Biography / Administrative History
Emigrating from Tsarist Russia with her parents in 1913 to escape persecution and the conscription act, Seema graduated from high school and began studying science courses in Leeds, England. A few years after her father's death, her mother took the three daughters to Boston to join relatives, and Seema became involved in photography. She moved to Southern California in 1929, lived in Tahiti in 1931, 32 for a year and back to Southern California where she joined the film and photo league in 1934. Ansel Adams asked her in 1938 to run his darkroom in Yosemite and assist him in his work. She helped him with his First Camera Workshop in Yosemite in 1939. In 1941 Seema met the writer Jack Weatherwax and with him and Woody Guthrie visited the Shafter Farm Security Administration Camp where she photographed Dust Bowl refugees and their surroundings. Since Jack's death in 1985, Seema has continued her activism in Santa Cruz and has had several exhibits of her work.
From the guide to the Seema Aissen Weatherwax photographs, 1933-1993, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)
