiments with new inventions, with his
lapse-time work, and on his photo shoots they delighted in picnicking with him
as they waited for the light and clouds to be just as he wanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My own father,
young Arthur, did the same with me and my siblings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we had any inclination we were included in
his work, learning first hand about such subjects as soil chemistry and
composition and water quality from a man who knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father, Dr. Arthur F. Pillsbury, retired
as Director of the Water Resources System for the University of
California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a world respected
expert on this and related subjects. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he returned from consulting jobs on
which he could not take us I always received a briefing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this way I learned about my grandfather,
who was a good man, kind, filled with a lively sense of the ridiculous and, as
Dad said, “The hardest working man he had ever known.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">I was so
inclined to work at a young age, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had my first business, a lemonade stand, when I was six.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept at it until Junior High School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1962, Dad took me with him when he went
into the Brentwood Fire, which was still burning, so we could record burn
patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was then serving on the
first committee for peripheral fire danger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My father
recounted to me experiments with kites intended to perform aerial photographs
which, if they worked or not, would be followed by a finale of ice cream or
other treat at a local shop with his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My father
followed the custom taught him by his father, ‘Uncle Arthur,’ for making
Christmas a time to record their upward growth and share images with friends
and family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father also became a highly
skilled mechanic and machinist able to alter anything or invent something which
did the job as a matter of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
at UCLA, he received from Rain Bird their new model of sprinkler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Testing it, he realized it failed to cover
the area intended and re-machined it, returning the working model, with
instructions, to the company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">When, as a
family, we raised our glasses of orange juice in the morning and saluted each
other with “Happy Days!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we knew where
the custom originated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Fatherhood,
parenting, is in the love and attention provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of his life, Father had come to
realize how many people in the NPS and elsewhere had intentionally
misrepresented the relationship between the children and the man who loved and
cared for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked him who, in his
heart and mind, was his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without
hesitation, but with eyes glazed with tears he told me it had been ‘Uncle.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Grandfather
had never expected to have children because he knew he was sterile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adopting his brother’s children would be as
close as he could come to children descended from him biologically. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This mattered to him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad began learning about machining and
mechanics as he watched, and then ran the first Photo Postcard Machine his
father invented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was not yet 15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">These
experiences spanned the time from 1912 to the time my dad left for college and
was no longer spending all summer in Yosemite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time he was 14, he was a competent projectionist and able to
provide the narrative if for some reason his father was not there for films at
the Studio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">My dad shared
with his new father the delight in knowing the mowing of the meadows had ceased
after his father’s first lapse-time movie of flowers forming, blooming and
dying was shown to the Conference for National Park Superintendents meeting in
Yosemite in 1912.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Uncle’ had ended the mowing
of meadows, merely for horse fodder, which was destroying the wildflowers at an
ever faster rate each year.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">As
Grandfather aged, it was my father he called on for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a real Father – Son
relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The
understanding between father and son was that my dad would have the cache of
materials which represented Grandfather’s life’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when Dad arrived, he discovered these
materials had already been sold for $100 by AEtheline immediately after her
husband had died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was, in fact,
haggling with a prospective buyer over the grandfather clock which had been
handed down to the oldest Pillsbury son since before the Revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father managed to stop the sale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Father made
sure all of us knew and appreciated our Grandfather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Ernest was never mentioned, and I did not
see a photo of him until I encountered one in the photos family members
contributed as I started to rediscover and rebuild Grandfather Arthur C.
Pillsbury’s legacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A photo of Sylvia,
his mother, always stood on Father’s dresser, however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to understand Dr. Ernest was not an
ideal parent, despite the family’s wealth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The partial
autobiography is included in this article so you can read the words Arthur C.
Pillsbury himself wrote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How he used technologies
to create a narrative from and for the living world, is important today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Below is a
section from his Autobiography on his use of photography:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“From
1906 till 1927 I held a government photographic concession in Yosemite National
Park, where in 1912 I started taking motion pictures of the wild flowers of the
Sierra. I had bought an old almost worthless camera, remodeled it and began
getting scenic pictures; those of the water falls were wonderful, full of
action but the cliffs were not as good as still pictures having no movement
except that shown by the jerky movement of all cameras of those days. I
conceived the idea of making the individual pictures in the film at one or two
second intervals, and at once my pictures of the cliffs sprang into life, the
clouds went drifting by and the cloud shadows on the cliffs added to its
life-like effect. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
took more skill as I had to judge the speed of the clouds or they would race
across the screen when projected at the normal rate of 16 pictures a second,
but the method had wonderful possibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
this time, I had made still pictures of many of the Sierra flowers and they,
like motion pictures of the cliffs lacked life and movement so I decided to do
in motion pictures the life of the flowers as I had the cloud shadow movements
on the cliffs. it was of course impossible to make pictures at uniform
intervals by hand day + night of flowers as they opened, and out of doors the
wind would blow them about + the light could not be uniform, so I designed a motor
gear arranged I could get any speed I wanted transmitted through a belt to a
wheel on the camera that replaced the crank. Having figured out these
requirements, I made notes on the flowers when they started to open + how long
it took + I knew a scene had to be very dramatic to hold the interest over 30
second. and a picture 30 second or 30 feet long contains 480 individual
pictures, so if it took a flower 4-days to live its life story it was only
necessary to divide the 5760 minutes in 4 days by the 480 the desired pictures
which gave 12 minute intervals between each picture.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
soon found that flowers if properly handled would live and grow in my
laboratory by electric light just as they do out of doors in their natural
habitat. that they have their fixed regular habits just as we do; that they
opened & closed at these accustomed hours. I found out I could almost set
my watch by their opening and closing so regular was their accomplishment of
their processes of survival.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All
of these various things took a great deal of time and study to master. My
training in mechanical engineering at Stanford taught me to look on each step
as an engineering problem and work it out from that standpoint. the mechanical
steps first, designing a motor reduction gear that would run constantly + night
with the least liability of accidents, and the necessary changes of speed for
the slow or fast growing flowers; if the flower grew faster or slower at
certain periods of its life or if the actual dying or changing into its seed
pod took too long, I must speed it up on the screen by slowing the camera down.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
first motor gear I built is still running after 20 years of service, the motor
has worn out + been replaced twice but the gearing is as good as ever.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">All the steps in this lapse time
photography had their difficulties to overcome. the lighting, the effect of the
light on the growth of the plant or flower, the tiring of the plant by the
continuous 24-hour duplication of day, what its size and position would be in
the camera during its entire...”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Above are the
last words of Grandfather’s Partial Autobiography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was during this period J. B. Lippincott
Company, Philadelphia and London, published Arthur C. Pillsbury’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life</i>.”
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-list: skip; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The book
provides instructions for all his cameras, so others could build them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What today we call ‘Open Source’ he called ‘Knowledge
Commons’. He understood how innovation builds on innovation, taking the human
mind to new insights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if he was assembling
a machine, Pillsbury designed and built what we need to directly understand our
world and each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: #c00000;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">He believed we
could accomplish anything if we had the tools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Enjoying the beauty of nature is only the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, we need to understand nature and
ourselves as one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">End of Part
One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-58081212698019683062017-07-27T21:13:00.004-07:002017-07-27T21:13:39.660-07:00The Runaway Balloon - Centennial Moments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This article was originally published on the Lone Star Iconoclast on:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="headline_date">Monday, August 17, 2009</span> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-style: italic;">By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</span> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Connecting the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906 - First nature movie October 1909, Yosemite - Centennial U.S. Air Show, Dominguez Hills, Jan.10-20, 1910</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Oct. 31, 1909) <b>—</b> The Fairy’s first flight had taken its aeronaut 10,000 feet into the sky in uncontrolled motion. The aeronaut, Arthur C. Pillsbury, had been finishing up a day’s photography, teeth chattering, when the white balloon had been driven by a sudden violent wind across the Bay, towing the small boat to which it was tethered in its wake. The Fairy, ripped from its anchorage, shot into the air. No one thought Pillsbury would survive. The Fairy was not designed for free flight, the flight community knew that. What we know can change rapidly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pillsbury had spent the day chronicling the rebuilding of San Francisco, taking panoramic photos and conventional stills. He had done the same on April 18, 1906 from the ground. The first day panoramas showing the city boiling with smoke and fire were made on the circuit panorama he designed as his senior project at Stanford in 1897.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anywhere Pillsbury could go to get enticing images, he went. Slowly releasing the gas from the balloon, clinging to the torn rigging for his life, Pillsbury came down in the mud flats north of San Jose. His film was nearly intact and he was without the fear of heights that had troubled him all of his life. Life brings unexpected gifts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Jan.10 the next year, 1910, the Fairy was tethered above the field where the first air show in the United States was taking place in Dominguez Hills near Los Angeles. The men who built and flew the planes, dirigibles, and balloons were doing something never before seen to the shock and delight of multitudes. In the March issue of Sunset Magazine an article from Pillsbury appeared . He had filmed events from 300 feet in the sky sitting, as he reported, "on a few sand-bags in the basket of the balloon, with my legs through the net that held the shallow basket, kept my busy camera outside the net. It was a daily position to be envied really by occupants of the grandstand and boxes who had paid many dollars for their lower vantage points. At a height of 300 feet above the 40 thousand spectators, sounds came in waves and masses, and the shrill barking of souvenir program, hot peanuts and bottled beer venders was like the sharp rattle of small guns in a cannonade."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Air flight was the impractical indulgence of a few enthusiasts. No one foresaw commercial flight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1901 the Sierra Club’s first outing saw 96 participants on a trip to Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows, beginning a tradition of annual High Trips. By 1910 the membership of the Sierra Club was approximately 1,000. Muir was still focused on saving the Hetch Hetchy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Late the previous year, 1909, just before his first adventure in the Fairy, Pillsbury had shown the first nature movie at his studio in Yosemite Valley. Using film to bring nature to people instead of taking people into the wilderness would become the strategy used to mainstream a love of nature among people who, in the newly urbanized America, never encountered it in their own lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many suspected the world would never be the same again. They were more correct than they knew. The meeting of several innovations was about to transform the world in ways none of them had imagined.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flight, photography, and new understanding would become powerful allies, still working its magic with us today. A flower raising its head to the sun, its motion increased to be visible to the human eye, stopped the mowing of meadows in Yosemite in 1912. Photography, in movies and in science, changed what people knew as true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photography opened up worlds to human vision. Flight made the world smaller and more accessible. Seeing, through photography, provided insights into the nature of the world around us. And a man you probably never heard of built the cameras. Arthur C. Pillsbury. 1927 – First microscopic motion picture camera. 1929 – First X-Ray motion picture camera. 1930 – first underwater nature movie and camera. Starting this year, celebrate a century of increasing human understanding through innovations in photography.</span></div>
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>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-85984872652417005792016-10-21T15:47:00.001-07:002016-10-21T15:47:56.527-07:00The Facts about Ted Orland and Man & Yosemite - A Photographer's View of The Early Years.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="h3color tiny">The review below, published on Amazon, in December 2014, received little notice at the time. On October 18, 2016 this response appeared from, "The Range of Light," a revealing pseudonym. The 'comment' by Range is below and includes no facts, only ad hominem attacks. </span><br />
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<span class="h3color tiny"><b>Initial post</b>: Oct 18, 2016 8:08:06 PM PDT <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1GEWWM0LU19W6/ref=cm_cr_rev_detpdp" style="text-decoration: none;">The Range of Light</a> says:<div class="postFromBadges" style="padding: 0 0 0 15px;">
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<i> "It is obvious, based on the reviewer's name and her completely off point review, that she is only out to promote the reputation of her relative, Arthur C. Pillsbury, and has only a passing familiarity with the book that she so unfairly criticizes. This is exactly the kind of egregiously self-promoting and biased reviewer who should be banned from Amazon. Shame on this reviewer and shame on Amazon."</i> </div>
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<span class="h3color tiny">Please read the review offered of the referenced book.<b> </b>The book was exhaustively notated before the review was written, focusing on history and photography. Photography is a technology, first and foremost. That technology is foundational to the world today. Taking pictures is not just art. It is a technology based in science which informed generations on the world beyond human vision. </span><br />
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<span class="h3color tiny">Art is highly subjective and open to interpretation. This is not the case with science. </span><br />
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<span class="h3color tiny">The Range of Light's attempt to reframe reality is sad, silly, and not to be tolerated. </span><br />
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<span class="h3color tiny">A copy of the letter from Ansel Adams on Pillsbury is available on the <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Letter_from_AA_regarding_Pillsbury_10_23_780000.jpg">website</a> along with <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Letters---AFP---Steve-Harrison.html">letters from Steve Harrison</a>, who was part of the attempt to negate the relationship of Arthur C. Pillsbury's three children with their father and conceal the discovery of the ACP Archive from Dr. Arthur F. Pillsbury until it was too late for him to take action . <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1911---Adoption-Papers.html">Adoption</a></span><br />
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<span class="h3color tiny"><b>This review is from: </b></span><b>Man and Yosemite: a Photographers View of the Early Years (Paperback)</b> <br />
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Review - "Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's View of the Early Years," by Ted Orland<br />Published by the Image Continuum Press, no date for publication.<br /><br />By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster<br /><br />Orland's book, "Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's View of the Early Years," fails badly as history, leaving out significant figures who shaped the early years after the Western discovery of Yosemite. In this he clearly is following the lead of his mentor, Ansel Adams. Adams, focusing on Muybridge and Fiske, has managed to skew the public perception both of Yosemite's early history in photography and substitute a focus on the self-conscious expression photography as 'art.' In so doing those who, such as Orland, who see only an avenue for their own ego fail to see the creative force in humanity which is responsible for our forward motion for more clearly understanding ourselves and the world around us.<br /><br />The explosion of developments in every arena for human knowledge was impacted by photography. These include physics and medicine, which were recalibrated when it became possible to see the worlds once beyond human sight. Its edge developments for impacting human understanding remain significant today in the age of the ubiquitous 'Selfie," shot by children and baboons.<br /><br />Without the transformational technology of photography the erstwhile photographer would still be using a pencil and paper or oils. Other forms of art using a variety of technologies have far longer and deeper roots.<br /><br />The copy of Orland's book, referenced here, is in the possession of this writer. It was purchased at the Yosemite Visitor's Center new for $10.00. While no publication date was provided a cursory search of the Internet provides the date of 1985.<br /><br />Written from the perspective of photography as art, the book, supposedly about the history of early photography in Yosemite is a brief survey of photographers in the 1800s with only the last four pages brushing briefly over the fewer than ten photographers who ran businesses in Yosemite Valley during the referenced period of time.<br /><br />Instead of the pretentious title chosen, "Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's View of the Early Years," Orland should have titled the book. "The Photograph as Art in Yosemite from 1880 - 1918." This would have been a more honest title, allowing potential readers to determine the short volume's real framing. George Fiske, in Orland's opinion, was the only photographer whose work had merit as art.<br /><br />This approach to the subject naturally ignores the purpose of photography, which was not to become the tool of expression for the self-referencing but a means by which people could view reality. These two purposes can conflict. In the first the point is the photographer. In the second, the photographer works to remove himself from the picture, not attempting to interpret what is seen.<br /><br />While today we have accepted that photos can be manipulated to show what is not there the technologies original intention was to leave little doubt on this issue.<br /><br />Even the last four pages of the book, dedicated to photographers who had studios in Yosemite, is fatally flawed. Since Orland's book purports to be historic it must also be noted that he names Boysen as the next resident photographer, entirely missing the earlier claim by Daniel Joseph Foley, who opened the Yosemite Falls Studio in 1892, running it until his death in 1934. Foley was also a newspaper publisher and editor.<br /><br />Additionally, it was well known by Yosemite historians that the first Boysen Studio, started in 1897 was originally a partnership between Julius Boysen and Pillsbury. Pillsbury sold his share, which included hundreds of his own Yosemite photographs, to Boysen when he decided to take his circuit panorama to the Yukon and record the opening of the mining fields in 1898.<br /><br />The Orland book is more of a booklet, ending at 80 pages before the list of Illustrations and Additional Sources. The book lacks both a list of chapters and possesses no index. It is clearly not a serious attempt at history.<br /><br />Daniel Foley was primarily a publisher who took and sold photos and post cards and prints in addition to his main business. Foley's business, which was publishing, produced both a guide to Yosemite, titled, "Foley's Yosemite Souvenir & Guide," and a paper, "Yosemite Tourist." The Foley Guide was well written, carrying advertisements, photos, a compilation of essential information, and other useful material. It was clearly the work of a professional writer, lacking the stilted and lack-luster writing usual in government publications. "Yosemite Tourist," was a weekly newsletter which allowed tourists to keep track of arrivals and news in the Valley.<br /><br /> Orland ignores the significance of Pillsbury and Foley, two figures who played large parts in the development of Yosemite and its popularization as a icon now known around the world. Additionally, Orland ignores the photographic inventions and innovations which took place in Yosemite, shaping public perception of its beauties which came from the work of Arthur C. Pillsbury.<br /><br />Pillsbury's panoramas of Yosemite opened human eyes to the magnitude of its unique geological formation. Pillsbury, whose training was in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, built the first circuit panorama camera there as his Senior Project, leaving when his senior adviser told him the design would not work. Pillsbury built the camera, which worked. The first day photos of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire were taken with this camera as were the panoramas showing the opening of the mining towns in the Yukon.<br /><br />Pillsbury has been described as a Renaissance Man, one who used the technology of photography as a tool to advance the understanding of nature and the parallel need for preservation. This is no where better demonstrated than his use of film to take nature to people around the world. Pillsbury produced, and showed the first nature movie at his Yosemite Studio in 1909.<br /><br />In 1912 Pillsbury built the first lapse-time camera to reveal to human eyes the motion of a flower blooming. Short features began appearing in movie theaters in the late 1910s, as Pillsbury's lectures awakened interest in preservation of the natural world.<br /><br />Pillsbury's last invention while still a concessionaire in Yosemite was the invention of the first microscopic motion picture camera in 1926 - 1927.<br /><br />Orland clearly did no research on either man or their businesses in the Valley while at the same time asserting they lacked "artistic merit," a statement unsupportable by the facts and not even supported by his mentor, Ansel Adams. In a letter written in response to the discovery of Pillsbury's photographic collection in Utah by an historian named Rell Francis Adams said,<i> "Thank you very much for your interesting letter of October 19th. I knew Mr. Pillsbury very well indeed when he had his studio and shop in Yosemite where he had developed his lapse-time photography of flowers.<br /><br />Mr. Pillsbury was an extraordinary man and I think his contribution to photography has been overlooked."</i><br />Harry Best is also treated with less than the dignity his work should demand. The mention is limited to, "The other story briefly luring this ext into the twentieth century involves Best's Studio, founded by Harry Best in 1902. Best himself was a well accepted by hardly world-class painter of Yosemite scenes. His real claim upon posterity, however unintentional, results from the unlikely concordance of having a photofinishing service at his Studio, the only piano in Yosemite Valley, and a stunningly beautiful daughter named Virginia." This resulting in the conversion of the Best Studio to the Ansel Adams Galley some decades later obviously excited the author.<br /><br />Before mentioning the photofinishing service Orland might have forgotten Adams mention of having his first roll of film developed at the Pillsbury Studio and the neglect by Adams to mention he received his training in photography while working for Pillsbury and during the workshops routinely held at the Pillsbury Studio.<br /><br />This is naturally why Adams was well acquainted with Pillsbury.<br /><br />The list of Pillsbury accomplishments in photography dwarfs that of all Yosemite photographers combined. Along with producing more photos, running a business which sold a broad variety of products using photographs, Pillsbury also both made and showed the first nature movie - in 1909 - For its time the production was stunning. In 1912 Pillsbury designed and built the first lapse-time camera for plants, showing the first film to accomplish the preservation of wild flowers in Yosemite. To overlook this is to ignore the applications of photography which brought us to present day in every field of human endeavor, science, journalism, and other extension of technology. Pillsbury had recorded the growth of 500 of the estimated 1,500 wild flower species in Yosemite before the fire which ended his time there in November of 1927.<br /><br />The arena of photography does not end with black and white stills or color. It subsumes the whole of the technology as it developed.<br /><br />Under the section titled, "Additional Sources" Orland manages, while writing a book explicitly on Yosemite himself manages to give only a mention to the Muir book explicitly on the Valley. "The Yosemite," published in 1912 by New York: The Century Company. Muir explicitly chose to use, nearly exclusively, Pillsbury photos. The cover is, itself, modeled on the Pillsbury photo of Mt. Watkins and Mirror Lake. Except for the Pillsbury photos in the Muir book the only others came from of a few close associates of Muir.<br /><br />Additionally, Pillsbury designed the first mass production photo post card machine, Patent granted 1922, designed the first microscopic motion picture camera, the X-Ray motion picture camera. Yosemite was becoming a place where science met the natural world, a potential which died when the the Pillsbury Studio burned in 1927, another event the author ignores entirely.<br /><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
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Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-53471560552933373072016-05-27T11:34:00.000-07:002016-05-27T11:37:33.477-07:00A Wandering Tour of Los Angeles beginning in Hollywood, 1909. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<pre><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> We will be covering the stories of photographs taken by A. C. Pills<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">bury and also the stories </span></span></span></span></span></pre>
<pre><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of his family<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> from early times until now. Sign up to receive stories as they are published. - Ed</span></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span> </span></span></i></span></span></span></pre>
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<pre><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">From Hollywood to Los Angeles. </span></i></span></span> </span></pre>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A Wandering Tour of Los Angeles
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Hollywood of 1909 was a quiet
place, mostly large homes on one or two acres of land. Most families
were beginning to exchange their horses for automobiles; their barns
converting to auto garages while harness and other gear often
lingered on hooks next to the collection of parts and tools the
adventurous automobilist needed to keep his vehicle moving. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Pillsbury kids and a friend of Grace's. Arthur and Ernest, Jr.</td></tr>
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One such family lived on the
corner of what was then North Palm Blvd and what had recently been
renamed Hollywood Blvd. Their home was set on two acres and rose to
two stories; fruit trees and a rail road the three children could sit
in to ride wandered through the small orchard at the rear of the
property. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Ernest , Jr. was as thin as a rail
with a headful of soft, brown hair; Grace was decidedly determined
but always wore a large bow in her hair. The youngest, Arthur, was
blond with large, expressive eyes and a sunny smile. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> For the children's pleasure a small
roller coaster also held court near the back. The children played
baseball there as well and occasionally the ball would be hit 'out of
the park,' landing in the neighbor's property next door. Retrieving
balls could be hazardous because the curmudgeon who lived there, a
former journalist and writer, would pelt the kids with fruit if he
caught them coming over the fence. They learned to peer over first
to see if he was in the yard and run for the fence if the back door
opened. The neighbor's most popular book would eventually be made
into a Hollywood movie, the Wizard of Oz, but although the kids owned
a copy reading it always reminded them that apples and lemons could
sting even if Dorothy did find her way back to Kansas. </span></div>
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Many prosperous businessmen and
professionals lived in Hollywood, commuting to Los Angeles via the
Big Red Cars. The Pacific Electric Railway had been established in
1901 by Henry Huntington and by 1914 the system had begun to reach
out, creating communities through the development of land by
Huntington along the routes of the railway. It was fast and cheap
transportation.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Dr. Ernest S. Pillsbury, the father of
the three children whose retrieval missions so annoyed their
neighbor, took the Big Red Car from the corner near their home into
his office in Downtown Los Angeles every day. He took his paper
along to read on the trip. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Los Angeles was then a middle sized
town with a sprinkling of taller buildings still girded by nicer
housing that were separated by broad fields and farms in every
direction. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Many things were happening in 1909;
aeronautics was beginning to capture the interest of more Americans
all the time. Automobiles had moved from being the hobby of the
wealthy to a frequently reliable form of transportation and roads
were beginning to keep up with the changes, thanks to the efforts of
the Automobile Club of Southern California. </span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mydHjh_NCo0/V0iS3iPRw2I/AAAAAAAAPPU/4WNRfzWNZ0oT3tkKr0lPqovrg3TXaRixQCLcB/s1600/Angel%2527s%2BFlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mydHjh_NCo0/V0iS3iPRw2I/AAAAAAAAPPU/4WNRfzWNZ0oT3tkKr0lPqovrg3TXaRixQCLcB/s320/Angel%2527s%2BFlight.jpg" width="303" /></a></div>
Sometimes Mrs. Pillsbury took the
children into Los Angeles to have lunch with her husband and the
family enjoyed a short excursion on the Los Angeles Incline Railroad,
also known as Angel's Flight, that had been built in 1901 by Col.
J.W. Eddy to give residents of the lovely Bunker Hill area with its
elaborate and brilliantly painted Victorian homes access to the
shopping available Downtown.<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Arthur loved to hold his own nickel
and pay for his own ride on the Flight. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> At the top of Angel's Flight was also
the Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Dr.
Pillsbury had joined the rapidly growing organization several years
before because of the good works the Brothers did and also because
Lodge No. 99 had a wonderful dining room where he could take the
family for lunch and for other events. After lunch the family walked
Dr. Pillsbury back to his office. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjNZLOlyzEQ/V0iTBdAZMdI/AAAAAAAAPPY/ZJ0c2FxsC08g15odyYkHGt7JvzHZvnkWACLcB/s1600/Elks_Club%2B1920%2BBunker%2BHill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjNZLOlyzEQ/V0iTBdAZMdI/AAAAAAAAPPY/ZJ0c2FxsC08g15odyYkHGt7JvzHZvnkWACLcB/s320/Elks_Club%2B1920%2BBunker%2BHill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The family was also looking forward to
the annual Convention of the B. P. O. E., which was to take place in
Los Angeles between July 11-17 of that year. Past annual events had
brought out tens of thousands of Elk members from across the country.
This would be the Forty-fifth Grand Lodge Session and 23rd Order
Reunion. The Pillsbury family was not disappointed. 60,000 Elks and
their families from all across the country met in Los Angeles for a
program that included a long parade and musical events.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> The Elks had been founded by a tiny
group of actors in New York in 1867 for the purpose of providing for
their members insurance against the uncertainties of life. One of
the members of what had originally been called the Jolly Corks, a
drinking group, had died and left his family destitute and unable
even to pay for his burial. His drinking friends had pitched in to
provide for the widow and children and decided that the world would
be a better place if they could ensure that each knew such
necessities would be paid for if necessary. Within just a few years
there were dozens of Lodges across the United States. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Los Angeles was a wonderful place to
grow up, that town then centered on what we know as the Downtown and
was surrounded by rolling hills and fields and farms that separated
LA from the towns that all now meet. Vibrant, busy, and set like a
jewel in the broad plain, Los Angeles possessed wonderful rapid
transit, and heady possibilities. The Pillsbury Kids saw many of
those changes take place. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-88901016162011011232015-01-28T02:21:00.000-08:002015-02-04T00:06:40.622-08:00A Letter from Ansel Adams - October 23, 1978 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>A
Letter from Ansel Adams </i></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i> </i></span></b></span>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LpmvAfUE1qk/VMkBegxwGRI/AAAAAAAAMsc/PHz0WPNkZl0/s1600/Film%2BWon't%2BWait!%2BLogo%2B3%2Bcropped.jpg" height="100" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6vnJe/ab/74Qnu2">LINK TO HELP</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></i></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ansel
Adams responded to </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Letter_from_AA_regarding_Pillsbury_10_23_780000.jpg">Rell
Francis</a>,</span></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> a
photo historian from Springville, Utah, on October 23, 1978 with
this: </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Thank
you very much indeed for your interesting letter of October 19</i></span><sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>th</i></span></sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>.
I knew Mr. Pillsbury very well indeed when he had his studio and
shop in Yosemite where he had developed his time-lapse photography of
flowers. </i></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Mr.
Pillsbury was an extraordinary man and I think his contributions to
photography have been overlooked.”</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ansel
learned about wildflowers, and the need to preserve the natural world
first from the motion pictures shown on the porch of the Pillsbury
Studio. Help us ensure the films which moved Ansel Adams, produced by Arthur C. Pillsbury, survive.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Ansel
Adams in Yosemite</b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6YmWiMlsyAI/VMitBzRdAbI/AAAAAAAAMqk/G5kF5pC4JT0/s1600/Ansel%2BAdams%2BAutobio%2B-%2B118%2B-%2B119%2Bwith%2Bfather%2C%2Bmother%2B%26%2Bfriend%2B1916%2B0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6YmWiMlsyAI/VMitBzRdAbI/AAAAAAAAMqk/G5kF5pC4JT0/s1600/Ansel%2BAdams%2BAutobio%2B-%2B118%2B-%2B119%2Bwith%2Bfather%2C%2Bmother%2B%26%2Bfriend%2B1916%2B0000.jpg" height="306" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ansel Adams, sitting, with family in Yosemite.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ansel
was fourteen, about to turn fifteen years old. Ansel's parents had
given him his first camera for their trip to Yosemite, a Kodak Box
Brownie. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">While
taking his first roll of film Ansel fell off a rock and accidentally
snapped a photo. He took the roll of film to the Pillsbury Studio in
Old Village, to be developed. Ansel recounts the incident in his
book, </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ansel-Adams-An-Autobiography/dp/0821222414"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Ansel
Adams, An Autobiography</i></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>,
</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">with
this explanation. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“I
remember that it was Pillsbury himself, who presented me with my
developed film. He had not cut it apart, as he wanted to inquire how
this picture had come to be upside down in reference to the others on
the roll.” </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
was then giving workshops in photography at the Pillsbury Studio. The area inside the Studio was limited and related
activities also took place outside, between the Studio and the
Yosemite Chapel, immediately adjacent. Ansel sat, fascinated, as he
listened to those lectures. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Pillsbury Studio was a Nature Center. Tourists were stirred and
inspired by Pillsbury's nature movies from the time he started
showing them in 1909. Pillsbury injected facts on the miracles of
nature while entertaining tourists and instilling in them a desire to
preserve these wonders. Photographs and film allowed Pillsbury to
take the wilderness to people, instead of people trekking into areas
which could be dangerous for them – and for nature. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Yosemite
Valley was the perfect meeting place for these two goals. It was
Pillsbury's work which inspired generations of film makers to do the
same. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">1916
was the year Grandfather produced a film for David Curry, the founder
of Camp Curry. You can see part of the film, </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/clips/seeing-yosemite-with-david-a-curry-1916"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Seeing
Yosemite with David A. Curry,</i></span></a></u></span></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">which
has been restored by the National Film Preservation Foundation. These
films are part of our history as a people who love nature. </span></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
same year, 1916, Pillsbury produced a movie titled, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Legend
of the Lost Arrow,</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
featuring Don Tresidder as the Miwok hero. The film was made to
restore the dignity of Yosemite's native people and awareness of
their culture. Leroy Radonovich, for many years the photographer for
Yosemite, now retired, says finding, and preserving that film has
been a long time goal for many.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
1917 Ansel returned to Yosemite with his family, again spending time
at the Pillsbury Studio. The next year, 1918, he returned alone,
photographing the wildflowers he had learned about at the Pillsbury
Studio. His own photographs that year were heavily weighed toward
flowers.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
brought awareness of the natural world to tourists in ways which
moved them. Free nature films and the flower identification cards
sold at the Studio were part of the campaign Pillsbury carried out.
No matter how tight the tourist's budget Pillsbury made sure there
were items they could afford to buy so they would remember their
connection to the natural world, and Yosemite. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
had built the first lapse-time camera in 1912 so people could see
with their own eyes the life struggles of the wildflowers, which had
been disappearing from the meadows of Yosemite. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When
Pillsbury had first bicycled into Yosemite Valley in 1895, still a student at
Stanford University, the meadows had stood waist-deep in species of
wildflowers. By 1912 the varieties still present were shrinking. The
U.S. Cavalry, which managed the Park, was mowing the meadows to
provide fodder for their horses. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
was determined to persuade those in authority to preserve what was
left. After a showing of one of his wildflower films at a <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Conference-Oct--14--15---16.html">National
Conference for Park Superintendents</a> in October of 1912, the move
for preservation began. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These
were films Pillsbury also used later, when he lectured to people up
and down California and across the United States, Canada,
England, and the South Seas. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">And
on </span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1926---President-Coolidge---ACP.html"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">March
15, 1926 </span></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Pillsbury
lectured at a dinner arranged by Secretary of the Interior, Dr.
Hubert A. Work in honor of President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge at the
Willard Hotel in Washington D. C.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The Washington Star wrote, </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“Nothing
has stood out more distinctly than the dinner given by Dr. Work a
week ago at the Willard. The guests numbered about 70, and the dinner
being followed by colored pictures showing the life of a flower from
its first seeding until it bloomed into full-grown beauty and then
dropped its petals.” </i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span></span><span class="size10 Georgia10" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">Grace Coolidge was quoted as saying, <i>“she was profoundly impressed with the Pictures.”</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Pillsbury
lectured to the National Geographic Society and at every major Town
Hall Forum. He spoke regularly on every major campus in the United States about the natural world. Pillsbury
was the first, others were lead by his example.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ansel
Adams was touched, moved, changed, by the images of Arthur
C. Pillsbury, as his letter says. From 1923 on Ansel frequently</span>
accompanied Pillsbury as an assistant while Grandfather photographed
the spring, summer, autumn and winter changes in Yosemite National Park. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
1926 Pillsbury again used film to take the human eye into the living
world of the microscopic. Scientists and professors at the
University of California, Berkeley, were stunned to see his footage
of a cell dividing. These were images which changed our
understanding of processes which, until then, had been beyond human
vision. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Help us ensure these films survive. <a href="https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/6vnJe/ab/74Qnu2">Please Donate now</a>. </span>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-4484832377103157052014-12-31T01:51:00.003-08:002014-12-31T01:51:53.410-08:00BLINDSIDED: Anti-Environmentalism and the Unseen Collision with the Greens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> by David Lincoln, Geologist and Consultant </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The seeds of
anti-environmentalism were planted unwittingly by the early hunter-
gatherers of the Environmental Revolution. These conservationists
tried to preserve land and resources for the benefit of man. They
believed that natural resources should be saved for the good of all
society. Concurrently, sportsmen and outdoorsmen promoted forest and
wildlife conservation primarily to improve the hunt. They thought
little of the modern environmentalist’s goals of saving the earth
and its animal and plant species for their own sake.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The battle between
conservationists and true environmentalists rages on. This split in
the ecology movement has been successfully exploited for decades by
the polluting corporations to minimize interference and maximize
profits. However, over the years the corporations have capitalized
on other weaknesses within the movement and their strategies and
tactics have been constantly adapted to take full advantage of those
vulnerabilities.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Preservationists, like John Muir,
were heavily influenced by the proponents of transcendentalism
including Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. In 1872, they were
instrumental in establishing Yellowstone as the first national park
and Yosemite National Park followed in less than two decades. Muir
founded the <b>Sierra Club</b> in 1892 for the express purpose of
preserving the beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain for the
Spiritual benefit of man.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Near the turn of
the century (1903), Muir persuaded Teddy Roosevelt to join him in
Yosemite to see the wonders of nature that the Sierra club was
committed to preserve. Within two years, Roosevelt had named Gifford
Pinchot, an economic conservationist, to head the National Forestry
Service. Pinchot wrote, “The first great fact about conservation
is that it stands for development… and the <b>wise use</b> of
natural resources... for the benefit of people who live here and now
” Thus were the weeds of the “Wise Use Movement” sewn in the
garden of paradise!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At about this time,
the <b>National Audubon Society</b> was formed to protect birds and
waterfowl. These new conservation organizations exerted pressure on
Roosevelt to prevent mining in the Grand Canyon and ultimately to
establish the National Park Service in 1916.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By the end of
Roosevelt’s administration, the <b>National Parks and Conservation
Association</b> had been founded and the <b>Izaak Walton League</b>
had been formed for game protection. In all, almost 170 million acres
of land had been set aside for national forests and parks.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All of these
conservation efforts were about gathering up and setting aside land
for the use and benefit of future generations. Unfortunately, those
generations now believe they have a legitimate claim to control the
use of public land for private purposes. As we shall see, they have
become increasingly militant in their demands for access to some of
these lands for commercial and recreational use.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The next leap
forward by the environmental movement came during and shortly after
the Great Depression Era of the early 1930’s. Franklin Roosevelt
was desperately searching for a way to alleviate the severe drought
and massive soil erosion that characterized the “Dust Bowl” in
the mid-west. In 1935 he established the Soil Conservation Service
and appointed Hugh Hammond Bennett, known as the “father of soil
conservation” to scientifically solve the problem with the <u>wise
use</u> of natural resources.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Also in 1935, Jay
Darling founded the <b>National Wildlife Federation</b>. That same
year Aldo Leopold founded the <b>Wilderness Society</b>. Leopold was
concerned with game management and believed hunting was a way to
re-establish a balance in some ecosystems after ranchers had
eliminated natural predators. Although he had previously worked for
the forestry service under Pinchot, he became convinced that
wilderness was the storehouse of genetic diversity. He went on to
write the guidelines for a conservation movement and later introduced
the concept of a “Land Ethic”. This ethic changed the role of man
from conqueror to citizen of the land-community.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Darling stood
against Leopold’s philosophy because he was afraid that they would
“lead to the socialization of property.” This became one of the
first major rifts in the environmental movement and it weakened
organizations on both sides of the debate. The “socialization of
property” remains a key argument which the anti-environmentalists
use to justify their position. It is also an important component in
their “divide and conquer” strategy.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Following WW II, the <b>Defenders of
Wildlife</b> was founded to protect wild animals and their habitats.
This group replaced the Defenders of Furbearers and the Anti-Steel
Trap League. Shortly afterwards, two natural scientists, Fairfield
Osborn and William Vogt each wrote influential books entitled <i>Our
Plundered Planet</i> and <i>Road to</i> <i>Survival, </i>respectively.
Both writers emphasized the devastating impact that mankind’s
rapidly growing population was having on the land.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The concepts of ecological balance
expressed in these publications quickly led to the formation of the
<b>Nature Conservancy </b>in 1951. Within 10 years both the <b>Humane
Society,</b><i> </i>which fought for compassionate treatment of
domestic animals, and the <b>World Wildlife Fund</b> were
established.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Each of these Post-Depression Era
animal rights groups was idealistically formed to correct an
imbalance in nature caused by the ravages of man. The assumption was
that if you could scientifically show what was causing these
imbalances then it would be a relatively simple matter to correct the
problem. Implicit in this assumption was the belief that government
policies were largely responsible for this imbalance.
Consequently, only a political appeal for reason could correct these
problems. This belief system was about to be put to the ultimate
test.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> David Brower, who became Executive
Director of the Sierra Club in 1952, had transformed the group from a
regional to a national force. He successfully opposed the Bureau of
Reclamation’s plans to build dams in Dinosaur National Monument in
Utah and in Arizona’s Grand Canyon. However, he lost the battle to
prevent the Glen Canyon dam in Utah. This defeat led him to the
conclusion that more militant tactics were needed to stop
environmental degradation. He favored this more militant strategy
throughout the remainder of his career.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> In 1962, a year before the Glen Canyon
dam was completed; Rachel Carson published <i>Silent Spring</i>.
Success with her previous book, <i>The Sea Around Us</i> had allowed
her to quit her government job with the fisheries and concentrate on
writing full-time. She chose to work on pesticides because she was
concerned that the build-up of pesticides in the food chain was
having a devastating impact on the bird populations. Carson was a
voice in the wilderness trying to sound the alarm about the dangers
of DDT and other pesticides. While her book was widely read, its
controversial conclusions were denied by the chemical industry. It
took over ten years before DDT was phased out in the US but some
exports are still continuing.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The immense popularity of this book
led to an increased general awareness of the earth’s fragile
environment. Congress responded with a blizzard of new environmental
legislation including the Clean Air Act, the Wilderness Act, The
Water Quality Act and the Endangered Species Act. One can only
wonder if awareness alone was sufficient to move these bills through
Washington or whether intense lobbying from the rapidly growing
environmental organizations was necessary. The unprecedented growth
of the environmental groups certainly added to their strength.
Between 1960 and 1969 the combined memberships expanded nearly 700%
from 123,000 to 819,000. They would need all this support and more
to deal with the coming environmental crises.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Another environmental warning was
sounded in 1967 when a ship ran aground off the coast of England. A
Union Oil Supertanker known as the <i>Torrey Canyon</i> ran aground
on Pollard Rock, off Lands End. It was a 974 ft “jumboized”
tanker that was partly owned through a dummy corporation in the
Bahamas. The wreck didn’t receive much news coverage in the U.S.
although at the time it was the worst oil spill in history. The U.S.
media tended to downplay the consequences and didn't seem to realize
that over 750,000 barrels of oil had spilled onto Britain's shores.
(More than 3 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez). So much
oil was spilled that the Royal Air Force dropped bombs on the wreck
to break it apart and set fire to the oil. The slick spread from
Cornwall to Brittany and three weeks later, remnants reached all the
way to New Jersey and Cape Cod. Of course, the local population was
outraged, but there was little response in America. It is possible
that this disaster did have some influence on subsequent developments
in the legal profession.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A group of Long
Island scientists and lawyers banded together to form the
<b>Environmental Defense Fund</b> <b>(EDF)</b> to stop the spraying
of DDT and save the osprey from extinction. Their motto of “Sue the
Bastards” was indicative of the prevailing attitude that only by
working within the system could one hope to effect real change.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Originally, the
lawyers had approached the National Audubon Society for financial
assistance. Unfortunately, the chairman of Audubon, Gene Selzer and
other directors had close ties to chemical companies so the request
was denied. EDF was subsequently funded by a start-up grant from the
Ford Foundation. As litigation became the preferred means of
environmental protection, two more firms were formed and quickly
joined the fray: The <b>Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC</b>)
and the <b>Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (SCLDF</b>). Each was
begun with its own generous contribution from the Ford Foundation.
The Ford officials introduced the radical young lawyers in NRDC to
Republican lawyers on Wall Street who together with Laurance
Rockefeller became the Board. SCLDF opened in San Francisco as a
lawyers only group who did not initiate lawsuits but only represented
clients.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">These three
environmental law firms made impressive gains against Federal and
State regulatory agencies. One example was for the requirement to
reduce lead emissions in gasoline another was for the control of fire
retardant materials. However, the environmental litigation
eventually became too successful against companies which were closely
associated with Ford Trustees. When they delayed the construction of
the Alaskan pipeline for more than three years the Ford Foundation
took action. They fired Victor Yannocone, the founder and chief
spokesman for NRDC. Thereafter, all cases considered by law firms
who were funded by the Ford Foundation would be screened in advance
by a handpicked panel of five judges. In addition, the firms were
required to form internal review commitees which had to be approved
by Ford. Naturally, the number and controversial nature of the cases
declined precipitously
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> In hindsight, we
can now see that polluting corporations were well equipped to deal
with these legal challenges. They used their close personal and
funding ties to influence the supposedly independent foundations.
Simultaneously, they began training lawyers specifically in the arts
of environmental non-compliance. Since that time, CEO’s have
trotted out armies of lawyers to delay and obscure important health
issues while the offending companies continued their offensive
practices. Meanwhile, company sponsored scientists produced
mountains of reports to substantiate corporate claims. Only much
later did we learn that the studies were flawed or that the companies
had already prepared additional studies that proved that the products
were dangerous
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By the end of the
60’s, the courts were clogged with environmental lawsuits primarily
against the federal government for failure to enforce its own
regulations. Although lawyers were flocking to Washington, there
were still only two full-time lobbyists for environment.
Nevertheless, these lawsuits awakened popular concern that America
needed to do more to protect its own heritage. As a result, the Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act and National Trails Act were passed to protect
scenic areas from development. Then came the infamous California oil
spill and the environmental movement was forever changed.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1969, TV viewers
were bombarded by the images of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. Unocal
was drilling a development well from an offshore platform in the
channel when something went terribly wrong. The company attempted to
shut-in the well, but it apparently fractured the reservoir and
seeped to the surface. Although only about 6,000 barrels escaped (a
relatively minor spill); it was portrayed as an ecological disaster
of unprecedented proportions. This was in part because the gooey
sludge was polluting one of the most beautiful beaches in the world
and partly because the LA news media was only an hour away from the
focus of the story. The media highlighted the thousands of fish and
birds that were killed. They daily reported on the cleanup efforts to
save the animals (which were almost completely ineffectual). The
well flowed oil for months until another relief well could be drilled
and capped. For months it was the lead story on the nightly news.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The reader might be
tempted to conclude that this event opened the eyes of the public to
the real dangers of oil spills in the marine environment. However,
this is only partly true. Many people apparently were more concerned
with the damage to their favorite beach than to the oceans. Consider
that at the same time that the Santa Barbara spill was grabbing
headlines nationwide, another oil spill of huge proportions occurred
off the coast of Massachusetts. For the third time in only two years,
another tanker, (The Keo) split open due to hull failure. This time
210,000 barrels of oil were spilled into the heart of our fishing
grounds. There was little national coverage of this incident.
Although clearly, it should have been treated as a major story
because it was a forerunner of many other environmental catastrophes.
However, because the oil didn't happen to come onshore it wasn't
considered particularly newsworthy.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The whole Santa
Barbara affair was made a thousand times worse when the CEO of
Unocal, Fred Hartley, was interviewed live on nationwide television.
As he was walking along the oil soaked beach with a reporter at his
side; he sidestepped a dying seagull and said "Ah Hell, What's a
Few Dead Birds When Compared with Progress". That was probably
the last time an oil executive expressed his true feelings on camera!
"Fearless Fred" as he was called within the company, was no
crackpot. He later became the head of the American Petroleum
Institute, and was one of the most respected men in the industry.
His comments evoked such an uproar that Unocal maintained a
relatively low profile after that. It was already too late. It could
be argued that the exact moment he spoke those words on the air, the
New International Ecology Movement was born.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From this point
forward, industry would rely heavily on public relations or PR firms
to convey their message. One of the most common PR companies
selected to salvage a corporate image after an ecological catastrophe
was Burson–Marsteller (B-M). Their brochure states, “Often
corporations face long term issue challenges which arise from
activist concerns or controversies regarding product hazards…
Burson–Marsteller issue specialists have years of experience
managing such issues. They have gained insight into the key
activists groups and the tactics and strategies of those who tend to
generate and sustain issues. Our counselors around the world have
helped clients counteract activist-generated…concerns.”
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Eventually the oil
spill resulted in a moratorium on drilling offshore in California and
contributed to the ban on drilling in sensitive areas in Alaska. It
was perhaps the most costly public relations mistake the oil
companies ever made. It was a mistake which industry would not soon
repeat. As a result, The PR companies became potent weapons in the
corporate arsenal. The political fallout from the Exxon Valdez,
which occurred much later, was small by comparison.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Within a year after the Santa Barbara
spill, two of the most confrontational environmental groups were
born: <b>Friends of the Earth</b> and <b>Greenpeace</b>. Friends of
the Earth was founded by David Brower after he was asked to resign
from the Sierra Club Board. Apparently, his Board disagreed with his
more militant position and his opposition to a nuclear reactor in
California’s Diablo Canyon. Brower realized that the problems
caused by nuclear power and oil pollution were international in scope
and began to pursue a more global vision. His aggressive style was
well suited to the more controversial issues he tackled such as his
opposition to nuclear weapons.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Greenpeace was founded by a group of
so-called Canadian environmentalists, who decided to protest nuclear
weapons testing off the Alaskan Coast. In actuality, many of these
activists were really Americans who had fled to Canada to escape the
draft. They failed to reach the site and were unsuccessful in
preventing the tests. However, their non-violent, approach and their
belief in bearing witness struck a chord with many people throughout
North America. Their ranks quickly grew and membership growth
outpaced all other environmental groups. Greenpeace was the first
major organization to use the term “green” and the first to
utilize direct action as its primary strategy. Their reckless
crusade to stop commercial whaling by maneuvering inflatable boats
between whalers and their targets garnered tremendous media
attention. Greenpeace’s continued opposition to nuclear weapons
and their disregard for authority frequently resulted in fines or
detention.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By contrast, the
strategy of working within the system achieved considerable success
in 1970 with the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act.
This Act required environmental impact statements for all federally
funded or regulated projects. This resulted in the formation of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and culminated with the
establishment of Earth Day.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first Earth Day
was celebrated on April 22, 1970 and involved over 20 million people.
At the time, it was the largest demonstration in history and it
proved the enormous popular appeal of the national environmental
agenda. There were speeches, marches, concerts and teach-ins across
the country. In California, an automobile was buried symbolizing the
impending doom of the gas-guzzling cars. The Wilderness Society
supported Earth Day and provided money and office space. The
Conservation Foundation also donated $ 20,000 in desperately needed
cash. The National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society and
the Sierra Club were reluctant to participate for fear that it would
divert attention from their own causes.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The success of
Earth Day, caused people around the world to reconsider their
position with regards to the environment. They began to expect
positive action from their governments. Membership in environmental
organizations swelled with at least 300,000 new members added to the
rolls from 1969- 1972. Politicians responded with plans for the
first global environmental conference.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden
June 5<sup>th</sup> – 16<sup>th,</sup> 1972. For two weeks, 1200
delegates from 113 countries met in this marathon session not to
discuss scientific or technological approaches to environmental
problems but to coordinate international policy. The Soviet Union and
the Eastern Bloc countries did not attend because E. Germany had been
denied full representation. Also officially absent were the more
than 1000 representatives of the non-government organizations (<b>NGOs).</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The reasons the
NGOs were not allowed in are somewhat complex but reveal much about
the subversion of the environmental movement. The conference was
called by the industrialized countries of Western Europe primarily to
discuss their concerns about increasing air pollution drifting across
country boundaries. Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary General of the UN
was given authority to appoint a small Secretariat and a Conference
Secretary General. Although details are fuzzy, he apparently named
Rene Dubos to Chair the Commission. Dubos was a renowned
microbiologist and so-called “Philosopher of the Earth”. He also
named Maurice F. Strong, a self-professed Canadian environmentalist
and organizer of the International Development Research Center (which
had dubious links to the oil industry and commitments to the Alaskan
Pipeline project) as the secretary in charge of preparations. For 2
years preceding the conference, a 27-nation <b>PrepCom</b> committee
headed by Maurice Strong held four meetings to plan the event.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By special request
of Maurice Strong, the world science community met in August 1971 in
Canberra, Australia to bring together the new Scientific Committee on
Problems and the Environment (SCOPE) with the UN Advisory Committee
on the Application of Science and Technology to Development. They
“broke new ground in elaborating environmental considerations as an
integral part of the development process”. This was when the link
was forged between environment and development, a necessary precursor
to the recent concept of sustainable development. Note how from this
point forward whenever the UN uses the word environment it is always
with development. The development theme persisted in UN preparations
until shortly before the main conference was to open.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just before the
start of the Conference, a book was distributed by Rene Dubos and
Barbara Ward entitled, <i>Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of
a Small Planet</i>. Their book was intended in the spirit of global
ecology, which was to be the guide for the conference. To the
surprise of many, the Conference ended up being chaired by Maurice
Strong who steered the topics back towards development. As we shall
see, Strong has continued to dominate the UN ecology agenda to this
day, allowing little or no deviation from his development-oriented
policies.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After contributing
heavily to the Conference process, several NGOs were forced to hold
alternative meetings. This “counter-conference” consisted of a
number of scientific and political organizations, as well as
environmentalists, including Barry Commoner. He stated, “the
conference had failed to address the topics which were most important
to solving the current environmental crisis”.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the main
outcomes of the Stockholm Conference was the establishment of the
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). UNEP is tasked with
“coordinating environmental policies of nations, NGOs and other UN
agencies to protect the environment from further degradation.” It
was to be the “environmental conscience of the UN”. Where better
to locate this global “early warning system” than Nairobi, Kenya?
This is equivalent to sending the NGOs environmental concerns to
Timbuktu. As everyone is aware, Kenya has remained a troubled, third
world nation with poor transportation, poor communications and
unreliable power supplies. It is difficult and expensive to get to
and adequate accommodations are limited. If anything, conditions in
Nairobi have deteriorated in the past 25 yrs.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Who was selected to
run this supposed global monitoring station? It was none other than
Maurice Strong, of course. Strong officially held this position as
Executive Director of UNEP for two years, then he turned it over to
his Egyptian Deputy Director, Mostafa Talba, who retained his
position for an astonishing 17 years. Another Canadian, Elizabeth
Dowdeswell (presumably well known to Strong) held the position at
least until last year.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If this were the
end of Strong’s influence in the UN it would be enough. However,
as later events demonstrate, whenever international environmental
issues are involved in the UN his name re-surfaces. It wouldn’t
matter if he were an Einstein or a Carl Sagan, no one person should
be allowed to exert that much influence on global environmental
policy. Is it any wonder that the planet is still at risk?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The year of the
Stockholm Conference, DDT began to be phased out in the US. This was
considered a triumph for the environmental movement and a complete
ban was considered imminent. Little did they know that nearly 30
years later the US would still be exporting harmful pesticides and
then re-importing the produce in what has come to be called the
Circle of Poison.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1973, the Arab
Oil Embargo brought renewed interest in energy conservation. Long
gas lines and higher prices forced people to cut gas consumption and
to re-evaluate the need for fuel efficiency. This ultimately brought
Green groups into direct confrontation with multi-national energy
companies. More conflicts meant more lobbying and by the following
year more than 42 environmental organizations employed a total of 40
full-time lobbyists. These new lobbyists were partly responsible
for the passage of the Endangered Species Act and gathered support
for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Faunas and Floras (CITES).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By the Mid 70’s,
so-called Green Bans were instituted when a group of trade unions in
Australia protested the loss of nature conservation areas for new
building projects. The addition of trade unions to the equation
caused tempers to flare and violence was inevitable.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1975, the US
environmental movement took a left-handed detour towards anarchy and
drove right into the camp of the anti-environmentalists. Author
Edward Abbey wrote the Monkey Wrench Gang, an ostensibly fictional
and humorist account of four characters who take on the establishment
and try to prevent the loss of wilderness in the west. In doing so,
they abandon all common sense and employ economic sabotage or ecotage
to achieve their aims.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The problems arose
when readers couldn’t tell for sure whether Abbey was serious or
not. He dedicated his book to an 18<sup>th</sup> Century fanatic who
smashed factory machinery. He claimed that the novel was an
adventure story written for entertainment. Yet, he compounded the
problem, by going on lecture tours and announcing that concerned
citizens should “wage war against industrialization”. In doing
so, he forever blurred the distinction between intentional violence
and sarcasm. The book had such a profound effect on the
environmentalist psyche that more than ten years later; the author
was still being championed as the father of the eco-warrior splinter
groups.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Probably few
interpreted this satirical work initially as an outright call to
action. However, in the West, it certainly fueled the debate and may
have resulted in an outbreak known as the Sagebrush Rebellion.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Sagebrush
rebellion was a minor anti-environmentalist’s backlash that began
in Nevada in 1976 and quickly spread to Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and
ultimately to Alaska. Ranchers in the West decided that the way to
protect their access to public lands was to have the government turn
over land rights to the states. Furthermore, they demanded the right
to use chemicals on grazing lands and to kill any predators on sight.
The movement gathered strength when President Ronald Reagan publicly
declared that he too was a Sagebrush rebel. The plans faded when the
ranchers realized the financial advantages in having the government
maintain the land at no cost and with virtually no enforced
restrictions. Its significance lies in it being a test case both for
public sentiment and for the refinement of tactics which would later
prove so effective in the fight against the environmentalists.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By 1977, the German
Green Party (originally called “Green Action Future”) had taken
shape. Also at this time other Green political parties began to
emerge in Europe, including Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland,
Austria and France. However these were by no means the earliest.
Tasmania boasts the first regional Green Party in 1972, but New
Zealand claims the first national Green candidates. The European
Green Parties expanded rapidly usually commanding between 5% and 10%
of the vote, but they particularly gained strength in the wake of
ecological disasters.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> . In March, the
Supertanker, Amoco Cadiz, developed engine trouble off the coast of
France. The captain radioed for help, but the only tugboat within
range refused to come to his aid. Whether it was an argument over
price, a union dispute, or shear French obstinance was never
determined. What we know is that several hours later the ship crashed
ashore, near Portsall, spilling its entire cargo of 1.4 million
barrels of crude along the French Coast.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The disaster spawned a wave of
criticism by environmentalists about the safety of these Supertankers
and started a debate about the need for better maintenance, better
emergency procedures and more double hulls. All of which changed
absolutely nothing. The world had to wait until a major collision
occurred in American waters before the oil companies would take these
concerns seriously.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How bad was it
really? There are some scientists who claim the French marine
ecosystem will never recover. It dumped twice as much oil as the
Torrey Canyon, England's worst disaster, and more than five times as
much oil as the later Exxon Valdez.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back in the US,
chemicals were discovered seeping out of the Love Canal near Buffalo
N.Y. This prompted one mother, Lois Gibbs, to take two EPA
inspectors hostage. Her son had become ill playing in the abandoned
Hooker Chemical site. Two days later President Carter declared the
site a disaster area. Of course, Hooker Chemical, a subsidiary of
Occidental Petroleum, denied liability. When that didn’t work they
promptly declared bankruptcy. This left Uncle Sam holding the bag
(as usual) for the Clean up. Lois Gibbs went on to start the
Citizen’s Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes (CCHW).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1979, a nuclear
accident occurred at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania. Due to mechanical failure, coolant water flooded the
reactor and the containment building. This was supposed to be
impossible. The accident undermined the average person's faith in the
entire nuclear industry. Between 1979 and 1989 orders for new nuclear
power plants dropped from 40 to zero, ending the myth of cheap
inexhaustible nuclear energy supplies. Nevertheless the nuclear power
industry continued to argue for the industry’s safety. Once again,
they brought in B-M for PR and damage control while they stepped up
their attacks on the environmental groups. One of the results was
that the Citizen’s Party, a US Green Party briefly led by Barry
Commoner, never really gained momentum.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This may have
precipitated the formation of splinter group called Earth First!
Founded by Dave Foreman, an ex-lobbyist for the Wilderness Society,
the organization is opposed to compromise. Foreman advocated a
militant strategy and the use of Ecotage tactics suggested in the
<i>Monkey Wrench Gang</i>.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another splinter
group, The Sea Shepherd Society also advocated the use of violence.
Formed in 1977 by Paul Watson, a former Greenpeace captain, this
group was intent on stopping whaling at any cost. They rammed
vessels and even threatened to blow them up while they were docked.
Watson eventually adopted terrorist tactics, including espionage and
demolition. As a direct result of these activities both he and
Foreman were put in jail on serious charges and are currently facing
lengthy jail terms.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the personal,
level this is an extremely foolish and dangerous approach because it
instantly leads to an escalating situation where you will be holding
a screw driver while the opposition is pointing a gun. If you carry a
gun, your opponent will use an explosive ad infinitum. The only way
it can possibly work is if you remain invisible. In this information
age, this is an impossible goal and anti-environmentalists have been
known to post descriptions or license numbers of activists on the
web.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On a moral level,
these tactics are simply wrong and they go against everything the
early preservationists stood for. If we cannot justify our methods
in the court of public opinion then we have no chance of reaching our
goals. Each time an environmentalist resorts to violence we play
right into the hands of the anti-environmental establishment.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Finally, on a
corporate level these are stupid tactics. At the height of the
ecotage activity, it was costing industry perhaps $20 million dollars
a year for delays and equipment replacement. This is a puny sum when
compared with overall profits. It is certainly not worth the enmity
it creates among our potential followers. Besides, even if an
organization were successful in shutting down an entire operation,
the company would simply shift their emphasis to another operation
and maintain its bottom line.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In January 1981,
nine of the mainstream environmental organizations met together to
pool their resources. The group consisted of NWF, IWL, Sierra Club,
National Audubon, Wilderness Soc., NRDC, EDF, EPC, FOE and later
Nat’l Parks and Cons. Following Reagan’s Inauguration, the groups
assembled to discuss common goals and strategies. Little was
accomplished in that first meeting but the so-called Group of Ten
continued to meet on a regular basis. They were interested in
convincing corporate leaders to practice voluntary restraint and
positive action. This was like asking Tobacco companies to
voluntarily stop selling cigarettes. They subsequently met with
heads of some of the worst polluting companies including DuPont,
Exxon, Union Carbide, Dow, American Cyanamid and Monsanto. The
companies were concerned about the unfavorable publicity they were
getting. Out of these discussions eventually emerged An
Environmental Agenda for the Future. This report placed the blame on
overpopulation as the root cause for environmental problems.
Pollution was seen as a “technological rather than a political
challenge”. In almost every area of conflict with industry the
report recommended only further studies not specific actions. In
short, it was a sellout of the entire environmental movement.
Apparently, too many years of isolation in Washington and too many
polite discussions with industry leaders had removed the mainstream
CEO’s from the pulse of America and lulled the into a sense of
complacency. Considering that the environment movement was facing a
declared war with the Reagan Administration this was a sadly
inadequate response.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At least David
Brower responded to the challenge. He founded the Earth Island
Institute a group based in San Francisco. They are dedicated to
developing innovative projects for the global environment, including
human rights and peace initiatives. They are perhaps best known for
their exposure of dolphin slaughters by tuna boats. Recently, they
have been accused of taking large sums from the very companies they
are supposed to monitor.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another possible
conflict of interest is surfacing at the UN. The World Resources
Institute (WRI) was founded in 1982 as an independent policy research
center for issues concerning the environment and development. It also
operates the Center for Int’l Development and the Environment. It
appears to have a revolving door policy when it comes to the elite
members of the environmental mainstream. In 1991 it was invited to
attend the Group of Ten Meeting and soon after accepted a $25,000
donation from Waste Management Inc, a company which has broken
records for EPA fines and violations. In 1994, it listed John Adams
as its Executive Director. Is this the same John Adams who for years
represented NRDC at the Group of Ten Meetings? Is it the same man
who more recently served on Pres. Clinton’s Council on Sustainable
Development? The Founder of NRDC, Gus Speth, also was with WRI.
Another member of the Group of Ten, Rafe Pomerance who represented
Friends of the Earth also ended up as an officer of WRI.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Furthermore, former
UNEP officials appear to wind up at WRI. This holds for Mostapha
Tolba former UNEP Director and for Maurice Strong who was shown as
Chairman of the Board of WRI in 1996. This is indeed strange since
the Biannual World Resources report is prepared in collaboration with
UNEP. WRI prepared a study in 1990 purporting to show that
undeveloped countries of the South pumped as much CO2 into the
atmosphere as the developed countries of the North. Although the
conclusions were challenged, this report will be used to formulate
aid and multinational lending policies for years to come. WRI, whose
support is almost entirely corporate, is listed as a non-profit
institution. In 1996 it listed a staff of 115 in 50 countries.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1984, another ecological disaster
with unbelievably lethal consequences occurred which focused the
world’s attention on the dangers of the Chemical Industry. The
Union Carbide chemical plant, located in Bhopal, Central India blew
up and spread poisonous cyanide and other toxic gases throughout a
helpless community. By the time the fire was put out, 3849 men,
women and children were dead. It was by far the worst chemical
accident or explosion in history. Later, it became a landmark legal
case that opened Pandora's box. The issue was what is the life of a
human being worth? The other issue was does an American company have
to compensate people in the same way it would in America or does it
merely reimburse for loss of earning power in India, ($200 per year.)
The company moved quickly to try to limit its liability and of
course it hired B-M to handle PR. Union Carbide offered the bereaved
families more money than they had seen in a lifetime, but only if
they would settle out of court. The Indian government had to step in
and demand reasonable compensation. People began to ask, “what is
a toxic chemical company doing in the middle of an overcrowded town?
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This incident
accelerated the trend for environmental justice that was evolving in
many places as a NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) issue. It forced people
to think more globally towards a NIABY (not-in-anyone’s-backyard)
position.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By 1985, militancy
in the environmental movement seemed to be gaining the upper hand. It
was spurred on by Dave Foreman’s publication of <i>Ecodefense: A
Field Guide to Monkeywrenching</i>. <i>Ecodefense</i> discusses in
detail how to jam locks, make smoke bombs, destroy bulldozers and
spike trees. The effect was that the FBI labeled Earth First! a
terrorist organization and eventually Foreman was arrested on Felony
conspiracy charges. Predictably, it brought about a tremendous
backlash from timber cutters, ranchers, oil drillers and developers,
the nuclear power industry and other anti-environmentalist groups.
It galvanized these diverse interests and gave them an enemy they
could really hate. It also turned the general public and congress off
on the mainstream environmental agenda. Tree spiking alone probably
did more damage to the environmental movement than all the hate
propaganda that had come before. The only positive outcome of these
tactics was that several extremist organizations were now viewed as
moderate because they disavowed monkeywrenching.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the tragic
consequences of this militant attitude was the sinking of
Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior. France was angered by the group’s
campaign to make the south Pacific nuclear free. So on July 10,
1985, two frogmen from the French secret service entered the harbor
in Auckland, New Zealand and planted explosives. The resulting
explosion killed photographer Fernando Pereira and irreparably
damaged the boat. Reaction was swift with the international press
unanimously condemning the action. Subsequent investigations not
only proved France’s involvement at the highest levels but revealed
the existence of a French spy in Greenpeace’s New Zealand office.
Christine Cabon using the name Frederique Bonlieu had been sent in 4
months earlier. She was posing as an environment scientist although
she was actually an intelligence officer who had previously spied on
the PLO. She stayed only one month but gathered enough intelligence
to make it easy to carry out the operation. On July 25, 1985 New
Zealand detectives arrested the two saboteurs who pleaded guilty to
manslaughter and were sentence to ten years in prison. The resulting
scandal nearly brought down the French Government.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Initially in shock
and disarray following the incident, the organization briefly became
paranoid and started looking for spies elsewhere. The long-term
effects however were viewed as positive. Greenpeace as a result of
all the publicity became the world’s premiere environmental group.
As for the campaign, it was the beginning of the end for France’s
nuclear testing program.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This should be an
important lesson to environmentalists who believe that a little
violence will help them reach their objectives. Nothing is more
powerful than a martyr and even if a man drops dead of a heart attack
as a result of a violent action, the movement could be irreparably
harmed.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The following year,
one of the worst nuclear accidents in history occurred. This
resulted in an explosion at Chernobyl, near Kiev in the Ukraine,
which killed at least 31 people in the initial blast. However these
numbers don’t begin to show the magnitude of this tragedy. Hundreds
of thousands of people were subjected to excessive radiation. As far
away as Norway and Finland, herds of Caribou and Reindeer had to be
slaughtered and burned because their meat was not fit for human
consumption. A cloud of radioactive fallout spread across Europe
making hundreds of square miles uninhabitable for decades. All this
was basically the result of an economic decision because the Russians
have known for a very long time that the reactor design at Chernobyl
was fundamentally unsafe. There are still dozens of reactors of this
type just waiting for another accident like this to happen.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In 1989 another
ecological disaster occurred. The Supertanker Exxon <i>Valdez</i> ran
aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The 250,000 barrels spilled
was not a lot by world standards. As oil spills go, it didn't even
rank in the top ten,<b> </b>but the press coverage that followed and
the anger it provoked was truly unprecedented. There were several
reasons for this. Certainly it was the worst spill in American
history and it did impact in one of the most environmentally
sensitive areas of our coast. However, something else was happening.
As CNN spread around the world and its popularity grew, so grew the
popularity of America itself. Worldwide, instantaneous broadcasts
had the effect of homogenizing the views and expectations of the rest
of the world. What emerged looked decidedly American. So when the
world saw oil pouring onto the beaches of Alaska, they reacted like
it was their beach. The environmental movement had become a global
phenomenon and now they had focused on a single target to vent their
wrath. That wrath was directed squarely at Exxon and the oil
industry. When it was revealed that the pilot of that huge
Supertanker (Captain Joseph Hazelwood) was too drunk to navigate the
channel and had turned the task over to his first mate, the world
felt betrayed. The effect was very similar to what happened after
the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> In spite of the previous years that
provided tons of evidence of negligence and complacency, people were
still in denial. These things just weren't supposed to happen! But
they did happen and with surprising regularity. As people set glued
to their TV sets watching more waves of oil rolling ashore, there was
a sense that we had somehow lost our innocence. As the thousands of
birds and mammals lay dying on the beach we felt as though we had
traded our environment for the comfort and convenience of
air-conditioned automobiles.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Naturally, Exxon did everything
humanly possible to rectify the problem, after it was too late. One
of the first things they did was call B-M the PR firm. From the
beginning, Exxon's primary concern appeared to be that they would be
the targets of a boycott. B-M stepped up their ad campaign and Exxon
pledged billions of dollars to the clean-up effort. As always they
portrayed the incident as one of those terrible unavoidable accidents
which we must accept as the price of progress.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What they didn't
advertise on TV was that there was nothing really they could do.
Booms were useless in preventing contamination of other beaches.
Detergents were worse than useless since they killed more wildlife
than they saved. In spite of all the hype about oil eating bacteria
and super adsorbent materials, they are still in the research stage.
For all practical purposes you can only vacuum up and resell what
remains on the water. Then you steam clean the rocks. This has a
wondrously cosmetic effect at least until the next storm season when
the rocks turn black with oil again.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of course there are
a number of things that Exxon and the other companies could do to
prevent these recurring tanker accidents. Congress took a step in the
right direction with passage of the Oil Pollution Act requiring
double hulls by 2015, but there is much more that could be done. New
technologies provide a range of options which could make shipping
safer and more efficient. All of these solutions will require
investment and could eat into profits. They would also require
considerable time to implement. There still will be a few more
tanker spills while we wait.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Earth Day XX
celebrations was the largest environmental event in history. An
estimated 200 million people in over 140 nations participated with
more than a million in Central Park alone. Activities ranged from
planting trees and cleaning up roadways to a release of ladybugs to
protest pesticides. Denis Hayes, the organizer of Earth Day 1 was in
charge again. This time his budget had balloned to $3 million and he
had corporate sponsors standing in line to contribute. Many of the
worst polluters contributed funds. Money came in from Monsanto, BP,
Peabody Coal and Arco in what time magazine called a “commercial
mugging. In 1995, the White House offered $3.7 to sponsor the party.
Apparently Earth Day is also for sale to the highest bidders!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In response to
Earth Day XX, ultra-conservative Patrick Buchanan asked his friend
and propagandist Llewellyn Rockwell to write a critique of the
environmental movement. The resultant essay, “<i>An
Anti-Environment Manifesto</i>” was printed in Buchanan’s
newsletter …<i>From the Right</i>. In his essay Rockwell equates
environmentalism with communism and claims that it represents a
threat to free enterprise and individual liberty. He calls the
environmental movement a misanthropic religion that represents a
direct assault on Christian theology and values. He attacks data that
supports the ozone hole and global warming calling it all
pseudoscience. He advocates the privatization of all public
resources. He states, “only when private property are well
established will the proper incentives exist to make sure the
environment is not degraded”. “People Come First!” soon became
the battle cry for the new anti-environmentalists who call themselves
the <b>Wise Use Movement</b>. This land-grabbing rhetoric had a
tremendous impact on people in the west. Although the movement is
well financed by commodity industries, including mining, timber,
farming, and fur interests. Corporations like Exxon, Louisiana
Pacific, and Boise Cascade have donated large sums to ensure that
this movement successfully replaces the Sagebrush Rebellion.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Led by Ron Arnold,
a Sierra Club renegade, the movement is well organized, and media
savvy. Arnold’s agenda is to “destroy environmentalists by
taking their money and their members”. The plan is to move public
lands from federal authority to state, and finally to county
jurisdictions where it will be far easier to access. The movement is
not opposed to using violence and there has been an increase in
attacks on environmentalists wherever they are active. The Wise Use
movement is organized around well-funded umbrella organizations with
Green-sounding names like Evergreen Foundation, National Wetlands
Coalition and the Environmental Conservation Organization. Together
these groups probably represent the greatest threat the environmental
movement has ever faced.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As we’ve shown
the environmental movement sewed the seeds for its destruction by a
historical pre-occupation with the land and its value. It was
inevitable that land-grabbers would eventually adopt enviro-tactics,
but it is not pre-ordained that should prevail. Whenever the
mainstream environmental organizations are confronted with the
evidence that they are under attack, most Green groups prefer to
concentrate on increasing memberships rather than defense strategies.
The weeds have now infested the garden and are beginning to choke
the flowers. If this trend continues, there won’t be any
independent environmental groups for the Wise-Use movement to oppose.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On the
International scene, preparations for the Earth Summit began in 1990.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
was planned for Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Three years earlier, the UN
Commission on Environment and Development chaired by Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Brundtland. Brundtland was hailed as the first
environment minister of any country to become to their leader.
(Recently, her support of Norway’s whaling industry in defiance of
the International Whaling Commission’s ban has raised serious
doubts about her commitment to the environment).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> After 4 years
work, the Commission published its report “Our Common Future.”
In it they coined the phrase “sustainable development” and linked
environmental problems to social and economic systems. From this
point on sustainable development dominated the UN process. There is
little agreement on a detailed definition of sustainable development
or how it could be applied. One clause calls for the “maintenance
and improvement” of living standards In practice, this appears to
be a euphemism for perpetual growth; which is impossible. Yet, each
time the phrase is repeated it gathers momentum and strength.
Without doubt, the concept is an outgrowth of the early meetings that
Maurice Strong orchestrated in Australia.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The preparations
for the conference required Four PrepComs. The first was in Nairobi,
then two in Geneva and the last followed in New York. Twenty-one
issues were negotiated at these conferences. Notably, overpopulation
was barely mentioned because of opposition by religious groups.
Agenda 21, a 400-page document, spelled out the policies, law and
financing which would be necessary to fulfil an Earth Charter. In
effect, it was to be an environmental bill of rights for all people.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Secretary of
the PrepComs, Maurice Strong, estimated that it would take $125
billion per year in aid to help the poorer nations of the world
protect their environment. Partly as a result of this estimate, the
US alone among the industrialized nations refused to sign a proposal
for mandatory stabilization of greenhouse gases, a biodiversity
treaty, the forest protection convention or the promise to donate
0.7% of GDP to less developed countries for environmental protection.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">At the Earth Summit
in Rio, in June 1992, more than 35,000 environmental activists,
politicians, businessmen and 9000 journalists attended the largest
environmental conference in history. Dr. Suami Nathan was scheduled
to Chair the conference, but as the meeting began, Maurice Strong
(naturally) assumed the position and dominated the proceedings. Many
environmentalists felt betrayed. Once again the Global Forum of NGOs
was forced to hold their “shadow assembly” outside along the
beachfront. It has since been stated that the issues discussed and
the contacts were the most valuable part of the Earth Summit.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Once again, it
appears the Maurice Strong and his band of elite have hi-jacked one
of the most significant environmental forums of the century. One can
only imagine what role Strong and WRI played behind the scenes in
manipulating the data, influencing the politicians and controlling
the Agenda. One can only hope that early in the next century, a
world environmental conference can be called which does not have
development as its overriding theme; one which allows NGOs full
participation in the process and which is not controlled by Maurice
Strong or his cohorts.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While the ecology
movement is preparing to deal with problems in the UN they will have
to keep a watchful eye on the opposition. One of the ways the
corporations have insinuated themselves into the environmental
movement is through green marketing. Green marketing refers to the
companies desire to portray themselves and their products as
environmentally friendly. A survey by Abt Associates showed that 90
percent of American Consumers were willing to pay more for
environmentally-friendly products. Cash registers were suddenly
ringing in the minds of the CEO’s across the country. Not
surprisingly, a flurry of newly packaged products hit the market that
claimed they were “biodegradable, recyclable or safe for the
environment.”. The problem was that these products were not
regulated and the claims could not be substantiated. Both Mobil Oil
and British Petroleum were sued for misleading advertising. Attorney
Generals in 10 states called for greater accountability. The EPA and
FTC finally responded then issued standards for advertising.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The companies then
switched strategies and went for eco-labeling. These seals of
approval are voluntary, third party assessments of the relative
impact of the relative impacts of a product. In Europe and Japan
these eco-labels are government sponsored and government controlled.
The US however has refused to endorse this method. Instead, various
environmental groups have seals of approval, which they have applied,
to selected goods that pass their tests of environmental
acceptability. This places Green groups on a very slippery slope.
They not only have enormous financial clout in the market place, but
they are faced with a fundamental conflict of interest in trying to
endorse those corporations they are supposed to watching.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Inevitably this has
led to what is called “cause-related marketing”. This is when
companies promise to support moderate environmental organizations
like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in exchange for a review and
assessment of their products. The writer witnessed this process
first-hand in 1996.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Unilever, a parent
company well known for overfishing and chemical pollution began
funding WWF and the Marine Stewardship Council to develop an
eco-label for its fishing products. At the same time it was
influencing the approval criteria in this country it was announcing
in England that 90% of its fish products would be eco-friendly within
5 years. Undoubtedly, the Corporation has both the money and the
influence to realize this self-fulfilling prophecy, regardless of
whether they alter their fishing practices.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The conflict of
interest between Unilever and WWF has become so blatant that at one
point when you accessed WWF Home Page on the web you could be
hot-linked directly to Unilever’s home page with advertisements for
detergents and chemicals. I seriously question whether children
looking for picture of endangered species on the web should be
subjected to soap commercials. Is this any way to train a new
generation of environmental activists?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As the narrative
above, demonstrates the environmental movement is in shambles. It
suffers from a lack of leadership, credibility and vision. Only at
the local, grass roots level can you still find authentic activists
willing to take risks and fight for the principles of environmental
justice. In the larger picture, corporations have cozied up to the
Green groups so successfully that it is sometimes hard to tell them
apart. Few, if any of the larger organizations can still be said to
operate completely independent of corporate influence. On an
international basis, the UN has been temporarily rendered impotent by
the very organizations that were supposed to protect the environment.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The founding
fathers of the environmental movement would no doubt be appalled at
this state of affairs. It is likely that they would see more of
their genuine fighting spirit preserved in the anti-environmental
movement than in any of established green groups today.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where does this
leave us! The writer suggests that we should leave all the trappings
of Corporate America behind for the moment and let the children lead
the way. Every schoolchild and many college students have somewhere
in his heart a love of animals and an appreciation of nature. In the
past decades we have taught them to want to Save the Whales, Protect
the Forests and to Fight for Clean Air and Water. Across America and
perhaps around the world, students are voluntarily devoting their
time and energy to making this world a better place.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outside of the
classrooms and off the campuses this effort is largely ignored. Why?
Because they don’t have any money! It is as though we have turned
the environmental community into an elitist club where you can’t
participate unless you have the price of admission. Big
organizations have huge organizations, with large staffs and
overheads, media budgets, lobbying costs, direct mail campaigns to
finance and boats to support. What is this all for? Is it to get
the message out to the most people or is it to raise funds so that
you can perpetuate an ineffective system.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We seem to forget
that the Vietnam War was stopped without a budget and without
lobbying Capitol Hill. What it takes is a genuine groundswell of
support for a passionate cause which people know in their gut is the
right thing to do. Where will we find these burning issues? Again I
say, ask the children. They are already working on the problems they
perceive as important and it is likely that they have sucked their
parents in along the way. All that is required is a little guidance
and direction.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The technology now
exists to contact and coordinate a vast number of High School and
College students at very low costs. Studies have indicated that at
least 60% of College students already have personal access to the web
and the numbers are constantly growing. More than 1400 colleges have
already published their websites and many High Schools have also. We
are now in a position to focus the energy of thousands of committed
young environmentalists towards a common cause. We can report on
their individual activities and we can share successes with the
entire world.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There is just one
catch. You can never ask them for money! You can’t sell them
products, you can’t sell or trade their names and most importantly,
you can never solicit them for contributions. Once you try to put a
price or value on their participation you destroy the spirit of
innocence and trust which you are trying to capture in the first
place.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If we are to
revitalize the moribund environmental movement these are the rules we
must follow. The goal must be a mass education program about a
topic/topics that concern all of us. The effort must always be
non-violent and non-combative in the sense that we cannot practice
the tactics that we denounce by the opposition. Finally, our primary
weapon must be information and the dissemination of truth.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What becomes of the
proud tradition of grassroots activists who have stopped the
environmental abusers in their tracks? This tradition should
continue, but only in a way that will have a real impact on the
company’s annual report. For too long environmentalists have been
mosquitos on the elephant’s back. We can have this impact without
resorting to tactics which directly threaten people or property.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We are living in
the information age where we have access to more data in days than
previous generations could examine in a lifetime. Some of this
information is not widely known and some of it is probably believed
to be secret. Now that many factory workers own computers it has
become increasingly difficult for corporations to maintain their
secrets. What ultimately brought the tobacco companies to the
negotiating table was not polite persuasion or political pressure, it
was seeing their most closely guarded secret memo’s appear on the
front page of the newspaper. Likewise what ultimately brought down
the Nixon administration was careful investigation techniques and an
inability to plug leaks in the White House.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How can we find out
what we need to know within the corporate maze? Why not ask them.
It is not necessary to hack into computers to find out what companies
don’t want the public to learn. As long as there are disgruntled
employees in the world there will always be sources of information
which industry cannot control. We could easily assign dozens of
people to research the financial and operational aspects of an
offending company. Eventually some of them will find gems of
information which will make a difference. If companies believed for
a moment that they could no longer protect their nasty little secrets
the whole face of industry would change.
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where will we find
the funds to finance an organization of this sort? That is the
subject of another paper?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">David Lincoln</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">September 2, 1997</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-83374523636143210022014-12-07T00:29:00.000-08:002014-12-07T00:31:49.942-08:00REVIEW - “Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's View of the Early Years,” by Ted Orland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Published
by the Image Continuum Press, no date for publication. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">By Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GbGfqikD0nk/VIQOryuZvBI/AAAAAAAAMYQ/uWqt_Lr6XvY/s1600/Ted%2BOrlan%2Bmisspelling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GbGfqikD0nk/VIQOryuZvBI/AAAAAAAAMYQ/uWqt_Lr6XvY/s1600/Ted%2BOrlan%2Bmisspelling.jpg" height="266" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author's Name Misspelled</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Orland's
book, “Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's View of the Early
Years,” fails badly as history, leaving out significant figures who
shaped the early years after the Western discovery of Yosemite. In
this he clearly is following the lead of his mentor, Ansel Adams.
Adams, focusing on Muybridge and Fiske, has managed to skew the
public perception both of Yosemite's early history in photography and
substitute a focus on the self-conscious expression photography as
'art.' In so doing those who, such as Orland, who see only an avenue
for their own ego fail to see the creative force in humanity which is
responsible for our forward motion for more clearly understanding
ourselves and the world around us. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
explosion of developments in every arena for human knowledge was
impacted by photography. These include physics and medicine, which
were recalibrated when it became possible to see the worlds once
beyond human sight. Its edge developments for impacting human
understanding remain significant today in the age of the ubiquitous
'Selfie,” shot by children and baboons. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Without the
transformational technology of photography the erstwhile photographer
would still be using a pencil and paper or oils. Other forms of art
using a variety of technologies have far longer and deeper roots. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The copy of
Orland's book, referenced here, is in the possession of this writer.
It was purchased at the Yosemite Visitor's Center new for $10.00.
While no publication date was provided a cursory search of the
Internet provides the date of 1985.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Written
from the perspective of photography as art, the book, supposedly
about the history of early photography in Yosemite is a brief survey
of photographers in the 1800s with only the last four pages brushing
briefly over the fewer than ten photographers who ran businesses in
Yosemite Valley during the referenced period of time. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Instead of
the pretentious title chosen, “Man & Yosemite, A Photographer's
View of the Early Years,” Orland should have titled the book. <i>“The
Photograph as Art in Yosemite from 1880 – 1918.”</i> This would
have been a more honest title, allowing potential readers to
determine the short volume's real framing. George Fiske, in Orland's
opinion, was the only photographer whose work had merit as art. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This
approach to the subject naturally ignores the purpose of photography,
which was not to become the tool of expression for the
self-referencing but a means by which people could view reality.
These two purposes can conflict. In the first the point is the
photographer. In the second, the photographer works to remove
himself from the picture and not attempting to interpret what is
seen. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">While today
we have accepted that photos can be manipulated to show what is not
there the technologies original intention was to leave little doubt
on this issue. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Even the
last four pages of the book, dedicated to photographers who had
studios in Yosemite, is fatally flawed. Since Orland's book purports
to be historic it must also be noted that he names Boysen as the next
resident photographer, entirely missing the earlier claim by Daniel
Joseph Foley, who opened the Yosemite Falls Studio in 1892, running
it until his death in 1934. Foley was also a newspaper publisher and
editor. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Additionally,
it was well known by Yosemite historians that the first Boysen
Studio, started in 1897 was originally a partnership between Julius
Boysen and Pillsbury. Pillsbury sold his share, which included
hundreds of his own Yosemite photographs, to Boysen when he decided
to take his circuit panorama to the Yukon and record the opening of
the mining fields in 1898. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Orland
book is more of a booklet, ending at 80 pages before the list of
Illustrations and Additional Sources. The book lacks both a list of
chapters and possesses no index. It is clearly not a serious attempt
at history. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Daniel
Foley was primarily a publisher who took and sold photos and post
cards and prints in addition to his main business. Foley's
business, which was publishing both a guide to Yosemite, titled,<i>
“Foley's Yosemite Souvenir & Guide.”</i> The Foley Guide was
well written, carrying advertisements, photos, a compilation of
essential information, and other useful material. It was clearly the
work of a professional writer, lacking the stilted and lack-luster
writing usual in government publications. Along with the Foley Guide
Yosemite Falls Studio produced a weekly newsletter which allowed
tourists to keep track of arrivals and news in the Valley. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Orland
ignores the significance of Pillsbury and Foley, two figures who
played large parts in the development of Yosemite and its
popularization as a icon now known around the world. Additionally,
Orland ignores the photographic inventions and innovations which took
place in Yosemite, shaping public perception of its beauties which
came from the work of Arthur C. Pillsbury. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury's
panoramas of Yosemite opened human eyes to the magnitude of its
unique geological formation. Pillsbury, whose training was in
Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, built the first
circuit panorama camera there as his Senior Project, leaving when his
senior adviser told him the design would not work. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
has been described as a Renaissance Man, one who used the technology
of photography as a tool to advance the understanding of nature and
the parallel need for preservation. This is no where better
demonstrated than his use of film to take nature to people around the
world. Pillsbury produced, and showed the first nature movie at his
Yosemite Studio in 1909. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1912
Pillsbury built the first lapse-time camera to reveal to human eyes
the motion of a flower blooming. Short features began appearing in
movie theaters in the late 1910s, as Pillsbury's lectures awakened
interest in preservation of the natural world. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury's
last invention while still a concessionaire in Yosemite was the
invention of the first microscopic motion picture camera in 1926 –
1927. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Orland
clearly did no research on either man or their businesses in the
Valley while at the same time asserting they lacked “artistic
merit,” a statement unsupportable by the facts and not even
supported by his mentor, Ansel Adams. In a </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Letter_from_AA_regarding_Pillsbury_10_23_780000.jpg"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">letter
written in response</span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
to the discovery of Pillsbury's photographic collection in Utah by an
historian named Rell Francis Adams said, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“</i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Thank
you very much for your interesting letter of October 19th. I knew Mr.
Pillsbury very well indeed when he had his studio and shop in
Yosemite where he had developed his lapse-time photography of
flowers.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Mr.
Pillsbury was an extraordinary man and I think his contribution to
photography has been overlooked.” </i></span><span style="color: black;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Harry Best
is also treated with less than the dignity his work should demand.
The mention is limited to, <i>“The other story briefly luring this
ext into the twentieth century involves Best's Studio, founded by
Harry Best in 1902. Best himself was a well accepted by hardly
world-class painter of Yosemite scenes. His real claim upon
posterity, however unintentional, results from the unlikely
concordance of having a photofinishing service at his Studio, the
only piano in Yosemite Valley, and a stunningly beautiful daughter
named Virginia.</i>” This resulting in the conversion of the Best
Studio to the Ansel Adams Galley some decades later obviously excited
the author. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Before
mentioning the photofinishing service Orland might have forgotten
Adams mention of having his first roll of film developed at the
Pillsbury Studio and the neglect by Adams to mention he received his
training in photography while working for Pillsbury and during the
workshops routinely held at the Pillsbury Studio. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This is
naturally why Adams was well acquainted with Pillsbury. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The list of
Pillsbury accomplishments in photography dwarfs that of all Yosemite
photographers combined. Along with producing more photos, running a
business which sold a broad variety of products using photographs,
Pillsbury also both made and showed the first nature movie – in
1909 - For its time the production was stunning. In 1912 Pillsbury
designed and built the first lapse-time camera for plants, showing
the first film to accomplish the preservation of wild flowers in
Yosemite. To overlook this is to ignore the applications of
photography which brought us to present day in every field of human
endeavor, science, journalism, and other extension of technology.
Pillsbury had recorded the growth of 500 of the estimated 1,500 wild
flower species in Yosemite before the fire which ended his time there
in November of 1927. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The arena
of photography does not end with black and white stills or color. It
subsumes the whole of the technology as it developed. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Under the
section titled, “Additional Sources” Orland manages, while
writing a book explicitly on Yosemite himself manages to give only a
mention to the Muir book explicitly on the Valley. <i>“</i><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/john-muir.php"><i>The
Yosemite</i></a></u></span></span><i>,”</i>
published in 1912 by New
York: The Century Company. Muir explicitly chose to use,
nearly exclusively, Pillsbury photos. The cover is, itself, modeled
on the Pillsbury photo of Mt. Watkins and Mirror Lake. Except for
the Pillsbury photos in the Muir book the only others came from of a
few close associates of Muir. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Additionally,
Pillsbury designed the first mass production photo post card machine,
Patent granted 1922, designed the first microscopic motion picture
camera, the X-Ray motion picture camera. Yosemite was becoming a
place where science met the natural</span></span> world, a potential which died
when the the Pillsbury Studio burned in 1927, another event the
author ignores entirely. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If you buy
the book, do so for the photographs. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-6595295408369928082014-12-04T06:57:00.001-08:002014-12-04T06:57:24.641-08:00No. 126 – December 3, 2014 – The Guiding Hand and Unseen Miracles <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pMVjDalo3lc/VIB1teGZ6hI/AAAAAAAAMWo/aXbSijWZgps/s1600/ACP%2Bwith%2Bmicroscopic%2Bcamera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pMVjDalo3lc/VIB1teGZ6hI/AAAAAAAAMWo/aXbSijWZgps/s1600/ACP%2Bwith%2Bmicroscopic%2Bcamera.jpg" height="332" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entire microscopic unit showing the motor drive synchronized shutter and light all mounted on their respective carriages.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
first showing of a microscopic motion picture took place in a small,
make-shift basement laboratory at U. C. Berkeley in 1926. All of the
U. C. instructors who could had crowded themselves in to the cramped
space. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">They
were there,</span></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">wrote
Arthur C. Pillsbury ten years later in his book,</span></span>
“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,”
“ to see the results and I was very anxious to get their reactions.
After the short showing was over, Dr. Setchell turned to Dr. Holman
and said, “What have we just seen, Doctor?” </i></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Startled,
Dr. Setchell talked about Brownic movements in protoplasm. The theory
of pseudo-random motion came from botanist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Brown_%28botanist%29">Robert
Brown</a> in 1827. Brown noted particles moved through the water.
Unable to determine the mechanisms causing this motion it was assumed
these were random and not purposeful. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What
the UC instructors had seen on the screen was a cell dividing. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There
was nothing random about it, as science eventually accepted.
Pillsbury did not wait to hear anyone else's opinion. Knowing he
needed the best equipment to continue his work he placed an order for
what he needed. He then started out on a lecture tour to pay for it.
The first unit cost $5,000, an enormous sum in 1926. To ensure these
insights would remain available Pillsbury refused to patent his
invention, instead publishing instructions for building your own
camera. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Pillsbury
said in his book, describing what he had seen in his study of Spyder
Lily pollen as it germinated. </span></span>“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>No
matter what the obstruction, they grew over and under it or pushed it
to one side.” </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Pillsbury
continued,</span></span> “ <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>the
nucleus, the germ of life, as it came out of the grain, traveled down
the tube and entered the stigma. To ponder the reason, the why and
wherefore, of nature's struggles to carry on, the difficulties to
overcome, make one realize that the Guiding Hand must control all
life, that one cannot well be a student of life and an atheist.” </i></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
insights provided must have been unwelcome on college campuses where
atheism and Marxism were gaining credibility for ideas covertly
funded by the largest, and wealthiest, corporations on Earth. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">These
insights, with implications for all science, could not be contained.
The explosion in discoveries gives mute testimony to what scientists
refused to ignore. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
November, 1927, a fire in Pillsbury's studio destroyed his ability to
fund another such project. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-31582717151104385232014-11-30T11:41:00.001-08:002014-11-30T11:41:58.763-08:00The Knowledge Commons: How sharing changed the world <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The
first Nature Center Centennial – Yosemite Valley 1910</i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mYCKPB0Q8gM/VHtyqxmt6sI/AAAAAAAAMVs/gusnXvyWS-M/s1600/water_color_flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mYCKPB0Q8gM/VHtyqxmt6sI/AAAAAAAAMVs/gusnXvyWS-M/s1600/water_color_flowers.jpg" height="640" width="395" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Primroses and Half Dome</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today
all of us are familiar with nature centers. We know there will be
photos, illustrations, exhibits, items we can buy that allow us to
better understand the world of nature and the history that
accompanies it, usually specific to that location. Nature centers
came from the idea that it would be well if we understood the natural
world, being a part of it. The year after next will mark the
centennial of the modern nature center, an event to be celebrated. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We
take for granted those educational resources, familiar with their
use of movies, lectures, specimens to explain to the curious the
natural world. That was not the case a century ago. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
first such center was located near the Yosemite Chapel next to what
was once the road that turned towards the Valley wall. Now that
'road' runs through the parking lot there. There is no marker. That
first nature center occupied the small space alloted to the Studio of
the Three Arrows, owned by Arthur C. Pillsbury, who had always been
fascinated by the world of nature and saw the need to save the wild
flowers then being mowed in the meadows of Yosemite. He could have
protested, gathered petitions and appealed to Congress. Instead he
decided that if people could 'see' the world of nature in all of its
beauty and complexity they would love it, understand their
connection, and ensure its survival. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pillsbury said
in his book, <i>“Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,”</i>
published in 1937, <i>“One of the first reactions of seeing a reel of
flowers growing and opening was to instill a love for them, a
realization of their life struggles so similar to ours, and to wish
to do something to stop the ruthless destruction of them which was
fast causing them to become extinct.”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pillsbury had
first arrived in Yosemite on his bicycle from Stanford in 1895 along
with his cousin, Bernard Lane, and a friend. There, he signed the
guest book at the Cosmopolitan. His trip had been motivated by a
mention of the glories of the Yosemite by an acquaintance of his
mother's, Susan B. Anthony. That year marked Anthony's last trip to
the Yosemite, this time without her long time friend and fellow
advocate for the rights of women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dr. Harriet
Foster Pillsbury had gotten her degree in medicine at the Women's
Infirmary of New York in 1880, three years before she and her
husband, Dr. Harlin Henry Pillsbury, moved their family to Auburn,
California, where young Arthur and his brother Ernest, were raised. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arthur
Pillsbury had grown up on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry
David Thoreau. In the collection of small classics that accompanied
him when ever he traveled, were well worn copies of their works. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arthur's
interest in nature began with cataloging plants and studying the
ideas of Mendel; using the two microscopes his parents had brought
with them to California. The family had also brought a massive
library of books on all subjects relating to science. Yosemite was
more beauty than Pillsbury had ever imagined possible. He fell in
love with the place and all that he saw. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Arthur had
begun attending Stanford University with a major in Mechanical
Engineering its first year of operation. To earn his tuition he ran
a combined photography and bicycle shop near campus. While at
Stanford he invented a specimen slicer for microscopic slides and the
first circuit panorama camera. Each came into existence to solve a
problem he had encountered. The slicer was used for his own
microscope and the circuit panorama allowed him to take in the vast
spaces he encountered in nature.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While
in Yosemite in 1895 Pillsbury had taken photos of the wildflowers.
He would later write for his book, <i>“I had still pictures taken of
the meadows taken in early days in '95 showing them covered with
flowers waist high and the same meadows as they were at this time.” </i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i></span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He
had grown up hearing and reading and understanding that world through
the lens of science so he used the then exploding technology of
photography as his tool for helping others see as well. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Conservation
had become a national issue through the bully pulpit of Teddy
Roosevelt and the writings of Gifford Pinchot, whose book, “The
Fight for Conservation,” framed the political debate on the
subject. becoming , along with Herbert Croly's, <i>“The Promise of
American Life,”</i> two of just a few books that would frame the Age of
Collectivism in America. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Awakening
understanding of nature itself and trusting the people to do right
was different, contradicting the underlying assumptions of the New
Progressivism that a cadre of leaders who 'knew best' should
determine the future for everyone. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
became the first confrontation between the knowledge commons, the
network, which today in the age of the Internet, we see as allowing
individuals to cooperate through persuasion and consensus, and the
rigid, top down approach typified by government and corporations.
Over the next century the steady increase in human knowledge and the
parallel growth of control through the alliance of government and
corporations would compromise the very survival of humankind. It was
a conflict between individualism and collectivism, open information
sources and closed sources. This conflict in organizational
structure would define the entire 20<sup>th</sup> Century. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Today
we recognize that sharing knowledge is an essential aspect of
freedom. Then, the view that people should know only what made them
useful, interchangable cogs, was ascendant and fashionable. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It
was a war of ideas that has only recently been decided. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On <strong>May
13</strong>, 1908, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb03.html">President
Theodore Roosevelt</a> delivered the opening address, "Conservation
as a National Duty," at the outset of a three-day meeting billed
as the Governors' Conference on the Conservation of Natural
Resources. He explained to the attendees that "the occasion for
the meeting lies in the fact that the natural resources of our
country are in danger of exhaustion if we permit the old wasteful
methods of exploiting them longer to continue." The conference
propelled conservation issues into the forefront of public
consciousness and stimulated a large number of private and
state-level conservation initiatives. A new role for government was
being forged, one that would prove useful to corporations. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The past was
filled with incidents of individuals abusing the environment, but it
was nothing to what corporations, with the cooperation of government,
would do in the coming years. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Writers such as
John Muir were moved by the real and present problems in the Yosemite
caused by,<i> “cattlemen, shepherds and land speculators.”</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/content.asp?catid=77&contenttypeid=10">An
article from American Park Network reports on Muir's thinking,</a><i>
“One summer, with his trusty mule Brownie, he had traveled
extensively in the Sierra Nevada to study the threatened territory.
He was exhilarated each time he encountered an alpine meadow of
wildflowers but also wondered if their kind would survive to witness
the 20th century. His arguments for preserving them included their
value as watersheds for the water-dependent San Joaquin Valley
agricultural industry. Muir worked ceaselessly to keep Yosemite
intact and in its original state. Among his many notable
accomplishments, Muir was a charter member and the first president of
the Sierra Club which was formed in 1892 to secure federal protection
for the Yosemite region. He died on December 24, 1914, at the age of
76. “</i></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seeing a
problem Muir had looked for a solution. But he did so without
understanding that the means adopted will mold the future. The 20<sup>th</sup>
Century would be marked by solutions using government to coerce
outcomes instead of relying on the use of consensus and persuasion as
the tools appropriate to a free people. Muir loved nature but his
solutions were based on the idea that only with the intervention of
force wielded by government could nature be protected. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The opposite
theory that drove a lifetime of inventions for Arthur C. Pillsbury
was the observed fact that if people could 'see' the world as it was,
with its processes and beauty made visible for them, they would
connect to that reality and be moved to understanding and so wish to
protect what they saw. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To accomplish
the preservation of the wild flowers and open nature to understanding
Pillsbury made the first nature movie, built the first lapse-time
camera to for plants in 1912, the first microscopic motion picture
camera in 1927, the first X-ray motion picture camera and the first
Underwater Motion Picture Cameras in 1929 and 1930. He then declined
to patent them so that they would always be available to extend our
understanding. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Instead of
following the usual practices of inventors in his day Arthur C.
Pillsbury dedicated all of his cameras to the extension of human
understanding. His book,<i> “Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal
Life,”</i> published by Lippincott in 1937 is essentially a manual on
how to build your own cameras and achieve the same results. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By do doing he
employed action to make a statement about the profit he most valued
from his life. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">An explosion of
understanding resulted. In the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup>
Century insights flowing from the reality of the world of nature
provided new approaches in medicine, physics, and every other
discipline. Today we talk about the idea that there should be a
commons in knowledge, unbound by the limits of individual ownership.
Sometimes philosophy is something you live instead of something you
just write and talk about. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ideas adopted
by individuals are passed by example and through the flow of our life
experiences. Through that steady adoption of ideas through families,
educators, and the day to day exchanges of life we compile our
culture. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first
nature films were shown on the porch of the Studio in the evenings,
starting by 1910. The flickering images were the backdrop to his
lecture on the habits of the flowers found in the meadows. This
venture into providing a new perspective on the living world would
soon be followed by more, using the photography to provide a visceral
understanding and appreciation. It helped but still the mowing
continued. </span></span></div>
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</div>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He had seen the
first lapse-time camera slow down motion at Berkeley. He decided
that the same idea could be applied to bringing the motion of the
flowers into a human frame of reference. He also realized that the
attention span of most people was limited.</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“I realized
that a scene had to be very dramatic to to hold the interest for over
30 seconds,” Pillsbury wrote in his book; he went on to explain how
he had thought out each step in the motion picture process he
originated. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When he began
work on the lapse-time camera to record the life story of plants, the
idea of spending time preserving wild flowers was not on the horizon
for those who then thought of themselves as Conservationists. The
year was 1912 and the Sierra Club, lead by John Muir, who loved and
wrote about flowers himself, was focused on the problem of the
Hetch-Hetchy that would keep him busy until his death. Arthur had
gotten to know John Muir in the late 1800s, photographing him in
Alaska, Yosemite and for the magazine, Camera Craft, in 1900. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Muir chose Pillsbury's photos for his last book, <i>"The Yosemite,"</i> in 1911. </span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
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</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The mowing of
the meadows was ended after one showing of his first film in 1912.
Pillsbury's approach had worked immediately. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">You could
characterize the work of Arthur C. Pillsbury as the last gasp of
individualism, struggling to survive the deluge of collectivism that
was then over taking America. Or you could see him as the first to
see that technology could bring forth understanding that would, one
mind at time, change the world. </span></span>
</div>
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
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</span></span><div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-61271864501075268682014-11-28T08:40:00.001-08:002014-11-28T08:40:21.708-08:00Ansel Adams & A. C. Pillsbury - Discovered Insights<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First in a Series </span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Presented by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster and Charlotte Kieltyka</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The photo below, taken at the home of Arthur C. Pillsbury in Oakland, California around 1918-20, is from my Aunt Grace's album. She predeceased my father, Dr. Arthur F. Pillsbury, by several years, dying August 12, 1979. Aunt Grace, like others at the Studio of the Three Arrows, usually did not bother to take her own photos. It was easier to print those she wanted out of the thousands stored there for use in a system which was both numeric and descriptive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Exactly like these, which held <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Norisigian_Envelopes_20000.jpg">nitrate film</a> and were purchased by Rick Norsigian along with the glass negatives he found at a garage sale in Fresno, California in 2000. Leroy Radonovich told me Pillsbury was the only photographer of that era in Yosemite, Leroy's area specialization, who had a collection numbering more than a few hundred images. As you see, the numbers here are 8033, Seagull; 8072, Yosemite from Meadow; 8013, Valley View Yos; 8104, Gates of the Valley; 8087, </span><span class="st"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tuolumne Canyon from Glacier Point; 8067, Overhanging Rock & Half Dome Schap; 8052, Yosemite from Camp Ahwanee (sp); 8057, Yosemite Fall from river; 8066, Three Brothers morning; Monterey Point V.D. neg; 8108, Happy Illes. The spelling is atrocious, which points to Pillsbury as the writer. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Family photos in the archive were supposed to have the identifying number stamped on the back, when printed. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The archive in Yosemite included family photos of the kids growing up there and photos from the workshops which Pillsbury was putting on from the time his son, my father, Arthur F. Pillsbury, was around 12 - 14. This photo would have been at the Oakland lab facility, in the smaller collection as well as in Grace's album. There is no number on the reverse but Grace signed her name. In this shot Arthur F. is around 16. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ansel Adams appears in the photo below. He also appears in photos from photographic workshops given by Arthur C. Pillsbury from the period. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">These pages place Ansel Adams through family photos, photos available through the Harry Pidgeon Collection located in Fresno, California, and images from the estate of Mildred Clemens during the shadowy period from 1916 - 1927 which is only lightly touched on in the Adams Autobiography, "Ansel Adams, an Autobiography," written by Ansel Adams and Mary Street Alinder, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1985, hard cover edition, paperback edition, 1996. Pillsbury is barely mentioned in the Adams autobiography, receiving not even a place in the book's index.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Did Adams know Arthur C. Pillsbury? Why yes, very well, according to this <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Correspondence-Ansel-Adams.html">letter</a> written by Ansel Adams in 1978.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3TNPPX-72Cg/VHiaifVXa8I/AAAAAAAAMUY/hxPaZSbdyyA/s1600/Pillsbury_Reunion_in_Berkeley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3TNPPX-72Cg/VHiaifVXa8I/AAAAAAAAMUY/hxPaZSbdyyA/s1600/Pillsbury_Reunion_in_Berkeley.jpg" height="444" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> For the rest of the story go <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/A-Photographic-Tour---Discovered-Insights.html">HERE</a>.</span></div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-4487742994721995212014-11-14T01:08:00.001-08:002014-11-14T01:08:31.499-08:00No. 123 – November 13, 2014 – A Mystery and Photographer George Fiske <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RUe-5tmLqGA/VGXFVcxbUzI/AAAAAAAAMQM/Tcc1Qgmf-zQ/s1600/Melinda%2Bcropped%2Bfrom%2BAyn0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RUe-5tmLqGA/VGXFVcxbUzI/AAAAAAAAMQM/Tcc1Qgmf-zQ/s1600/Melinda%2Bcropped%2Bfrom%2BAyn0000.jpg" height="200" width="145" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Everyone
knew George was not well and was experiencing intense pain. Hoping
for his recovery they were saddened when he shot himself on October
20, 1918. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His still
existing collection of glass negatives was acquired by Curry Company,
soon to be the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, YP & CC in
1923. Most of his collection had been lost in a fire which destroyed
his studio and cameras in 1904. </span>
</div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As a
photographer Fiske, had earned the esteem of the international
community who had viewed the haunting beauty of his work. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">One of
these photos, among the most famous, was titled, <i>“Half Dome on
Christmas Morning.”</i> The image was titled, <i>“The Domes of
Yosemite in Winter,” </i>when it appeared in Harper's Weekly in
1902. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The image
shows Half Dome, draped in snow with winter closed in around it. The
image is haunting in its poignant power, the stillness of the moment
sinks into the mind as you view it. It is also unmistakable.
Mountains do not change. The configuration of snow and leaves in the
foreground are never the same. A later image would have revealed
human artifacts. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The glass
plates remaining in Fiske's depleted collection when he died was sold
to Curry Company. In the early 30's the collection of Julius
Theodore Boysen, another early Yosemite photographer, also acquired
by Curry, was stored with it. But in 1934 a fire enveloped the barn
and these early images were lost. At least we thought so. Now, the
jury is out on this question. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Caches of
glass plates and early film have been surfacing. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Rick
Norsigian, a house painter from Fresno bought a box of negatives at a
garage sale. Looking through the box he was was astonished at the
beauty of the images, mostly of Yosemite. Hoping they were by Ansel
Adams he launched an effort to have them recognized by the Adams
family, which ended in a settlement with the Adams estate in 2010. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The same
year a Fiske, undoubtedly the famous Half Dome on Christmas Morning
image surfaced from the stored work of another, nearly unknown,
photographer. J. M. Garrison. The image came with the accounting
for sale of the image, for use as a post card, by the Yosemite Park &
Curry Co., dated December 10, 1958. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is a
mystery now resolving into answers, piece by piece. Expect the
unexpected and remember George Fiske.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-64YdnpgdPmk/VGXGPmWSBXI/AAAAAAAAMQU/tFHQD5ih2l8/s1600/No.%2B3%2B-%2BGarrison%2B-%2BFiske%2BAnalysis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-64YdnpgdPmk/VGXGPmWSBXI/AAAAAAAAMQU/tFHQD5ih2l8/s1600/No.%2B3%2B-%2BGarrison%2B-%2BFiske%2BAnalysis.jpg" height="498" width="640" /></a></div>
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Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-91368094003024212242014-11-11T06:05:00.001-08:002014-11-11T06:05:29.251-08:00SPECIAL - Real History that changed the world. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1926---President-Coolidge---ACP.html"><span class="size18 Georgia18" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">March 15, 1926 - President Coolidge and the Wild Flower Man of Yosemite</span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="size18 Georgia18" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Glimpses into the world of
Arthur C. Pillsbury – Unexpected Connections through Time. </span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="size18 Georgia18" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">
</span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-size: x-small;">THE
SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,</span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">WASHINGTON</span></div>
<div align="RIGHT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.22in; margin-right: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">March 22, 1926</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="RIGHT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.22in; margin-right: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RWHZpQzczB8/VGIXLF4AZJI/AAAAAAAAMPM/y1Wm7ww3qe0/s1600/cALVIN%2BcOOLIDGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RWHZpQzczB8/VGIXLF4AZJI/AAAAAAAAMPM/y1Wm7ww3qe0/s200/cALVIN%2BcOOLIDGE.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">President Calvin Coolidge</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_1aLhyhYKUk/VGIXTyq-ZxI/AAAAAAAAMPU/99V0jddA8ZU/s1600/Grace%2Bcoolidge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_1aLhyhYKUk/VGIXTyq-ZxI/AAAAAAAAMPU/99V0jddA8ZU/s200/Grace%2Bcoolidge.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Lady, Grace Coolidge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">My Dear Mr. Pillsbury:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Washington Star said that - </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
“<span style="font-style: normal;">Nothing
has stood out more distinctly than the dinner given by Dr. Work a
week ago at the Willard. The guests numbered about 70, and the
dinner being followed by colored pictures showing the life of a
flower from its first seeding until it bloomed into full-grown beauty
and then dropped its petals.” </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Mrs.
Coolidge was profoundly impressed with the Pictures. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Please
allow me to express my personal appreciation of your courtesy in this
connection. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">With
assurance of personal regards, I remain, </span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Very
truly yours, </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">H</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ERBERT
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">W</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ORK.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">March
18, 1926.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dear Mr. Pillsbury:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Secretary Work has received so
much commendation of your picture shown at his dinner for the
President that he is now very anxious to have you repeat this showing
at his formal dinner for the British Ambassador on April 7 and has
asked me to get in touch with you and see if you could be in
Washington for this date.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Sincerely
yours, </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(Signed)
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">S</span><span style="font-style: normal;">TEPHEN
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">T.
M</span><span style="font-style: normal;">ATHER, </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Director.”
</span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBmkUxmGF58/VGITAGmDVGI/AAAAAAAAMPA/gyrF-OKw8M8/s1600/willard-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SBmkUxmGF58/VGITAGmDVGI/AAAAAAAAMPA/gyrF-OKw8M8/s400/willard-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Willard Hotel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
dinner and program were by invitation only. Seventy people were
present for the </span></span></span>event at the Willard Hotel, located at </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">1401
Pennsylvania Ave, just down the street from the White House. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
term “lobbyist” was coined in the Willard's lobby by Ulysses S.
Grant. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Secretary of the Interior,
Dr. Hubert A. Work gave the dinner and, looking for something
special, followed a suggestion from Stephen Mather, then returned
from another one of his emotional breakdowns, and carrying on, as
usual, as Director of the new National Parks Service. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mather had suggested his
best choice for something not to be forgotten was to engage Arthur C.
Pillsbury to give a lecture and show show his films. Pillsbury was
also the Official Photographer for Yosemite and had been granted a
long term concession in the Park because his speaking tours had been
of enormous assistance to Mather in making the Parks profitable.
Pillsbury had done the same for the Sierra Club, along with
photographing their High Trips for twenty years. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One detail which escaped
history is whether or not Mather, himself, was at the event. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But those attending went
away with heads reeling. Grace Coolidge was quoted as saying, “she
was profoundly impressed with the Pictures.”</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.09in; margin-right: 0.15in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Looking back it is hard to
imagine the impact on how you view the world when you suddenly see
something you think you understand, differently. <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1926---President-Coolidge---ACP.html">MORE</a></span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-57468210632897987412014-11-06T19:49:00.001-08:002014-11-06T19:49:21.040-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Volume 4. No. 2 Spring - Summer 2009</b></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Knowledge Commons: How sharing changed the world </b></span> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The first Nature Center Centennial – Yosemite Valley 1910</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</div>
<div align="justify">
<br /></div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Today all of us are familiar with nature centers. We know there will be photos, illustrations, exhibits, items we can buy that allow us to better understand the world of nature and the history that accompanies it, usually specific to that location. Nature centers came from the idea that it would be well if we understood the natural world, being a part of it. The year after next will mark the centennial of the modern nature center, an event to be celebrated. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">We take for granted those educational resources, familiar with their use of movies, lectures, specimens to explain to the curious the natural world. That was not the case a century ago. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The first such center was located near the Yosemite Chapel next to what was once the road that turned towards the Valley wall. Now that 'road' runs through the parking lot there. There is no marker. That first nature center occupied the small space alloted to the Studio of the Three Arrows, owned by Arthur C. Pillsbury, who had always been fascinated by the world of nature and saw the need to save the wild flowers then being mowed in the meadows of Yosemite. He could have protested, gathered petitions and appealed to Congress. Instead he decided that if people could 'see' the world of nature in all of its beauty and complexity they would love it, understand their connection, and ensure its survival. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pillsbury said in his book, “Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,” published in 1937, “One of the first reactions of seeing a reel of flowers growing and opening was to instill a love for them, a realization of their life struggles so similar to ours, and to wish to do something to stop the ruthless destruction of them which was fast causing them to become extinct.”</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pillsbury had first arrived in Yosemite on his bicycle from Stanford in 1895 along with his cousin, Bernard Lane, and a friend. There, he signed the guest book at the Cosmopolitan. His trip had been motivated by a mention of the glories of the Yosemite by an acquaintance of his mother's, Susan B. Anthony. That year marked Anthony's last trip to the Yosemite, this time without her long time friend and fellow advocate for the rights of women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dr. Harriet Foster Pillsbury had gotten her degree in medicine at the Women's Infirmary of New York in 1880, three years before she and her husband, Dr. Harlin Henry Pillsbury, moved their family to Auburn, California, where young Arthur and his brother Ernest, were raised. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Arthur Pillsbury had grown up on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In the collection of small classics that accompanied him when ever he traveled, were well worn copies of their works. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Arthur's interest in nature began with cataloging plants and studying the ideas of Mendel; using the two microscopes his parents had brought with them to California. The family had also brought a massive library of books on all subjects relating to science. Yosemite was more beauty than Pillsbury had ever imagined possible. He fell in love with the place and all that he saw. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Arthur had begun attending Stanford University with a major in Mechanical Engineering its first year of operation. To earn his tuition he ran a combined photography and bicycle shop near campus. While at Stanford he invented a specimen slicer for microscopic slides and the first circuit panorama camera. Each came into existence to solve a problem he had encountered. The slicer was used for his own microscope and the circuit panorama allowed him to take in the vast spaces he encountered in nature.</span></div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">While in Yosemite in 1895 Pillsbury had taken photos of the wildflowers. He would later write for his book, “I had still pictures taken of the meadows taken in early days in '95 showing them covered with flowers waist high and the same meadows as they were at this time.” </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">He had grown up hearing and reading and understanding that world through the lens of science so he used the then exploding technology of photography as his tool for helping others see as well. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Conservation had become a national issue through the bully pulpit of Teddy Roosevelt and the writings of Gifford Pinchot, whose book, “The Fight for Conservation,” framed the political debate on the subject. becoming , along with Herbert Croly's, “The Promise of American Life,” two of just a few books that would frame the Age of Collectivism in America. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Awakening understanding of nature itself and trusting the people to do right was different, contradicting the underlying assumptions of the New Progressivism that a cadre of leaders who 'knew best' should determine the future for everyone. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This became the first confrontation between the knowledge commons, the network, which today in the age of the Internet, we see as allowing individuals to cooperate through persuasion and consensus, and the rigid, top down approach typified by government and corporations. Over the next century the steady increase in human knowledge and the parallel growth of control through the alliance of government and corporations would compromise the very survival of humankind. It was a conflict between individualism and collectivism, open information sources and closed sources. This conflict in organizational structure would define the entire 20<sup>th</sup> Century. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Today we recognize that sharing knowledge is an essential aspect of freedom. Then, the view that people should know only what made them useful, interchangable cogs, was ascendant and fashionable. </span> </div>
<div align="justify" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">It was a war of ideas that has only recently been decided. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">On <b>May 13</b>, 1908, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb03.html">President Theodore Roosevelt</a> delivered the opening address, "Conservation as a National Duty," at the outset of a three-day meeting billed as the Governors' Conference on the Conservation of Natural Resources. He explained to the attendees that "the occasion for the meeting lies in the fact that the natural resources of our country are in danger of exhaustion if we permit the old wasteful methods of exploiting them longer to continue." The conference propelled conservation issues into the forefront of public consciousness and stimulated a large number of private and state-level conservation initiatives. A new role for government was being forged, one that would prove useful to corporations. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The past was filled with incidents of individuals abusing the environment, but it was nothing to what corporations, with the cooperation of government, would do in the coming years. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Writers such as John Muir were moved by the real and present problems in the Yosemite caused by, “cattlemen, shepherds and land speculators.”</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/content.asp?catid=77&contenttypeid=10">An article from American Park Network reports on Muir's thinking,</a> “One summer, with his trusty mule Brownie, he had traveled extensively in the Sierra Nevada to study the threatened territory. He was exhilarated each time he encountered an alpine meadow of wildflowers but also wondered if their kind would survive to witness the 20th century. His arguments for preserving them included their value as watersheds for the water-dependent San Joaquin Valley agricultural industry. Muir worked ceaselessly to keep Yosemite intact and in its original state. Among his many notable accomplishments, Muir was a charter member and the first president of the Sierra Club which was formed in 1892 to secure federal protection for the Yosemite region. He died on December 24, 1914, at the age of 76. “</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Seeing a problem Muir had looked for a solution. But he did so without understanding that the means adopted will mold the future. The 20<sup>th</sup> Century would be marked by solutions using government to coerce outcomes instead of relying on the use of consensus and persuasion as the tools appropriate to a free people. Muir loved nature but his solutions were based on the idea that only with the intervention of force wielded by government could nature be protected. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The opposite theory that drove a lifetime of inventions for Arthur C. Pillsbury was the observed fact that if people could 'see' the world as it was, with its processes and beauty made visible for them, they would connect to that reality and be moved to understanding and so wish to protect what they saw. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">To accomplish the preservation of the wild flowers and open nature to understanding Pillsbury made the first nature movie, built the first lapse-time camera to for plants in 1912, the first microscopic motion picture camera in 1927, the first X-ray motion picture camera and the first Underwater Motion Picture Cameras in 1929 and 1930. He then declined to patent them so that they would always be available to extend our understanding. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Instead of following the usual practices of inventors in his day Arthur C. Pillsbury dedicated all of his cameras to the extension of human understanding. His book, “Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,” published by Lippincott in 1937 is essentially a manual on how to build your own cameras and achieve the same results. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">By do doing he employed action to make a statement about the profit he most valued from his life. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">An explosion of understanding resulted. In the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century insights flowing from the reality of the world of nature provided new approaches in medicine, physics, and every other discipline. Today we talk about the idea that there should be a commons in knowledge, unbound by the limits of individual ownership. Sometimes philosophy is something you live instead of something you just write and talk about. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ideas adopted by individuals are passed by example and through the flow of our life experiences. Through that steady adoption of ideas through families, educators, and the day to day exchanges of life we compile our culture. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The first nature films were shown on the porch of the Studio in the evenings, starting by 1910. The flickering images were the backdrop to his lecture on the habits of the flowers found in the meadows. This venture into providing a new perspective on the living world would soon be followed by more, using the photography to provide a visceral understanding and appreciation. It helped but still the mowing continued. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">He had seen the first lapse-time camera slow down motion at Berkeley. He decided that the same idea could be applied to bringing the motion of the flowers into a human frame of reference. He also realized that the attention span of most people was limited.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
“<span style="font-size: x-small;">I realized that a scene had to be very dramatic to to hold the interest for over 30 seconds,” Pillsbury wrote in his book; he went on to explain how he had thought out each step in the motion picture process he originated. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When he began work on the lapse-time camera to record the life story of plants, the idea of spending time preserving wild flowers was not on the horizon for those who then thought of themselves as Conservationists. The year was 1912 and the Sierra Club, lead by John Muir, who loved and wrote about flowers himself, was focused on the problem of the Hetch-Hetchy that would keep him busy until his death. Arthur had gotten to know John Muir in the late 1800s, photographing him in Yosemite and for the magazine, Camera Craft, in 1900. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The mowing of the meadows was ended after one showing of his first film in 1912. Pillsbury's approach had worked immediately. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">You could characterize the work of Arthur C. Pillsbury as the last gasp of individualism, struggling to survive the deluge of collectivism that was then over taking America. Or you could see him as the first to see that technology could bring forth understanding that would, one mind at time, change the world. </span> </div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Celebrate the Studio of the Three Arrows, April 1, 2010. </span> </div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-34492947431448265812014-11-06T19:21:00.000-08:002014-11-06T23:07:44.670-08:00DTDB Special – Vol. Nine No. 4 – Centennials Keep On Coming <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Remember
those mesmerizing nature films for family audiences? Walt Disney was
making them in the 1950s and '60s. Baby boomers grew up on them two
generations after Arthur C. Pillsbury launched the revolution. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Legacy-Collection-Adventures/dp/B000I2J6MS/ref=pd_sim_mov_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=15QKM1EJ63BZ32YSGP9M"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Walt
Disney Legacy Collection: True Life Adventures, Vol. 1.</span></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
one other person who claims to have done the first work using
lapse-time with flowers bases the claim on work done on these films.
That is </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ott">Dr.
John Nash Ott</a>, who was born in 1909, the year Pillsbury showed
the first nature film. The first lapse-time movie showing flowers
lifting their faces to the sun was shown before Ott was three years
old. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">By
the time young Ott was in school Pillsbury's movies of plants had
been shown at most major universities and to the National Geographic
Society in Washington D. C. And not to rain on Ott's parade, but
Pillsbury's first special effect was to insert himself, inside a cell
dividing, as he lectured. That was 1927. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Centennial Moment, along with the first <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1927---Sunset-Magazine.html">Microscopic Motion Picture Camera</a>. Pillsbury strongly believed technologies which extended human understanding should not be patented. Leading by example he did not patent his own such inventions and published instructions on how to build them yourself. Pillsbury called this Knowledge Commons. Today we say Open Source. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Dr. Ott has
gone unchallenged on his claims for a long time even though Pillsbury films
were shown in movie theaters, by others who purchased them for their
own presentations over the years, and on every major university
campus, and to garden clubs and town hall forums. His films were also widely purchased by schools and in some
places were still in use in the 1960s. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How
could this happen? Now we approach the reason the Dog Did Not Bark.
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pillsbury's
youngest son discovered something odd was happening during one of his
trips to Yosemite with his children in the Valley in the 1970s. He
said in a letter written to Steve Harrison, a National Park Services
employee, written to Harrison on <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Letters---Feb--9----AFP-to-Harrison.html">February
9, 1978</a>, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">“On
one of those trips I was told by an employee of Best's Studio that he
believed there was a strong effort to play down Uncle's role in the
development of Yosemite.” </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In the letter Dr. Pillsbury goes on to note,</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
“this is certainly true in books like, “Yosemite and It's
Innkeepers.” </span></i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pillsbury's
daughter, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster had several experiences of the
same kind while in Yosemite. During a viewing of items in the
Yosemite Archive with the Yosemite Curator she was looking through an
album of photos showing the building of the Glacier Point Hotel from
1916 – 1917. She commented these photos looked like Pillsbury.
The Curator pointed to one of these and said there was no printing.
Flipping the album over in her hand she pointed to the label on the
back of the whole album which read, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">“Produced
by the Pillsbury Picture Company.”</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
The album had been there for several generations by then. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Later,
she was told this was policy. Pillsbury was not to be mentioned. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Arthur
C. Pillsbury had been a one man promotion team through his films,
shown widely in multiple venues across the country, as noted
previously. His motive for this was not whole-hearted support for
the Park concept but with the idea since this was going to happen the
Parks should at least be centers for increasing public understanding
of nature. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">This was a different kind of activism, one which used making a profit to achieve the goal. Pillsbury said in his book, Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal life,</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span class="size10 Georgia10" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>"To see a flower blossoming, its life so li</i></span><span class="size9 Georgia9" style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>ke our own, awakens in us a love for the flower, its life so like our own, and the wish to preserve it." </i></span> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">To this purpose he applied his innovative powers and edge technologies, developed with this in mind. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1hPw75LLmBo/VFw376Qof8I/AAAAAAAAMOA/EfBjhVjUa-4/s1600/Snowplant%2BCARD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1hPw75LLmBo/VFw376Qof8I/AAAAAAAAMOA/EfBjhVjUa-4/s1600/Snowplant%2BCARD.jpg" height="640" width="434" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow Plant, for Identification and suitable for framing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Pillsbury Studio sold flower identification cards, books, and
provides lectures on the world of nature which were entirely factual
but presented in ways which arrested attention and emotionally
engaged the tourist. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">No
one filled auditoriums with the kind of lectures provided today by
the National Park Service. Pillsbury could, and did. His intention
was to expand this to include the world of the microscopic for every
kind of life and the dynamics of the systems which support and
sustain our world. He was determined this happen. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
1926 <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Stephen-Mather.html">Steven
Mather</a>, the first Director of the National Park System, refused
to let Pillsbury publicize his films and lectures in the Valley.
People came anyway, despite the fact Mather had heavily advertised
professors he had brought in from Berkeley to lecture. Those events
were largely unattended. Pillsbury's studio was always packed, doing
six times the total business of all other photographic
concessionaires together. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Dog just opened his eyes. More coming. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-86680561084733000222014-11-03T21:42:00.002-08:002019-02-18T22:24:48.939-08:00Dog That Didn't Bark Special – Vol. Nine, No. Three - Centennials Which Should Have Happened <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first
ever nature movie. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In 1909 no one realized how important this use
of film would become, most people were into drama, battles, love
scenes, comedy. Pillsbury had different priorities. He seamlessly
applied this newly born medium to the problem of helping people fall
in love with nature. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How many of
us had our empathy and interest arrested by a nature movie? Awakened
to the sameness of all life through this medium? It boggles the
mind. Films take you there without having to step into the
wilderness. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Announcements
were made for a Centennial event to take place at the Yosemite
Chapel, the building closest to the original location for the Studio
of the Three Arrows in 1909 where that film was shown. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SI2VgppmZaA/VFhUQTnkFoI/AAAAAAAAMMQ/xea6zo20nxE/s1600/Village1_clean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SI2VgppmZaA/VFhUQTnkFoI/AAAAAAAAMMQ/xea6zo20nxE/s1600/Village1_clean.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Left</b> - Post Office, Store, Sentinel Hotel, just visible in distance, <b>Right</b> - Gazebo for films, Pillsbury Studio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was there and lead a walk through the location of Old Village. Afterward, we ate lunch
on tables set up at the Yosemite Chapel. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SXw-_iy5jr4/VFhkp5m_y9I/AAAAAAAAMNY/DboCEKSxKyQ/s1600/Arthur%2Bon%2BWimley%2Bear%2B-%2Bpg%2B8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SXw-_iy5jr4/VFhkp5m_y9I/AAAAAAAAMNY/DboCEKSxKyQ/s1600/Arthur%2Bon%2BWimley%2Bear%2B-%2Bpg%2B8.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Dad, Dr. Arthur F. Pillsbury, on Winkey. In the background is his tent, behind the Chapel.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Studio
was in front of, but to the bridge side of the Chapel. Across the
road running along the Valley wall which then lead into Yosemite
Valley, turning to meet the street lined with small businesses and
the Sentinel Hotel. My Dad's tent always stood in back of the Chapel, near the wall. Today that space is covered by their extended office space. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MUVNfNTxYnQ/VFhVNDlEmPI/AAAAAAAAMMY/zEAwJz7ZEeM/s1600/Old%2BVillage%2Bpanorama%2Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MUVNfNTxYnQ/VFhVNDlEmPI/AAAAAAAAMMY/zEAwJz7ZEeM/s1600/Old%2BVillage%2Bpanorama%2Bcropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you can see it more closely.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One paper
published it, <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.recorderonline.com/yosemite-valley-chapel-plans-anniversary-event-in-june/article_3a1dd32f-0896-5f73-a8ad-b5e3260977e1.html?mode=jqm">The
Porterville Recorder.</a></u></span></span>
The National Park Service maintained a stoic silence. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the
announcement the fact Ansel Adams was mentored by Pillsbury was
mentioned. Ansel worked for Pillsbury and also took photography
classes from him, as did Harry Pidgeon and Earl Brooks. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My father,
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0h4n99rb&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00061&toc.depth=1&toc.id=">Dr.
Arthur Francis Pillsbury</a></u></span></span>,
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=D_M2AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA99&ots=rQ92c_85Pc&dq=#v=onepage&q=">Director
of the Water Resources Center for the University of California
System</a></u></span></span>,
recalled to me tripping over Adams, along with other photography
students, as he operated the mass production post card machine before
the Studio moved to New Village in 1924. Aunt Grace recalled the
same thing from her own point of view, as her duties were generally
serving customers. Aunt Grace reported this to me in 1972. <a href="http://pillsburyfamily.homestead.com/Grace-Sylvia-Pillsbury-Marries-Arthur-Young.html">Aunt Grace married Arthur Young</a><span style="color: black;">
on 13 Oct. 1923 in Oakland in the same room where this picture was
taken. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7mxcdZ7udk/VFhf9gYA0OI/AAAAAAAAMMo/ZY51gSohJsY/s1600/Reunion_at_ACP%27s_in_Oakland0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z7mxcdZ7udk/VFhf9gYA0OI/AAAAAAAAMMo/ZY51gSohJsY/s1600/Reunion_at_ACP's_in_Oakland0000.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ansel Adams, front, not smiling</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUAsVZGzWFc/VFhgmE5y0CI/AAAAAAAAMMw/HbfZHDUEMWQ/s1600/ADAMS_at_PILLSBURY_HOME.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yUAsVZGzWFc/VFhgmE5y0CI/AAAAAAAAMMw/HbfZHDUEMWQ/s1600/ADAMS_at_PILLSBURY_HOME.jpg" width="344" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larger Image, Ansel Adams</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ansel came
to parties for photography students and kids who worked at the studio
at Pillsbury's home in Berkeley during the winter months. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Disappointed
his youngest son, my dad, had determined on college and a career in
engineering, Pillsbury began using Ansel Adams more frequently as an
assistant and developer. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The new
studio was the first to be built in New Village in 1924. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aXqXdMINzmY/VFhh1hGYaXI/AAAAAAAAMM8/bH7zYv2DN40/s1600/Studio_Construction_reduced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="442" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aXqXdMINzmY/VFhh1hGYaXI/AAAAAAAAMM8/bH7zYv2DN40/s1600/Studio_Construction_reduced.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x4FxAJZZWCk/VFhiMubOrlI/AAAAAAAAMNE/1RxPcMlyck0/s1600/Studio2_reducedfxed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x4FxAJZZWCk/VFhiMubOrlI/AAAAAAAAMNE/1RxPcMlyck0/s1600/Studio2_reducedfxed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
auditorium held 350 people and was usually full, standing room only. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3sRFIKjqs0/VFhiliOFFVI/AAAAAAAAMNM/A6CyzVL85Z8/s1600/Studio3_int_reduced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="463" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3sRFIKjqs0/VFhiliOFFVI/AAAAAAAAMNM/A6CyzVL85Z8/s1600/Studio3_int_reduced.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of the Pillsbury Studio, entrance to Auditorium is up the steps on each side of the fireplace.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Using his revenue from the drastically lower cost of production them
made possible with the mass production photo-postcard machine and his
income from the Studio Grandfather funded a new technology.
Pillsbury had a life long passion for nature and spent that life
sharing his passion with people around the world. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">His next
invention was the <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1927---Sunset-Magazine.html">microscopic motion picture camera</a>. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seeing cells
dividing happened first because of Pillsbury. This invention
provided the needed insights in multiple disciplines, including
medicine, to help them move to another level of knowledge. And because he paid for the development himself Pillsbury was able to keep his inventions, and how to build them, available to everyone. He called it Knowledge Commons. Today we say Open Source. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are
going to make that Centennial happen. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-54328979664147609602014-11-02T01:24:00.000-07:002014-11-02T02:02:23.036-08:00Dog That Didn't Bark Special - Volume Nine, No. Two - Why no Centennial Celebrations? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">If you
google these words, <b>centennials "National Park Service"
</b>3,120,000 hits come up. It seems the NPS is very excited, and
spending a lot of tax payer dollars, to publicize its coming
Centennial, promising even more, “<a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Time-Line---Battle-for-the-Environment.html">Conservation
and preservation</a>.” </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Merging
these terms is a real mistake. The rupture between Gifford Pinchot,
John Muir was percisely, exactly, over the issue of using the Hetch
Hetchy, the Little Yosemite, as a reservoir. Muir, a
Preservationist, lost. Pinchot, a Conservationist, won, as did the
corporations who made fortunes on the flow of water into San
Francisco. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The issue of Hetch Hetchy helped determine the 1912 election, removing the <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Time-Line---Battle-for-the-Environment.html">opponent </a>to this use of Hetch Hetchy, William Howard Taft, from the office of president. Wilson, once elected, happily signed the bill allowing this to happen. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Read the
<a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Time-Line---Battle-for-the-Environment.html">Time
Line</a>. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Could these
two events have been overlooked because they occurred so early, seven
and four years before the founding of the National Park Service? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Absurd. But
as you read their websites they ignore the clear evidence long
available online, together with the absolute absence of any mention
of who the inventor of the use of film to increase public awareness of environmental issues and the invention of a new technology. Those on line have been picked through ACPillsburyFoundation.org. Also, as mentioned
previously, they received news releases along with everyone else. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Taking one
National Park, Yosemite, as an example the subject of photographers
is covered back to the first one, who photographed Yosemite for the
first time in 1859. But wait, it is posited on these same 'official' sites there was a contender
for this First. But nowhere is the name of such an individual
mentioned. Curious. Perhaps a time traveler took along his cell phone? The Miwok had cameras? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The one who provably took the first photos died in 1902, was
<a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Weed--Charles-Leander-.html">Charles
Leander Weed</a>. Weed was either hired by James Mason Hutchings,
then the publisher of <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/hutchings_california_magazine/&ei=fvBVVJvNAoqQyQSAgoLgAg&usg=AFQjCNHavmkMb5b_I-jashmx20j89U_4HA&sig2=IL76BblI1ImZi1_7b9cRZA&bvm=bv.78677474,d.aWw">California
Magazine</a>, or his employer Robert Vance of San Francisco.
According to some sources Charles L. Weed was to take a "Yosemite
Panorama”. Today we cannot imagine an image with the dimensions of
10" x 14" being called a panorama. Then, it was a real
improvement, however. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This is what the writer is calling a Panorama.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g4rR_I8uiTE/VFX6cUc8evI/AAAAAAAAMLw/arYdHVc-2i4/s1600/10%2Bx%2B14%2Bof%2Byosemite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g4rR_I8uiTE/VFX6cUc8evI/AAAAAAAAMLw/arYdHVc-2i4/s1600/10%2Bx%2B14%2Bof%2Byosemite.jpg" height="501" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of Yosemite 10 x 14</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This is a Panorama.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bryEIfPchjk/VFX55tBRyTI/AAAAAAAAMLo/AHEACPaLTYY/s1600/Hetch_Hetchy_Valley-Falls_reduced.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bryEIfPchjk/VFX55tBRyTI/AAAAAAAAMLo/AHEACPaLTYY/s1600/Hetch_Hetchy_Valley-Falls_reduced.jpg" height="188" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hetch Hetchy after it was dammed, you can see the reflections.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> This is not an issue of art, it is an issue of advances in technology. So, let's be clear about what exactly is under discussion. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These
14 x 10 enlarged scope photographs were to be added to the firm's stock and
to provide a basis for engravings by Thomas Armstrong in the five
articles which appeared in California Magazine. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was hard
to get to Yosemite in those days and a group of people, sponsored by
Hutchings, with porters, went along. Included in the party was the
Guide, Mrs Ewer, Miss Neil Hutchings, Ewer, and Weed. Cameras
weighed 40 pounds and getting there took several days and a guide. This was a considerable expense, beyond the resources of most people. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Weed
arrived in Yosemite Valley around 9:30pm on June 17, 1859. During
their <a href="http://acpillsburyfoundation.homestead.com/1851-1860.html?_=1414913445130">1851
– 1860</a>. Photos were taken as everyone enjoyed the scenery,
this going on for several days. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So, the
confusion, or obfuscation, is not about these two distinct events in
<a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---First-Nature-Movie.html">1909</a> and <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Lapse-Time-Camera.html">1912</a> alone. These were events which resulted in Pillsbury lecturing and showing his movies at every Town Hall in America and at all the major universities. Pillsbury short subjects were also sold to Hollywood to be shown before the 'feature' film. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Nature Movies take us to the wilderness without risk or cost and certainly impacted how people living in cities viewed the world of nature. Lapse-Time films did the same. These were not small, irrelevant events. These technologies are still opening people's eyes today. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There is more. That Dog is still not barking,
but he will. <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/Contact.html">Sign up</a> to receive tomorrow's DTDB Special. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-38772300209484327172014-11-01T04:34:00.003-07:002014-11-02T01:13:32.843-08:00Dog That Didn't Bark Special - Volume Nine, No. One - Why no Centennial Celebrations? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Centennial for the first Nature Movie took place in June 1909. We
sent out news releases and held a small event. No one came. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That first
showing was at the Studio of the Three Arrows in Yosemite. The film
was made by Arthur C. Pillsbury. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
had previously designed and built the first circuit panorama camera
as his senior project at Stanford where he was majoring in Mechanical
Engineering. His first invention was a specimen slicer for a
microscope, designed and built in 1895. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The local
paper, the Palo Alto Times, reported <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1891---1900.html">the
event</a>. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">28
November - Palo Alto Times - `<i><b>`An Ingenious Piece of Work</b></i>"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">`<i>`...and
it was for Mr. A.C. Pillsbury, our ingenious young bicycle man, to
first introduce one [microtome] of domestic manufacture."
Microtomes used to cut insects so they can be seen in microscope."
(some on machine)</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>``The
machine is indeed ingenious and when it is considered that the whole
work of designing and making the parts was done by Mr. Pillsbury at
his own shop, it marks him as one with unusual mechanical ability.</i>"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His senior
adviser, Professor Rice, had looked at the design for the circuit
panorama camera and told him not to bother, it could not work. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ignoring
this sage advice Pillsbury built the camera. It worked. Pillsbury
left the University and headed for the Yukon where he used the camera
to record the opening of the mining towns down the Yukon River from
its headwaters to the ocean. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XSkI-tg2lrY/VFTClCTWyxI/AAAAAAAAMLE/Z2311GQdSC0/s1600/Nome%2BAlaska%2B-%2B2%2BMonths%2BOld%2B-%2B1899_clean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XSkI-tg2lrY/VFTClCTWyxI/AAAAAAAAMLE/Z2311GQdSC0/s1600/Nome%2BAlaska%2B-%2B2%2BMonths%2BOld%2B-%2B1899_clean.jpg" height="196" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nome Alaska, two months old</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pillsbury
used it again to record the first hours of the San Francisco
Earthquake and Fire on April 18, 1906. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GnG3GLMHSk/VFTFESWLRVI/AAAAAAAAMLY/ebfzfzNxhto/s1600/pillsbury_Pano_01sf_1_day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GnG3GLMHSk/VFTFESWLRVI/AAAAAAAAMLY/ebfzfzNxhto/s1600/pillsbury_Pano_01sf_1_day.jpg" height="142" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No. 101</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Making hundreds of
photographs, panorama and conventional, Pillsbury made enough money
to achieve one of his long term goals by purchasing the Studio of the
Three Arrows in Yosemite. He used <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---First-Nature-Movie.html">post
cards</a> as a form of advertising. A short while later this same
year, 1909, he achieved a certain notoriety in San Francisco by being
cast away in his <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1909---Run-away-Balloon.html">balloon</a>
while doing aerial photos of the rebuilding of San Francisco. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; page-break-before: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.01in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Three years later, as what he describes
as a 'hobby,' he designed a <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Lapse-Time-Camera.html">lapse-time
camera</a> which could speed up events for the human eye and show a
flower blooming. The film was first shown on <a href="http://www.acpillsburyfoundation.org/1912---Conference-Oct--14--15---16.html">October
16, 1912 to a conference</a> which included Park Superintendents from
around the country. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Again, no
Centennial, though we sent our news releases. Curiouser and curiouser. The National Park Service expressed no interest and did not return my phone calls. But both these events took place in Yosemite, a certified National Park. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When the dog does not bark there is always an explanation. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-29929033440567817092010-07-29T15:45:00.000-07:002010-07-30T05:54:46.255-07:00Volume Five - Special Issue - 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FlAPITUiEhc/TFH9CZkE43I/AAAAAAAABhM/N0U9tH36KkU/s1600/Melinda+cropped+from+Ayn0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FlAPITUiEhc/TFH9CZkE43I/AAAAAAAABhM/N0U9tH36KkU/s200/Melinda+cropped+from+Ayn0000.jpg" width="145" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span><br />
<br />
</div><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE"></meta><title></title><meta content="OpenOffice.org 3.2 (Win32)" name="GENERATOR"></meta><style type="text/css">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is a special issue of IMAGE to bring you up to date with developments which have been taking place for many years behind the scenes, so to speak. In the last 24 hours I have been contacted several times regarding a statement made on the <a href="http://theanseladamsgallery.blogspot.com/">Ansel Adams Blog by Adams grandson, Matthew Adams</a>.<br />
In his statement, for which he sought no authentication from myself, I was quoted as having stated the glass plate images now known as the Norsigan Negatives, and which have been valued at $200,000,000, were not my Grandfather's work. I never made any such statement and, in fact, think they may well be. My requests and suggestions for objective authentication were ignored by all parties.<br />
I prepared a statement regarding these negatives and the other materials which I examined myself in 2002 at the Norsigan home in Fresno. These would, perhaps, be minor issues except for ancillary events which document a long time pattern of behavior on the part of the Adams Family. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Adams goes on to state, "Arthur Pillsbury was active in Yosemite, and moved from Yosemite to Los Angeles." One has to wonder what the man is smoking. The many inaccuracies which have flowed from the Adams Family as a source, working their way into published works, over the decades in regards to my Grandfather can no longer be tolerated. That, along with the lack of any standards for reputable research, ignoring the obligation to contact me before publishing, and lack of attribution for his statements, must end. I immediately demanded a retraction and have not heard from him or anyone else associated with the Adams Family. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">My statement is below. An edition of the usual newsletter will be out in a month and, with an article on AC's lectures, contain an articles on these events. If you would like to receive further updates please send a notice to <a href="mailto:winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.org">winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.org</a>.<br />
<br />
John Clark, a member of our Board of Directors and a good family friend, has agreed to assist us in this matter as a media liaison. <a href="http://acpillsburyfoundation.org/john-clark.php">John is a producer and director</a>. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Further Information</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Contact: John Clark</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="mailto:johnclarknew@mac.com">johnclarknew@mac.com</a></u></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">P.O. Box 3869</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hollywood, CA 90078</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO MATTHEW ADAMS ON THE NORISIGAN NEGATIVES </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The following statements were attributed to me on the Ansel Adams blog site and are factually untrue and do not correctly reflect any comment ever made by myself. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>From Matthew Adams on the </i><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://theanseladamsgallery.blogspot.com/2010/07/response-to-july-27-2010-article.html"><i>Ansel Adams Blog</i></a></u></span></span><i>, July 24, 2010,“That is a subjective opinion, but does narrow the field of alternatives. Boysen, Fiske, & Watkins were deceased by the estimated time of the negatives. Arthur Pillsbury was active in Yosemite, and moved from Yosemite to Los Angeles, however the negatives have been disclaimed by his grand-daughter, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster.”</i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I never disclaimed a possibility the negatives or the nitrate film, which Mr. Norisigan told me were in the envelopes at the time he bought them, were my Grandfather's work. Mr. Norisigan asked me to view the materials and I did so, visiting him and his wife at their home in Fresno in late autumn, 2002. While there, I examined both an assortment of glass negatives and envelopes. The visit lasted several hours and included a lengthy discussion on Mr. Norisigan's contacts with the Adams family. I made notes at the time and have now reviewed them. The information relayed to me concerned the materials being examined, how these were acquired, and his attempts to deal with issues raised by the Adams Family visit to view the materials in his possession. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Regarding Adams statement on my Grandfather's residence. My Grandfather lived in Berkeley-Oakland from 1906 until his death in 1946, a well known fact since he was a nationally known lecturer and had lead the application of photography to science. The list of his inventions includes the lapse-time camera for plants, (1912) the microscopic motion picture camera, (1927), the x-ray motion picture camera, (1929), and an underwater motion picture camera, (1930), which he used to produce films for his lecture series heard and seen by scientists and the general public around the world. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I offered Mr. Norisigan this opinion. The glass negatives appeared to be high quality, professionally produced images of the classical tourist sites of Yosemite. This was obvious at a glance. I had seen similar images, what my Grandfather called, 'Production Photos,' by the other professional photographers who worked in the Valley as well as my Grandfather's. Similar images by other photographers I had seen were produced on paper, however. I suggested, because of the similarity in all these common shots, Norisigan have these compared to the work of all photographers known to have worked in Yosemite using appropriate forensic equipment. Even with very similar professional images differences in the trees, clouds, and flow of water can make identifying the photographer certain by comparison with known work. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I further advised him to seek information on the numbering systems used by Yosemite photographers from Leroy Radonovich, the recognized expert on the subject. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">During the course of my visit I told Mr. Norisigan I was aware of only two photographers who had systems which included numbers during the years which Norisigan named as the dates assigned to the glass negatives and envelopes. My Grandfather was one of these. The second, whose name evades me at this moment, had less than 1,000 photos in his collection. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The numbers on the envelopes I viewed were four digits, the first number of each being '8.' The numbers fit into a lost section of my Grandfather's collection, which I have worked to reassemble for over twenty years. By 1927 Grandfather's collection numbered in the many thousands. Grandfather routinely named his photo images as well as using a numbering system. The name and number did not vary, no matter how the image was produced, though in some cases, for instance on the d'orotones, the name did not appear on the image itself but on the label pasted on the back. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Before I left Mr. Norisigan provided me with Xeroxed copies of the envelopes, which are still in my possession. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">I am not aware of any other Yosemite photographers who were producing d'orotones during this period. D'orotones were, of necessity, produced on glass at that point in time and Grandfather was selling many of these. Grandfather had produced a 6 foot square d'orotone for the head of a Hollywood studio around 1924. That piece sold for approximately $25,000 that same year. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">I expressed the opinion at the time, and still believe, the 'Norisigan Negatives' might be my Grandfather's work. Through examination carried out by third parties I hoped to remove all doubt as to their origin. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">I then suggested to Mr. Norisigan the glass plates in his possession be compared with the partially finished d'orotones I was shown by the Yosemite Chief Archivist on the occasion of my visit there in the early 90s. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">This box of d'orotones, presumably still in the possession of the Yosemite Archives, I believe to be the work of Arthur C. Pillsbury. Not only did they strikingly resemble those produced at the Studio of the Three Arrows when I viewed them but the dates provided to me by the Chief Archivist as to when they were discovered would have coincided with the end of Grandfather's presence in the Valley, 1895 – 1928.</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">In the early 90s the box showed no sign of having been inventoried or examined. During the same visit I viewed an album of photos memorializing the building of the Glacier Point Hotel in 1918. The album followed the construction from the laying of foundations and was exhaustive, beautifully and professionally done. I commented on the likelihood these were taken by Grandfather to the Chief Archivist, who was standing with me as I leafed through the album. The Archivist pointed out they were not signed. I flipped the album over and the imprint of the Pillsbury Picture Company was on the back of the whole album. The Archivist made no further comment, refusing to discuss this or other issues. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">It is not possible for competent professionals to overlook such clear evidence and fail to credit the individual who produced the work absent other factors. I found this, and other similar incidents disturbing. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">At the time, and today, I believe the box of d'orotones to be my Grandfather's, stolen from his studio just before it was burned in November, 1927. These should be treated as possible evidence of a crime and compared to those presented as the Norisigan Negatives. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">This research should be carried out by forensic experts unconnected to the Park Service, the Adams Family, or the Norisigan Team. All the items in question should also be fingerprinted and careful records of the full proceeding made public immediately. </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Signed, July 29, 2010</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </div><div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></div>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-30946536563520633782009-01-27T08:26:00.000-08:002009-08-25T09:10:03.229-07:00Volume 4 - No. One - Winter 2009<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:6px;"><b><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">Volume Four, Number One - Winter 2009</span><br /></span></b></span></p> <p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;font-family:Georgia;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size:100%;">Help us fund sustainable commerce and at the same time help vets overcome their Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome! This is a rare opportunity to own an original AC Pillsbury d'orotone with letter of provenance. This particular d'orotone of Lake Tenaya in Yosemite, was matted by AC himself and given to his son, Dr. Arthur F. Pillsbury, for Christmas in 1941. The reserve price is $2,000. Send your offer to: <a href="mailto:winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.org">winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.org</a> now. Watch for a new line of d'orotones that will also help us fund what America needs!</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;font-family:Georgia;" align="center"><span style="font-size:6px;"><b><img style="width: 572px; height: 143px;" src="http://sitebuilder.yola.com/sites/Dd13/D285/Dfe8/Db76/U8a4986ca1b4f2ac9011b67b8ef58231d/8a4986cb1e638eb8011f0120e153254b/resources/P1010029.JPG" /><br /></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;font-family:Georgia;" align="center"> </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US"><span style="font-family:Georgia;">The image is bright and sharp, the product of a new process AC never sold commercially.</span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;font-family:Georgia;"><span style="font-size:6px;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p face="Georgia" style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><span style="font-size:6px;"><b>Under-Sea Photography</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: Georgia;" align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><i>Just one adventure of a life time.</i></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">He sailed to Pago-Pago in 1930 for the purpose of filming the first underwater motion picture. With him he took two cameras sealed in brass waterproof boxes he had designed at home in Oakland, California. A mechanical engineer, </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Arthur C. Pillsbury built his equipment in his own shop. In his book, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><u><span style="">Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life</span></u></span></span><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">, Pillsbury' provided instructions on how to do the same, building your own kit or having it made for you from his designs. He included estimates for cost along with materials. He advised the reader to learn how to swim, pointing out that this was a good idea if your intention was to photograph the residents and landscapes under the ocean.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With lapse-time photography for plants, the microscopic camera, and the X-Ray motion picture camera under his belt he was looking for more parts of the world to reveal to human eyes and minds. As audiences listened to his lectures on worlds previously unknown few, perhaps, reflected on the fact that the images they were seeing were changing the world in which they lived. But that was happening. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><img style="width: 452px; height: 262px;" src="http://sitebuilder.yola.com/sites/Dd13/D285/Dfe8/Db76/U8a4986ca1b4f2ac9011b67b8ef58231d/8a4986cb1e638eb8011f0120e153254b/resources/Natives%20with%20spears%20and%20fire.jpg" /><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In Pago-Pago Arthur C. Pillsbury found water clear enough to allow him to photograph the world of living creatures and landscapes that few people had ever seen. The first underwater motion picture was produced. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The trip had taken enormous preparations in work and study. Pillsbury wrote in his book, “icturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,“The cameras must be protected from salt water, inside a waterproof metal box and still allow me to do all the things necessary, so I designed brass boxes for two motion, and one still, cameras and then a graphite-lined double-trapped stuffing box that was water-tight and still allowed me to crank the cameras, focus them, set the shutter, make the exposure and handle them almost as well from the outside of the brass box as I could no land.” </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The book was, among other things, an instruction manual in how to build your own camera. It provided instructions on how each camera, lapse-time, microscopic motion picture, X-Ray and Underwater, was built, just in case you wanted to do it yourself. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The underwater cameras and breathing equipment were heavy on land, light in the water, one camera weighing 170 Lbs on land and only about 30 pounds when submerged. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The cameras were tested in advance, ensuring that the pictures made through the optical glass windows would work. Then came the task of readying his own gear.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Buying a second hand helmet he found it was so heavy he could not lift it an put it on his shoulders unaided. No matter. He knew that once underwater it would be more like wearing a hat, he said. The air pump, the air lines, film, all parts and replacements must be accounted for, packed, and carried with him. When the hardware store in three weeks away you can't mosey down there for the part you need. Pago-Pago was very primitive. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Arriving in Pago-Pago, Pillsbury chose the location for his film, considering the issue of coral that was attractive while avoiding the hazards the coral presented to bodily parts. Humm, he wrote walking across the coral strewn area, I will wear tennis shoes while exploring my filming sites. Having never dived before he knew he must learn that new skill rapidly if he was to return home with the film he wanted for his lecture tour. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">No floating experience was involved. The 'boys' dropped him off the side of the boat and he landed in the sandy bottom below, spending some time clearing out his glasses so he could see. Then, to work. The sights were glorious. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="text-decoration: none;">“<span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">I soon began to enjoy the work very much and would stay down two of three hours till I had used all my film or taken all the good locations within reach of my hose and life line. Reaching the bottom I would pick up a tripod, metal to weight it, and a piece of ten-foot gas pipe for a cane and measuring rod, walk around till I found just the view I wanted-good coral, lots of fish and the right light, set up the tripod, measure the distance carefully, go back to get the camera, having to remember the direction as I could not see it even in that clear water if it was over twenty-five feet away, but I knew it was under the launch,and I could see her in the “ceiling” above me.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="text-decoration: none;">“<span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">Fish were everywhere, swimming all around me, peeking into the window of my helmet, wondering perhaps what sort of new kind of fish I was. They were very tame, I could almost touch then, all colors-blue, yellow, black, red, even the delicate orchid and dater shades and so many combinations it was impossible to describe them.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury learned how to dive, use his camera, took notes for his lectures, completing his work in just few weeks. Learning to focus his camera underwater was handled efficiently, with on the spot testing showing him how to ensure his films would be sharp. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Walking in the forest of coral higher than his head he avoided the dark caves both because they could hold danger and because he could not photograph their contents in any case. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><br /></p> <div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Encountering giant clams he said, “The giant clams thirty inches in diameter, large enough to weigh almost a ton, could crush the large bones of your leg if they close on it. I saw only one of these huge fellows and it would have taken a derrick to pull him loose and raise him into the boat” </span></span></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Also present was the threat of sharks, which the native boys who stayed in the boat, knew from experience to watch for. Jelly fishes were also dreaded by the natives, some of these having tendrils ten feet long and poisonous. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="text-decoration: none;">“<span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">Still, with ordinary care there is no more danger than crossing a busy city street dodging one of “Henry's sharks,” and others of the species.” In this way Pillsbury tipped his hat to Ford. </span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In the end Pillsbury spent only ten days getting his films. It was enough. America was amazed that next year with scenes that lite their imaginations, leaving them wanting to know more about the world beneath the sea. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Few people visited Pago-Pago then. Aside from Navy personnel few people from the outside saw the glories of the islands. Now, thousands saw its underwater beauties and its people as Pillsbury toured America bringing the images and stories of their world to ordinary people. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="text-decoration: none;">“<span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="">Almost no tourists come on account of the lack of hotels. Steamers southbound from San Francisco arrie with mail every three weeks and that is the grand market day for the natives. They gather in the Malai, a level grass-covered place in the village, and have their wares on sale-all sorts of things to tempt the tourist, tapa, kava bowls, Hula skirts, shells, coral, native fruit, model boats, war clubs, home-made jewelry, etc. It makes a colorful display, even the humble hen's eggs find a lace in this market place.” </span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury and his wife eagerly bought Alofas, gifts, for their families at home in California. The holidays were coming, always a warm family event for all of them. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">As they were leaving Pillsbury noticed the boy who had watched for sharks while he was filming many feet below the launch. Realizing he had forgotten to say goodby he hastened shore to say his farewell, giving him a small gift of thanks. “At the same moment he reached down, picked up a small kava bowl, passed it to me and said, “May God be with you on your journey home and ever afterwards. I trust you wish the same for me.” It took my breath away. I think it was the first time I had heard him speak English as he talked to Happy, my head boy who handled the life lines, in his native Samoan language.” </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury was both surprised and delighted. He had long realized that people were all more alike than different. With Happy Pillsbury had had long talks on conditions in the Islands, comparing them to California. Happy had wanted more education that the local schools could provide. A correspondence was taken up only to end with the beginning of World War II. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">The images that Arthur C. Pillsbury took in Pago-Pago were to amaze minds. Those taken under the sea enlarged our knowledge, opening doors previously shut. The photos you see here show the other story of Pago-Pago, the story of its beauty and the people AC came to know well during those weeks. When the ship steamed into San Francisco the lecture on </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="">Life in and Under the South Seas</span></span></i></span></span><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style=""> was ready to present to America. </span></span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"> <span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Help us bring the story of Arthur C. Pillsbury to the world by purchasing a reproduction of one of these these photos, produced for the family that Christmas as d'orotones. Give one to someone you love, a gift that gives in 360 degrees of connection. Visit the <a href="http://sitebuilder.yola.com/sites/Dd13/D285/Dfe8/Db76/U8a4986ca1b4f2ac9011b67b8ef58231d/8a4986cb1e638eb8011f0120e153254b/pillsbury-picture-co-store.php">Store</a> to see the image now available.<br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;" align="left"><span style="font-family:Paramount;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span></p>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-90305604496680951722008-08-08T19:00:00.000-07:002009-07-06T14:31:18.053-07:00Volume 3, No. 1 - Summer 2008<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FlAPITUiEhc/SJz65W-FSlI/AAAAAAAAAg4/V7LXd2iAWkc/s1600-h/AC+with+microscopic+camera.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FlAPITUiEhc/SJz65W-FSlI/AAAAAAAAAg4/V7LXd2iAWkc/s200/AC+with+microscopic+camera.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232332730423134802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arthur C. Pillsbury - You See The World Through His Eyes</span><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">No matter where you live today you see the world through the eyes of a man of whom you are probably unaware. Over a period of half a lifetime Arthur C. Pillsbury designed and built the cameras that changed our beliefs about nature and science. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury's career would lay the groundwork for the use of photography as we know it today. Seeing is understanding. Seeing connects us with immediacy and power, providing both the medium for art and for all human innovation. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">The cameras invented by Arthur C. Pillsbury remain with us. Each was conceived and built to provide the means for Pillsbury to solve a problem he confronted and was determined to solve. While still in college he considered how to widen the frame of a lens to produce a more expansive image. He solved the problem by designing and building the first circuit panorama camera. With that camera he chronicled the opening of the mining fields in the Yukon, explored the entire West Coast, and recorded the San Francisco Earthquake from the first day on. The images captured were not always beautiful, but they were always true to life. Images have continued to provide us with needed insights through wars, tragedies, and celebrations. Photojournalism, just one application of the technology of photography, has changed lives and our national direction. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">In 1910, realizing that the number of species of wild flowers in the meadow near his studio in Yosemite were decreasing; Pillsbury built a camera that would capture the growth progression of flowering plants so that the plants themselves could tell their own story. Today all of us are familiar with the the images of a flower lifting its face to the sun in a dance-like motion. Flowers in motion, captured by time lapse photography grant us entirely different perspective on their life cycle and the need to preserve them. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ever the pioneer and pushing the technological limits of photography of his day, on May 17, 1919, Pillsbury took the first aerial photos of Yosemite. This new view of the Yosemite valley provided perspective on the park unknown until his film was made. He used short films on nature to teach environmentalist themes. His films began to be shown in movie theaters. He was the first film documentarian that took environmentalism from the classroom to people. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">In 1927, in a lab loaned to him by UC Berkeley, Pillsbury build a microscopic motion picture camera. His images stunned the scientists of the day. They had spent their careers studying dead samples under their microscopes. With Pillsbury's new camera living samples could projected on a screen in a lecture hall. The ability to capture events with the microscopic motion picture camera has created explosive waves of discovery in every field of science. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury's motion picture technology caught the attention of leaders from around the world who wanted to bring his technology and his way to impart information to their nations. He found himself awash with invitations to present his perspective on nature as a living, growing changing system of plants and animals interacting with the environment. By 1930 Pillsbury invented the X-ray motion picture and underwater motion picture cameras. The focus of his life's work was connecting you to the worlds we could not see without the extension of human vision made possible through his photographic innovations.</span></p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pillsbury's cameras were not patented. He believed that his inventions could be improved upon by those who were inclined to improve them. His mission was not patenting inventions but instead creating new photographic technology to carry on his work. Although an idealist Pillsbury did patent his mass production machine for photo post cards in 1922. The sole patent was intended to provide resources to fund work that would follow. As for cameras he provided them as gifts for our use and development. He wanted them to be available to everyone. To that end he wrote a book, “Picturing Miracles of Plant and Animal Life,” that explained in each case how the camera used were built so others could do the same. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">The world has used his work lavishly. His earliest educational films, then produced for schools at all levels, were used worldwide. He created new awareness of the natural world; His photographs of people connect you to the warmth and humanity of the man behind the camera, reflected in the faces of those who see images remain for us to see. His legacy remains with us through those images and also through our own minds and eyes as we see the world today. <a href="http://acpillsburyhome.blogspot.com/2007/05/who-was-arthur-c-pillsbury.html">His images stay with</a> you because for <a href="http://pillsburypicturecompany.com/">Arthur C. Pillsbury</a> people remained in the frame. </span> </p> <p style="" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">In every part of our lives photography touches us, changes us, informs, and increases our awareness of our world. Arthur C. Pillsbury was one of the first photographic pioneers beckoning us on with images and insights. But he was more than that as you will discover for yourself as you understand his life's work. </span> </p> <p style=""><br /><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>From “Miracles of Plant and Animal Life” by Arthur C. Pillsbury </b></span> </p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=""> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><span style="">“Beauty, Form, and Color, the Rhythm of movement, express art everywhere. The story of a bud opening, a leaf unfolding, a seed germinating, all the various steps of its life struggle for perpetuation, is as interesting and poignant as one's own life's happenings. Step by step the lens has registered on a sensitive film of a lapse-time, motor-driven motion camera, recording in that way in a comparatively few seconds life efforts that may take days or even weeks to happen.....</span></i></span></p> <p style=""><span style="font-size:100%;"><i> ...Man looks at a flower in passing: the eye would soon tire in trying to watch the growth or change of position, but the lapse-time camera, running at a speed to record in the time we have to see it, registers every change of position day and night with a tireless lens eye, and all from the same chosen position, writing on the film what happens in lines, expressing position, growth and color until finally death, or better call it, when its parts have fulfilled their life's duty, passing onto another form.” </i></span> </p> <p style=""><br /><br /></p> <p style="margin-left: -0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Life Time Accomplishments </b> </p> <p style="margin-left: -0.01in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <ul><li><p lang="en-US">1895 – Invents specimen slicer for microscope at Stanford </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1895 - Photographs first Rush at Stanford</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span lang="en-US">First visits Yosemite via bicycle from Palo Alto</span></p> <ul><li><p style="margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1896 - Invents circuit panoramic camera, as senior project at Stanford.</p> </li><li><p style="margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1897 - Leaves for Alaska to chronicle Gold Rush</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in;"> <span lang="en-US">Shipwrecked and rescues himself.</span></p> <ul><li><p lang="en-US">Trip from the headwaters of Yukon River to sea in a canoe.</p> </li><li><p lang="en-US">1903 - Begins work as photographer in San Francisco</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1906 - Photographs Earthquake, distributes world-wide. </p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span lang="en-US">Buys a studio in Yosemite.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"> <span lang="en-US">Photographs the Missions of California and sites of interest through out the state. </span> </p> <ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1910 - Aerial photographs of rebuilding, runaway balloon.</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span lang="en-US">Balloon breaks free. He is reported dead. </span> </p> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"> <span lang="en-US">Films first nature movie, shows it at The Studio of the Three Arrows in Yosemite. </span> </p> <ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;" lang="en-US">1911 - Begins work on lapse-time studies on flowers</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1912 – Builds and films the first lapse-time movie of a flower blooming.</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span lang="en-US">Stops the cutting of the wildflowers in the meadows of Yosemite by persuasion. </span> </p> <ul><li><p style="margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0.08in;" lang="en-US"> 1921 - First aerial motion pictures of Yosemite.</p> </li><li><p style="margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0.08in;" lang="en-US"> 1922 – Patents the first mass production unit for photo postcards. </p> </li><li><p lang="en-US">1924 - First color motion picture, produced for his lecture series.</p> </li><li><p lang="en-US">1927 – Builds the first microscopic motion picture camera in a borrowed lab at UC Berkeley. Dedicates it to science. </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" lang="en-US">1929 - Builds the first X-ray motion picture camera.</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0.08in;"> <span lang="en-US">Makes the first movie using the X-ray motion picture camera. </span> </p> <ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;" lang="en-US">1930 - First underwater motion picture</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;" lang="en-US">1935 – Photographed the process of hydroponics carried out by Professor Gericke at Berkeley</p> </li><li><p lang="en-US">1942 - Documents process of osmosis in plants.</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Find some of his images at:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/pillsburypicco/">http://www.cafepress.com/pillsburypicco/</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">acpillsburyhome.org</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">pillsburypicturecompany.com </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Introducing the Arthur C. Pillsbury Gallery! Look for it at photobiz.com, with lots of photos and a new beginning.<br /></p>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-1158869125436185372006-09-21T13:04:00.000-07:002009-07-06T14:34:59.748-07:00Spring 2006 Volume 2 Number 1<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right">In this issue: Converting disaster to environmental progress</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right"> The First Nature Movies: Studio of the Three Arrows</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right"> Things that will be happening</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right">Acquire a piece of history</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right">You can purchase a remastered copy of the original of this picture. For information contact us at:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="right">winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.org</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>The Centennial of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> <i>Converting disaster to environmental progress</i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> That anniversary of the Quake and Fire that completely changed San Francisco passed last April 18<sup>th</sup> with parties and commemorations. Ancient survivors of the event, delighted to be lifted from lives of obscurity, waxed eloquent in the spotlight. However, although the reasons that the Quake and subsequent Fire are now well known and documented very little was said about those root causes. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> For Arthur C. Pillsbury the Earthquake and its aftermath was life changing. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify">“<i>The morning of April 18th was a memorable one. The earth quake shook me out of bed. It did some light damage to the house. I grabbed my cameras and started for San Francisco. Fortunately I had saved my press badge when I left the Examiner and knowing all the police in the city I could go everywhere. That Wednesday I covered the entire city, making 5 X 7 Graflex views and panoramas of the burning city. ” </i> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="justify"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> On that first day Pillsbury shot over 70 snap shots and two panoramas, one from the top of the Merchants Exchange Building covering the wholesale section just at noon, and one from the top of the St. Francis Hotel showing almost the entire city in flames. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">It was these photos that went out to newspapers all over the world because the destructive might of the Earthquake and Fire had shattered the other facilities that photographers used to develop their film. At the Pillsbury home in Oakland there was running water. Faced with the problem of continuing supplies, Pillsbury sent buyers out to towns as far as 500 miles away to meet the demand for the images. Over the next weeks prints from a single negative of one of the panoramas taken that first day would bring in from $500.00 to $700.00 a day. The photos would also appear in the new San Francisco Magazine, the lay out of images catching the despair and desolation coming on the heels of the erupting inferno. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">The panorama negatives measured 44 inches in length and could be blown up to lengths greater than nine feet, showing incredible detail. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">At the end of the first day, Pillsbury left his panorama camera, a large and unwieldy mechanism, in the cloak room of the St. Francis Hotel and that night and it was consumed along with the hotel. The film had gone with him, tucked in the pocket of his jacket. The shots taken with the Graflax camera included a shot of the Palace and Grand Hotels coming down, drenched in flame, caught as it seemed to dissolve before your eyes. He reported in his autobiography that the heat was so intense that while taking the picture it scorched the lens making the balsum run and so spoiling the photo. The bellows soon dropped to pieces, he said. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Included in the hundreds of images made by Pillsbury over the next few weeks were scenes filled with destruction, shock, and courage, showing the City as it continued to burn and the people as they struggled to survive and then began the long, slow, painful process of rebuilding. While taking photos and following the course of the struggle to stop the fire Pillsbury also found time to ensure that friends and acquaintances were safe. Some he sent on to his home in Oakland, where many camped out for weeks afterwards. Among these was the woman he would marry. Dragging the single trunk they had been able to save from her home in San Francisco to the ferry proved to be a one way trip for the lady. The two were married six weeks later in a small ceremony attended by both families from several parts of California. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">While San Francisco survived many residents did not; some families were never reunited and never learned the fate of their loved ones. Ranging all over the City, and never far from the most intense action, Pillsbury saw acts of violence perpetrated by the military brought in to provide security. He was the incompetence of those entrusted to use dynamite to create fire breaks, instead spreading the conflagration. Those hours impacted everyone who lived through them; each carried away with them into the remainder of their lives lessons learned about human nature and the nature of the universe. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Life had taught a lesson; what we believe is solid and to be relied on can change in the blink of a moment. For Arthur C. Pillsbury it had been a real learning experience. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>The First Nature Movies: Studio of the Three Arrows</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Arthur C. Pillsbury had begun showing nature films, the first ever made, in 1909, advertising them on post cards then given away at such locations as El Portal. Those first films showed the wonders of Yosemite, and the wind moving through the seas of grasses that filled the meadows with Half Dome and Yosemite's other wonders in the background. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">The films serves as the visual aids for the narrative Pillsbury provided. He had long been fascinated by the whole of nature. As a young boy growing up in Auburn, California, he had raised exotic chickens, cross breeding them and keeping charts on the resulting off spring while selling eggs and breeding stock to friends and neighbors. The family had come to Auburn from Brooklyn, New York, where they had lived while Arthur's mother, Harriet Foster Pillsbury, completed her education as a physician at the Women's Infirmary in what is not the Village. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Before that they had lived first in Medford, MA where Arthur was born, the last of four children, and second son. It was in the fields around Medford and during the family's trips to the Old Homestead in Sandown, New Hampshire, that Arthur first began studying botany when he was very young. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">The Old Homestead had stood at the edge of Sandown since the towns inception in 1756. Benjamin Pillsbury had been born in Amesbury, MA, eldest son to Caleb Pillsbury and chosen to set off for what was then the wilderness. The Pillsbury Homestead included a lake, known now as Angle Pond but then as the Angly to the family. Here, in the old white house raised by Benjamin, Arthur ranged over the Angly and studied the plants native to the area. The old house was full of books by early naturalists that had been used by generations of the family. So the wild flowers of Yosemite became another page in his life long love of nature, so sharing that knowledge with others came naturally to him. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">He understood that most people were not blessed with a family who took such knowledge for granted extended and so the lectures on the world of nature found in Yosemite combined his own interests; nature and making a living in a place that had fascinated him since his first trip there in 1895. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Each year more films were added to his library so that the same films need not be shown but could be varied. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Soon after his purchase of the Studio of the Three Arrows Pillsbury noticed something. The meadows were changing. At that point in time the meadows were being mowed to provide fodder for the horses oforthe Cavalry, who were still in Yosemite as its caretakers and stewards. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Each year Pillsbury noticed that the number of species of flowers in those meadows was diminishing. If Muir had been focusing on the issue of the preservation of these fragile life forms he would have begun a petition campaign to Congress. But Muir was then completely focused on stopping the building of a dam in the Hetch Hetchy. The wild flowers had no protector. So Pillsbury undertook to let the wild flowers speak for themselves.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">In 1912 he invented the first lapse-time motion picture camera calibrated to show the dance of a wild flower as it raises its head to the sun. He first showed this to those in charge of the cutting. The cutting stopped without a single petition being signed. Then the Studio of the Three Arrows airy porch became the first theater in the world where the public would see wild flowers in their own time and at their own speed. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">The Studio of the Three Arrows was located in front of the Yosemite Chapel and slightly towards Sentinel Bridge until 1924 when Pillsbury moved to the new location now known as Yosemite Village.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Upcoming Events:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Thanks to Marilynn Guske for her sharing of Pillsbury postcards! </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Thanks to The summer newsletter will include the article on Florance, the great-aunt of Kathy Stewart. Florance taught in Alhambra, CA and knew the Pillsburys at Berkeley where she went to school in the 19teens. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> Thanks to Jeanette Hyden for the story of "THE ROAD WINDS OUT INTO THE SUNSHINE" photograph that has been in her family for so long and to her daughter for photographing it so that we could see the jpeg. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left">Please continue to send in your stories about your Pillsbury Photo Experiences! </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"> </p>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15183566.post-1158869082163739322006-09-21T13:03:00.000-07:002006-09-21T15:43:21.333-07:00Winter 2005 Volume 1 Number 4<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5885/1159/1600/back%20of%20the%20card%20Indian%20-%20advertising%20showing%20signed%20by%20AC.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 396px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5885/1159/320/back%20of%20the%20card%20Indian%20-%20advertising%20showing%20signed%20by%20AC.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5885/1159/1600/PILSBURY.1.jpg"></a><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Editor: Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</span></p><div style="text-align: right;"> </div><div style="text-align: right;"> </div><div style="text-align: right;"> </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/pillsburypicco"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Website: www.acpillsburyfoundation.co</span></a></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/pillsburypicco"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">online store: http://www.cafepress.com/pillsburypicco</span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:10;"> </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:130%;">In this issue: </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" >Inside Story Post Cards</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" >The Tour of Old Village</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" >Insight from scans sent! Thanks to Marilynn Guske </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Inside Story Post Cards: Revisiting an old friend with new life. </b></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>Postcards for the 21<sup>st</sup> Century </i></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > From the outside an Inside Story Post Card looks much like one of those post cards produced in huge numbers by the Pillsbury Picture Company, Inc. through most of the first part of the Twentieth Century. There is a photo on the front and the back includes the time honored graphic of the Wawona Tree. Now you can see the small car coming through the tree – and if you eyes were truly great you might be able to see the smile on the face of the driver, who is Arthur F. Pillsbury, the youngest son of AC. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > But something new has been added to this generation of post cards. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Inside Story ties the image to the stories the image can't tell you about itself. The Post Card opens up to reveal a place that allows you to write a brief message, though less brief that the space provided by the previous cards. But when you flip up that page you find the short stories that provides you with the inside story on the front photo along with other photos, where we could fit one in. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The idea for the Inside Story Post Card was born when I was visiting Patrick Horsbrugh, the originator of Environics, and an early environmentalist who lives in South Bend, Indiana. I offered Patrick a copy of one of the many Pillsbury images the Pillsbury Picture Company is reissuing but instead Patrick wanted something smaller but deeper. He had enjoyed hearing about the picture and he wanted to remember the stories I had told him. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Patrick is now in the process of donating much of his extensive collection of art and books to institutions and so he did not want another print to take up space on his walls, he wanted the stories I had told him about one image he had lingered over after breakfast one morning. I offered him a book, Tour of Old Yosemite, that has most of those stories written down.. Too much to store, he said, looking at me in the expectation I would find a solution, and just the right solution. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The image Patrick had enjoyed so much was the close up of a Snow Plant taken in 1910 in Yosemite and tinted for use as a specimen card. The stories told that morning linked the image to the death of President Warren G. Harding, marketing, my father, and AC's continuing attempts at preservation. Patrick wanted to be able to share the stories with his friends just as I had relayed them to him. So I left South Bend thinking about how to accomplish that while not adding to the burden of things Patrick was giving away. </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The idea came to me while inventorying postcards for the AC Pillsbury Archives. I started playing with two pieces of paper and winnowed it down to one, using every possible surface. The card as I designed it also gave me a way to solve some other problems that had been exercising my mind. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Everyone of us has had the sad and exasperating experience of peering at old photos, including post cards, and wishing we knew the stories behind the photos. A picture is worth a thousands words but it will not tell you the name of the people smiling into the camera or what happened to the little girl with the sad look on her face. That is where Inside Story Post Cards come in. In this way we can include many more stories and so deepen our understanding of history. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > History, properly understood, is countless threads of story that weave together into complex and interesting patterns. But in real life most of those threads are ignored; the only ones visible to us are those that most of us already know. So we all know about George Washington crossing the Delaware but few know that the young man who was left holding his horse died of exposure and the statues of a young black man that once stood in front of houses were originally a memorial to him that marked safe houses on the Underground Railroad. Later generations took these statues to be a racist slur, the former associations lost in time. <a href="http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/underground-railroad-jockey-statues.htm">http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/underground-railroad-jockey-statues.htm</a></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > George Washington was, to say the least, a well known public figure. Stories can tie us together in unexpected ways. They can explain things we did not even know we cared about.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > And history is all of the stories, not just a few. The proliferation of historical societies across the country have worked at making local history live for new generations and Inside Story Post Cards are a handy way to extend that work, making it more accessible to all of us. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > A book is a costly project but a card with short stories and a photo on the front to beckon the eye and introduce the topic is easy and can be kept in print for ever; it is inexpensive to produce and is easily stored. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > It solves problems and has many uses.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Right now we are designing Inside Story Post Cards that on just one or two pieces of paper can take you though the whole life span of the Yosemite Chapel, showing its different faces through the years. Stories that are too short for a book can easily be fitted into an Inside Story Post Card. Components of one longer story can be fitted into cards that are then grouped as a set. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > For instance, the story of a young woman named Virginia at the beginning of World War II who went to work in a factory in Los Angeles that produced air planes. The factory was in West Los Angeles and concealed by netting that made it look like a park. Her particular job was to fit needed pattern pieces onto scrap metal so that these pieces could be cut, recycled into smaller parts for the planes that were stored as they were completed in the field next to the factory that was disguised by the netting. Her training was in teaching so she had never imagined that she would be doing this kind of work. But her country was at war and she was determined to do what ever needed doing so that the war wound be won. Her younger brother went into the Navy; Virgina went to work in a factory. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > When the field was full planes filled with pilots would start arriving one morning. More and more would come in throughout the day, staying at the factory. The people who worked there would be invited up to talk to them as the young men ate doughnuts and waited for night to come. Then, one by one hundreds of planes would take off into the night. The next morning, when Virginia came to work, the field would be bare. Sometimes when planes went down and the reports said what kind, the people working there would know it was one of theirs. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The war ended and life went on. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Miss Virginia went on to teach school for over fifty years. Nearly every child in her small town over that 50 years had her as a teacher. Every Halloween people from elderly to teenagers come by to see her and sit around and remember. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Today she runs th historical society in that same small town and through her work there has met some of the hundreds of people who were brought together to build those planes that, at the time, she never knew. Now she does. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Virginia is not someone about whom history books are written, but she made history, none the less. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > There are several Inside Story Post Cards that Miss Virginia's stories can fill. Her stories and others demonstrate much more about who we are as Americans than you will learn from most history books. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The study of history should teach us about ourselves. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Inside Story Post Cards can be kept in plastic sleeves in a loose leaf notebook, both sides visible as you leaf through the book. It is like a book that has no covers; it is a book that can grow. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > This is history outside the usual limits that can link us up in unexpected ways. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The cards about Yosemite that are now finished are titled:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Snow Plant and the President's </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Curry Wedding, June 17, 1920</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The First Aeroplane into Yosemite – May 27, 1919</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Four Graces of Yosemite – 1909</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Sentinel Hotel – 1907; the Grand Old Lady of Yosemite</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Girls in Pants! 1916</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Indian Mary takes a ride</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > The Trials of Winkey</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Making the Primroses Blush under Half Dome</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > George Sterling - The Poet from Sag Harbor</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Coming soon!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Teddy Roosevelt and the Grizzly Giant</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Two Kids who loved Yosemite, Galen Clark and George Fiske</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Indian Field Days and the Potato Race – 1916</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > What Foley told you about Yosemite </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > And a set:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > A Tour of Old Village in five parts </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > If you want to order cards send an check to:</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Pillsbury Picture Company, Inc.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > 27 W. Anapamu No. 255</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Santa Barbara, CA 93101</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > Regular cards are $3.00 each, including postage.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > If you would like First Issue Inside Story Post Cards they come with a certificate and short comment on how the cards came into being. They are enclosed in a clear envelope with hand numbered certificate and sell for $5.00 each. There are 200 of each and only 200 will be issued. When they are gone, they are gone. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > If you would like Inside Story Post Cards for your own historical society or museum contact us at: </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > e-mail to: <a href="mailto:winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.com">winkey@acpillsburyfoundation.com</a> </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-size:85%;" > </span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>The Tour of Old Village</b></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b> </b><span style=""><span style="font-size:85%;">The Tour of Old Village took place as scheduled on October 21 Around 30 people gathered inside the Chapel before we began the walk through the sites where the original Village of Yosemite stood until the late 1920s when it moved to its present location. </span></span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> People came from Orange County, Santa Barbara, and elsewhere for the event. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Tom Bopp was along and took photos, capturing the stories shared by some of the old timers who joined us for the occasion. (I think Tom Bopp is Inside Story material.) </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The Tour began at The Ship Stone, which is a large rock that at some time in the distant past fell from the heights above to embed itself in the meadow near the Wall of the Valley. The original road into the Valley ran just to the Wall side of the Ship Stone, which got its name from the Children of Arthur C. Pillsbury, who pretended it into a galleon and a ship of war and other exciting vehicles. My father, Arthur F. Pillsbury, lost his fear of heights on the Ship Stone when he was eight years old before beginning to climb the Valley walls themselves. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Our Tour rambled up along the road past each building the visitor to Yosemite would have seen in the year 1913. We closed our eyes and imagined what we would have been wearing in those years that were not so far removed from Queen Victoria. Women were reminded that they would have been in skirts and probably heavily strapped in with a corset. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> As we walked along,entering what were in 1913, the busy streets of a small but vibrant village, we walked the place where the warehouse that became a Masonic Hall had been and heard from a former member of that Lodge. We looked at the original location for the blacksmith shop that now resides in Pioneer Village at Wawona. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> A little further along we paused to see if we could capture the scent of bread, newly taken from the oven, in front of the Degnan Bakery and Restaurant; we imagined cinnamon rolls and looked across the street to the Post Office, which was busy because the mail was the usual way most people communicated with their friends and family in 1913. We peeked into the Grocery Store to see the variety of supplies carried both for those who lived and worked in the Village and for the visitors they served. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The next steps, north towards Sentinel Bridge took us past Artist's Row, and the studios of Best. Boysen, and the the home place of the Foley Guide, that Bible for the visitor to Yosemite also used to advertise in by concessionaires. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> We in turn visited each building, adding the memories of old timers to those those of myself as guide. Old Timers paced out locations, remembering and laughing at what they had forgotten. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> We ended up several hours later back in the parking lot of the Yosemite Chapel, our sponsors for the day, and enjoyed lunch together, continuing to talk about the place that no longer is – except in our memories. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> We ate lunch on the site of the Studio of the Three Arrows, the Old Village home of the Pillsbury Family. We gathered and looked at pictures that illustrated how the Studio looked when the first nature film was run there for visitors on the porch in the evening after night had fallen. I personally looked for the footprint of the Studio itself, imagining the corner shelf where those first lapse-time movies of plants were taken. Dad's tent, where he spent every summer from the time he was seven until he went away to college, was just behind the Chapel; a location covered now by the new office occupied by Brent and Faith Moore. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Next time, and there will be a next time, we intend to do more to bring the Old Village to life. Perhaps a miniature replica; perhaps temporary buildings occupying the old footprints of the buildings. Or maybe next time we will come in costume. Now that would be interesting. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> If the year were 1913, who would you be? We have time – think about it!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Thanks to Ray Duarte, the Arthur C. Pillsbury Foundation archivist, who came and brought with him the two tallish stacks of images blown up to help us imagine our way back in time and to Connie, Ray's wife, who always helps with these endeavors and to all of the Old Timers, some of them not so old, who came and contributed their wonderful memories of past joys, friendships, and insights. And to everyone else – thanks for being there. You made the day for me. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Innovations in Advertising </b></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-size:85%;">I really love it when people send me scans of old post cards. And sometimes what is best is not the formal production photos; all of the Yosemite photographers produced those, but the unusual things that give me insights that help me make connections that had puzzled me. </span></span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Marilynn Guske contacted me about a card she has in her collection. In the course of the exchange she sent it on to me and when I opened the file it made me laugh. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> As you can see, the card is from 1910, the same year that AC took the first ship to ship photos at the San Dominguez Air Show in Los Angeles. The card is a cheerful advertisement for the motion pictures of nature that AC was using to increase his market share as a concessionaire in Yosemite. Competition for the few thousand tourists who came through the Valley was fierce in those early days and AC was always the first to see how innovations could help him improve his position. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The card is laid out with text saying, “Dear________________</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Am just eating dinner now after a delightful trip. This evening we visit the Pillsbury Studio, who also have the Three Arrows Studio in Yosemite, and later will enjoy an open air Stereopticon Show.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The Motion Picture Show by Pillsbury in Yosemite is a wonderful treat. Will write more tomorrow.” (and the sender, relieved of the need to think of anything else to say, then signed it.) </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> In the Spring issue I will quote from some of the letters written to the Park Service complaining about the innovations AC employed from other concessionaires demanding he be stopped! </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The card was a give away, provided to the visitors at the Del Portal who were on their way into the Valley. They could read it and get the message and then send it on to a friend or family member, letting them know they had arrived safely. The front of the card is a standard production post card of the Del Portal, probably familiar to all of you. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Marilynn actually sent two scans from advertising cards and the second one also told a story that, if I had known it at the time, I might have included in the Inside Story Post Card for the <b>First Aeroplane into Yosemite</b>. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The other side of this card is the interesting image of a girl dressed like an American Indian holding an American Flag and standing out on Overhanging Rock. I have seen the post card without this advertising and note on many occasions and it looks like my Aunt Grace. The card was originally made in a flood of patriotic fervor at the beginning of WWI while AC was attempting with his usual energy to join the corp of much younger men who were floating in balloons over enemy lines in France taking photos of enemy placements. The life expectancy was very short, sort of like being a forward observer in Vietnam. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The war was over too soon for AC to finish using up all of the cards that he printed so in the usual thrifty New England fashion he continued to use them until they were gone. This one, with hand written invitation to a motion picture showing of, “Birds, flowers and trees.” on September 22, 1921. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> AC's attempts to become dead in France are chronicled on the Inside Story Post Card. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">That is all for the Winter. See you next year and have a wonderful and completely Pillsbury Christmas. </span> </p>Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0