SET IN STONE, FIXED IN GLASS: The Great Mormon Temple and Its Photographers; by Nelson B. Wadsworth; Signature Books; $39.95; 388 pages.
On April 6, 1892, to much rejoicing from the assembled throngs, the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was set in place. After 39 years of construction, the building was finished. It would take another year before the interior was readied and the edifice dedicated, but the placing of the capstone was the focus of a great celebration.
Using this event as a common thread, Nelson Wadsworth weaves a tapestry of visual history, pulling into focus the lives and times of Utah photographers who were (or could have been) at the ceremony. The book's title might lead you to believe that the photographers are an afterthought. But actually they are the central subject. Aside from being an object for the camera, the temple itself doesn't receive as much attention as the photographers. It shows up in various stages throughout the book, and the building makes a nice focal point, around which the history of Utah photography unfolds.
Ten photographers are highlighted - from Marsena Cannon to James William and Harry Shipler. Some names, such as Charles R. Savage and George Edward Anderson, will be familiar to anyone with an acquaintance with Utah's pictorial past. Others, such as C.W. Carter or James H. Crockwell, are less well-known. And still more could be included. One of his biggest frustrations, notes Wadsworth in the acknowledgments, was not being able to use everything he discovered. Some of these other photographers, such as Elfie Hunting-ton (the only women among the group) were included in chapters on their mentors; the others will have to be dealt with later, he notes.
The narrative is informative and readable, detailing the lives of these photographers and the challenges they faced in practicing their primitive craft. A few technical details explain the early picturemaking processes involved - from daguerreotype and tintype to albumen and bromide papers and others.
But the pictures, of course, are true to the old thousand-word cliche and provide a telling look at people and places. The coming of age of photography coincided with the coming of age of Salt Lake City, captured here in clarity and detail. There are pictures of LDS leaders - famous pictures of Brigham Young and not-so-famous pictures of Lorenzo Snow and Wilford Woodruff. There are pictures of mill workers, salt harvesters and miners, baseball teams and theatrical troupes, pioneer families and Indian chiefs. There are scenes of streets lined with crude wooden buildings and then impressive stone structures, and early streets filled with wagons and later streets filled with trolley tracks and lined by telephone poles. And photos of the photographers themselves.
And there are pictures from other places as well - from James Crockwell's sojourns into Nevada to George Edward Anderson's tour of church history sites and Charles Ellis Johnson's trip to Palestine and Jerusalem. There are pictures made for postcards and stereoscopes and expositions. And they all are a wonderful look back.
In an interesting epilogue (and in keeping with his underlying temple theme), Wadsworth tells the story of the Max Florence affair. Florence, a Salt Lake entrepreneur, got a disaffected Mormon convert named Gisbert Brossard to illegally enter the temple and take pictures, which he hoped to sell. But the church spoiled his deal by announcing the preparation of its own book of pictures. Three of Brossard's poor-quality photographs, taken from lantern slides uncovered by Wadsworth in a bit of detective work, are included.
"Set in Stone, Fixed in Glass" takes us from pioneer days to the 20th century. In this centennial year of the dedication of the temple, this book is a fitting tribute. But its appeal goes far beyond that, as well.