F. Jay Haynes & Bro.

F. Jay Haynes was a photographer who traveled extensively in the West and who was best known for his early photographs of Yellowstone National Park. He was also the official photographer for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and for a time he even maintained a special railroad car equipped as a mobile photography studio which was called the "Haynes Palace Studio." He opened his first studio in 1876 in Moorhead, Minnesota, and in 1879 opened a larger studio in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1889 he began operating out of St. Paul, Minnesota. In the period just before the Yukon gold rush, when tourist travel to Alaska was increasing, Haynes traveled to Alaska. The 1891 trip was a financial success as Haynes was able to tap into the high demand for stereoscopic prints and other photographs, although the most valuable photographs were those he took of glaciers.

From the guide to the F. Jay Haynes & Bro. photograph album, circa 1891, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)

F. Jay Haynes, a photographer who traveled extensively in the West, was best known for his early photographs of Yellowstone National Park. In the 1870s and 1880s, he operated studios in Moorhead, Minn., Fargo, N.D., and St. Paul, Minn. As the official photographer for the Northern Pacific Railroad, he maintained the "Haynes Palace Studio," a special railroad car equipped as a mobile photography studio. In 1891, when tourist travel to Alaska was on the rise, he traveled there and capitalized on the popular demand for photographs of the area.

From the description of F. Jay Haynes & Bro. photograph album collection, ca. 1891 [graphic]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 53370901

F. Jay Haynes was born in Saline, Michigan Oct. 28, 1853. His first studio was in Moorhead, Minnesota (1876) and from there he traveled 400 miles by stagecoach taking photographs of South Dakota. In 1879 he opened a larger studio in Fargo. Later he moved to St. Paul. He became official photographer for Northern Pacific Railroad around 1883 and outfitted a train car with his studio, taking photographs from the West Coast to Chicago. He is well known for his photographs of Yellowstone National Park. When he traveled to Alaska in 1891, he gained further recognition for his glacier photographs. He died March 10, 1921 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His brother, Frederick E. Haynes, born in 1881, was official photographer for the St. Paul, Minneapolis, Manitoba Railway. [From: Institute for Regional Studies' Photographers of N.D. Exhibition, North Dakota State University].

From the description of F. Jay Haynes & Bro. photograph album [graphic], ca. 1891. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 60934587