Clarence E. Bisbee
Clarence E. Bisbee came to Twin Falls in 1906, two years after the city was incorporated. As one of very few photographers in the area, he was much in demand for photographs that documented the growth of the area, the canal system, and the abundant agriculture. He sold his photographs to companies who were selling land in this flourishing new region, and his works appeared in newspapers and brochures sent to the eastern U.S. and Europe.
He and his wife Jessie built a studio in Twin Falls and roamed around the Magic Valley, taking photos of area towns and landmarks to develop as postcards. At his peak, he was selling as many as 50,000 postcards in a year. In the 1920s, after the era of promotion faded, he began to do more portrait work. An increase in competition and the Great Depression caused business to dwindle, and the death of Jessie in 1936 led to his retirement from photography in 1939.
After his death in 1954, his relatives sold about 2000 of his original glass plate negatives for $1500 to a local group interested in preserving history: Betty and O.A. “Gus” Kelker, DeWitt R. Young, and Dr. Wallace Bond. The negatives were donated to the Twin Falls County Museum, found their way to the Idaho State Historical Society, and eventually made it back to town, rescued by Twin Falls Public Library. In 2001, the Library and Blip Printers digitized the collection; the Library still owns the negatives.
Clarence Bisbee poses with his horse and photography kit in front of a tent restaurant in Jarbidge, NV; circa 1907.
NOTE: Photographs in this collection with undetermined dates are given a range of 1906-1936, covering Bisbee's career in Twin Falls and the Magic Valley.
Bisbee Collection Preview
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S 080 "Electric Cars Over O.S.L. Track, Hollister; June 3, 1913;" two cars of the Twin Falls Electric Railway (railroad); passengers inside pose looking out windows, and some people stand in front of the cars. -
S 079 "The Harvest. Second Year of Cultivation; Salmon Tract, 1912;" silo or elevator attached to a lower building; sacks of produce piled in foreground; Ostrander Lumber building on right. -
S 078 "The Harvest, Salmon Tract, 1912 - The Second Year of Cultivation;" silo or elevator attached to a lower building; stacks of produce piled up In foreground. -
S 077 The Thirty Thousand Dollar School Building in Three Year Old Hollister, Idaho;" brick school near construction completion. -
S 076 "The Town Site of Hollister in 1907; well drilling equipment in a sagebrush plain. A man on horseback looks on from the center of the photograph.