Draft:Lewis Josselyn

Lewis Josselyn, (September 13, 1883 – March 14, 1964) was an American photographer who was known as the official photographer of the Forest Theater amphitheater in Carmel-by-the-Sea. His work is held in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, Monterey Museum of Art, Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, and the Art, Design & Architecture Museum.

Early life and education
Josselyn was born on September 13, 1883, in National City to Charles Lewis Josselyn (1850-1917) and Alice R. Lamb, from Massachusetts. He had two younger brothers. In 1883, the Josselyn family moved from Massachusetts to National City, in southwestern San Diego County, California.

After graduating from high school in San Diego, Josselyn studied art and photography at the Boston School of Fine Arts, located at Copley Square. During this time, he developed connections with painters Maynard Dixon and Howard Pyle.

Early years


While living in San Diego, Josselyn began photographing various California scenes. His earliest known photos, taken on July 7, 1901, show the aftermath of a head-on collision between two passenger trains at Black Butte Summit in Siskiyou County, California.

In 1914, Josselyn and his family moved to the art colony of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. He earned a living as one of the first commercial photographers in Carmel, selling art calendars and framed images of local landscapes. He also published early photo postcards and calendars advertising the Monterey Bay.



Soon after arriving to Carmel, Josselyn became official photographer for the Forest Theater, an amphitheater in Carmel. One of his first theater photographs were taken in 1915 for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Josselyn photographed other plays, including Treasure Island (1916), Inchling (1922), Caesar and Cleopatra (1922), and Hamlet (1926). These and other photographs by Josselyn can be found at the California State Library, Calisphere, and the Harrison Memorial Library. During 1915, Josselyn was assistant stage manager for Helen Parkes' play The Columbine. The next year he was stage manager for a production of Weir of Hermiston. In 1922, he was stage manager and handled stage lighting for a production of Inchling.



In May 1917, Josselyn and his brother Winsor left Carmel to enlist in the United States Army Medical Corps during World War I. From 1917 to 1919 Josselyn served as Private first class on duty with Base Hospital No. 34, in Nantes, France. He was stationed in the X-Ray department, where he photographed hospital scenes, and the American Expeditionary Forces.

Josselyn married Augustine Jeanne Richard (1896–1988), of Nantes on February 24, 1920 in Stamford, Connecticut.

Post-War Era
Josselyn worked closely with Carmel Mission restorer Harry Downie, capturing on film the restoration efforts. He also photographed other California Missions, including The Plaza Mission Los Angeles (1915), Mission San Francisco Solano (1920), Mission San Antonio de Padua (1928), San Carlos Mission, and the chamber where Junipero Serra is buried.

Between August 9 and September 4, 1920, Josselyn and fellow photographer Louis Slevin exhibited their photographs at the Fourteenth Annual Exhibition hosted by the Arts and Crafts Club in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Josselyn participated in the Photographers' International Convention of Pacific Coast Association in San Francisco in 1925.

In 1926, Josselyn purchased 4 acre at the intersection of Santa Rita Street and 7th Avenue in Carmel, near the Forest Theater. He built a home for himself and his wife, that also housed his photographic studio.



Josselyn took early pictures of the Monterey Peninsula, including images of the Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach and Point Lobos. One titled The View of Point Lobos, was featured in the Carmel Pine Cone on November 28, 1973. In 2009, Michael Kenneth Hemp, wrote a book chronicling the history of Cannery Row, with photographs taken by Josselyn. These images feature scenes from the Point Lobos Canning Company (1916), abalone divers and shells (1916), a storm in Monterey Bay (1919), the Hotel Del Monte fire (1924), and a street scene along Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove (1932). The Hotel Del Monte was later rebuilt, and Josselyn documented the reopening ceremony of the hotel on May 8, 1926, later known as the Naval Postgraduate School. He also captured the fire that destroyed the Associated Oil Company tanks after an oil tank was struck by lightning on September 14, 1924.



Josselyn took photographs of Jo Mora, a sculptor, artist, and writer in Pebble Beach from 1920s to the 1940s. Josselyn's images are featured in two of Mora's books, The Life and Times of Jo Mora: Iconic Artist of the American West and Jo Mora Artist And Writer. In Mary Murray's book Jo Mora Artist And Writer, an early Josselyn photograph captures Mora with his sculptor The Poppy Nymph (1916), which was exhibited at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

Josselyn captured images of the Junípero Serra cenotaph, considered by Mora, to be the pinnacle of Mora's artistic achievements. Josselyn photographed the unveiling ceremony of the Statue of Junípero Serra on the inaugural day of the Carmel Woods subdivision on July 22, 1922. In 1938, Josselyn assisted Mora in making and photographing a large Portolá expedition diorama depicting the discovery of San Francisco Bay by Gaspar de Portolá. Josselyn's photographs of Mora's artworks were shown in a Monterey History and Art Association exhibit from November 15, 2003 to February 29, 2004.

Starting in 1924, Josselyn documented the initial activities of theatrical producer Edward G. Kuster's newly established Theatre of the Golden Bough. He photographed the opening of the theatre with productions of Mother of Gregory (1924), and The Princess Who Wouldn't Say Die (1924). His photographs depicted the auditorium with a stage spanning 38 ft, as well as the Court of the Golden Bough and portraits of the summer school's teaching staff from 1924. Josselyn photographed storefronts lining Kuster’s Court of the Golden Bough. Among these were the Carmel Weavers Studio (1922), Sade's (1924), and the Seven Arts Shop (1937). He documented the Theatre of the Golden Bough's destruction by fire on May 19, 1935.



In 1925, Josselyn took photographs of Carmel poet Robinson Jeffers in front of his Hawk Tower, which are part of the Robinson Jeffers Collection at the Occidental College. One of Josselyn's portraits of Jeffers from the same year has been featured in various publications and is held in the archives of the Tor House Foundation.

Josselyn's photographs depict the coastal town of Big Sur, featuring the Post Ranch House, the Big Creek Bridge (1932), the Big Sur maintenance yard, the Pheiffer's Ranch Resort, and the construction of the Bixby Creek Bridge (1932). He photographed the Bixby Creek Bridge on November 23, 1932, during its dedication and opening to the public. He produced early photo postcards promoting the Monterey Bay Area, including views of the Bixby Creek Bridge on the Big Sur coast and construction of California Highway 1. Josselyn also photographed the Steel Bridge over Garrapata Creek, north of Big Sur, as well as William Brainard Post's homestead (1920) near the area. His photographs of the Big Sur region include Palo Colorado Canyon, California, Torres Canyon, the United States Forest Service ranger headquarters at Big Sur, Pico Blanco from the coastline, the Little Sur River, and Slates Hot Springs.

Later years
Josselyn documented Paul Flanders Mansion, Outlands in Carmel-by-the-Sea, taken shortly after the mansion's completion in 1926. His photographs were integrated into the Historic American Buildings Survey, included in the Monterey County's National Register of Historic Places listings, and featured in the National Park Service's digital assets gallery.



Josselyn took photographs of the Abalone League, and both he and his wife participated in the league games.

In April 1926, Josselyn embarked a two-week photographic expedition across the Mojave Desert and Death Valley in the Southwestern United States, returning in May, accompanied by playwright John Northern Hilliard and others, to live among the Hopi and the Navajo peoples.

Josselyn collaborated with western writer Frederick R. Bechdolt, serving as a photojournalist for stories published in The Saturday Evening Post. In November 1936, Josselyn illustrated Bechdolt's article Stampede, 1936 Model, about the modern gold rush to the hills northwest of Winnemucca, Nevada. Similarly, in November 1941, Josselyn's photographs were featured in Bechdolt's article Uncle Sam Goes Prospecting, documenting their journey through a mining county.

From 1932 to 1955, Josselyn worked with botanist and horticulturalist Lester Rowntree to capture images of California native plants for The Christian Science Monitor, The National Horticultural Magazine, and Sunset Magazine. His photographs also appeared in botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith's A textbook of general botany.

Death and legacy
Josselyn died, from a stroke, on March 14, 1964, in his home.

After Josselyn's death, his sister-in-law, Florence Josselyn, exhibited his Old Monterey photographs at Casa Serrano in Monterey in 1965. In 1973, she exhibited his 1920s and 1930s photographs at the Marjorie Evans Gallery in the Sunset Center, presenting them under the title "The Carmel of Lewis Josselyn."

On November 29, 1970, Josselyn's widow donated about 3,000 original glass plates and film negatives, sized at 5 in x 7 in, as well as original prints and his photographic equipment to photo archivist Pat Hathaway. Following Hathaway's death in 2021, Josselyn's collection of glass plates and film negatives were given to the Monterey County Historical Society in Salinas, California.

List of photographs
This is a partial list of Josselyn's photographs.