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Show Utah State Historical Societ!~ 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City VT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 The Legacy of Photographer Alma Compton h THE LATE 1980s A COLLECTION OF PIONEER PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVES, most of them glass, was donated to Utah State University. They were part of 40,000 negatives made by Alma Compton during his long career as a photographer in northern Utah. The collection included not only portraits but views of local events, buildings, landscapes, and cityscapes. Thus it provides " unrivalled visual documentation of Brigham City people, events and buildings." The artistry evident in Alma Compton's photography shows that his skill matched his success as Brigham City's most enduring and popular photographer. The negatives also reveal he pursued his craft not just for the money. Alma Compton was born in Nottingharnshire, England, near Shemood Forest in 1856. His parents were very poor, so he did janitorial work to earn tuition for three months of schooling- the only fonnal education he ever received. Six years before Alma was born, his parents had joined the Mormon church. When Alma was twelve, he was sent with his older siblings to Utah. In Ogden each child found odd jobs to support themselves and save toward their parents7 fare. The next year their parents immigrated to Utah. Afkr a youth spent working, at age 21 Alma began a five- year stint in the Swfield Broom Factory. For a young man of an artistic nature, factory line duty must have been somewhat oppressive. But by age 26 he had saved enough money to do what he wanted. He volunteered to work one year for photographer J. W. Christensen of Ogden in exchange for learning the trade. He then rented a tent and camera and became an itinerant photographer, traveling through Cache Valley and elsewhere in southern Idaho. He returned with enough profit to set himself up in part of Jens Gasberg's store in Brigham City. The initial lease was for six months. Alma would stay 48 years in the Box Elder County seat, although not in the same location. Brigham City's population then was 2,500, enough to support more than one photographer. Gasberg ran the photo gallery as part of his mercantile business, but he was not a professional and must have been happy to share clientele with Alma for a percentage of the earnings. This left Gasberg to focus on selling optical goods, notions, jewelry, and g r d e s . Alma worked out of Gasberg's store three years. In 1886, the same year he married Jane Dalton of Willard, he built his own small studio a few doors away. Jane became his assistant, helping to retouch, finish, and mount photographs. Even after she set up housekeeping in a rented two- room adobe house, she worked beside Alma. Their first two summers were spent touring, just as Alma had done earlier. In 1888 Gasberg vacated the photographic business to concentrate entirely on merchan- ( more) dising. This left Alma as the town's sole practitioner. Even with a growing family during the economically depressed 1890s, the Comptons got by. That decade they averaged 275 sittings per year. In 1900 Alma took 1,500 photographs, probably to pay for his new studio. For the rest of his career, he averaged 500- 700 sittings per year. The new studio had not only expanded finishing facilities but room for art and music supplies. After 1901 the studio became increasingly successful. Alma's two sons and daughter, adopted in 1903, were taught the business as they grew old enough. In 1908 Alma was able to have a new house built, a one and a half story brick cottage. It was designed by Andrew Funk, architect of Brigham City's courthouse and fire station. Alma had become a substantial citizen. After 1910 Alma's health began to decline. Jane and Alma, Jr., assumed a greater share of responsibility. But in 1919 the son suddenly died. The second son, Mathew, received a hardship discharge from the army and returned to take over the shop. He hired a young assistant named Pearl who later became his wife. In 1931 Alma, Sr., died, followed the next year by Jane. Together, Mathew and Pearl ran Compton's photographic studio another forty years. In 1972 Pearl was still living in the family cottage, and her son continued to work in the office his grandfather built. Sources: Alma Compton House, Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places, Preservation Offices files, Utah Division of State History; " The Story of an Old Album," in Heart Zhrobs of the Wat, vol. 9 ( Salt Lake City: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1948). THE HSTORYB LAZERis produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant fiom the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For & information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 960610 ( BB) |
