C. W. J. Johnson

C. W. J. Johnson (August 3, 1833 – January 17, 1903) was an American miner, photographer, musician, and dance instructor. He is best known as the first official photographer for the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Monterey Museum of Art, Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Early life
C. W. J. Johnson, born on August 3, 1833, in Maryland. His parents were George M. and Matilda Johnson.

Career
Johnson moved to California in 1857, along the North Fork Feather River. He later worked in the silver mining area of Grass Valley by 1863. That same year he journeyed to Nevada, where he worked as a one-man band and taught dance, before returning to San Francisco in 1868. On July 6, 1868, he traveled to Humboldt Bay by the steamer Del Norte. On July 11, he helped out the Tanner Troupe, a local theatre troupe.

Photographic career: 1868-1903


On July 8, 1868, Johnson arrived in Eureka. His diary indicates his early experimenting with photography starting on July 17, not long after his arrival. While primarily occupied as a musician, he continued to be more involved with photography. He soon joined forces with William N. Tuttle, forming the partnership Tuttle & Johnson. By mid-1869, they were fully involved in the photography business at Anderson's Eureka Gallery.

On July 13, 1968, Johnson traveled to Arcata by stagecoach and stayed at the American Hotel. In Arcata, he was the director of a cornet band, as well as a music teacher and dance instructor. In 1870, Johnson took photographs of the Eureka Brass Band with eleven brass players and two drummers.

Tuttle and Johnson closed their Eureka Gallery around November 5, 1870, and relocated their enterprise to San Francisco's Cosmopolitan Gallery, where they operated until early 1872. Johnson then moved to Watsonville, where he partnered with Timothy A. Sullivan. Johnson married Sullivan's sister, Norah Pardon, on December 2, 1875. In 1873, Johnson & Sullivan opened their photographic studio on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz.

In 1880, Johnson moved to Monterey, where he ran his photography business from 1881 to 1898. Between the mid-1880s and the late 1890s, Johnson served as the Hotel Del Monte's first official photographer, capturing the hotel and its formal gardens. In 1887, he established the Photograph Parlors within the grounds of hotel with photographs displayed within frames on the front of the building.

With his dry-plate camera, he documented the Monterey Peninsula, California Missions, historic adobes, Farallon Lighthouse, Point Bonita Lighthouse, Point Lobos, the Chinese Fishing Village, and other popular sites. The California Historical Society wrote that he was known as the premier photographer of the Monterey Peninsula during the late 19th-century.

Death and legacy


Johnson died in Salinas, California on January 17, 1903.

In 1920, the California State Library in Sacramento, California received the photographic archive of Johnson through a gift from Francis Hilby, a Monterey druggist and railway agent. The C. W. J. Johnson collection consists of diaries, correspondence, glass negatives, stereoscopic cards, cabinet cards, and other scenic views. His views of the Hotel Del Monte and formal gardens form the major portion of the collection. The Bancroft Library has a collection of Johnson's Views Of California Scenery on stereoscopic cards.

There is also a Johnson collection at the Monterey County Historical Society in Salinas, California. It has over 700 images from 5 in x 8 in, 6.5 in x 8.5 in, and 8 in x 10 in glass negatives, original prints, and stereograph views.