Book Review: Jessie Tarbox Beals

Jessie Tarbox Beals, First Woman News Photographer

Alexander Alland, Sr.

1978

Camera/Graphic Press Ltd.

212 pages

Jessie Tarbox Beals is not only the best named photographer of last century she was also an impressive human being. I first learned of Ms. Beals and her antics while researching the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO. Her photography showed up in numerous places, so I knew I had to look further into her story. Turns out there is quite a lot there.

What you are looking at is a straight hustler. Jessie Tarbox would have likely won you over despite your cultural, financial, or spiritual disposition. Known as the first woman to be staff photographer for major newspapers (The Buffalo Inquirer and The Buffalo Courier) Jessie Tarbox (later Beals) would use her chutzpah, charm, tact and all-around can-do attitude to produce some of the most inspiring early American photography.

Early Years – Life is a Rollercoaster

Jessie Tarbox was born on December 23, 1870, in Ontario, Canada. Jessie’s family was originally from New England but left Connecticut for Canada to try their hand in the less crowded patent markets. Her father was well compensated for his ideas and until Jessie was seven years old, she lived in largess with amenities of the highest caliber. It was around this time her father’s business dealings went south and despite his attempts to get right, they lost their mansion. Her dad became despondent and turned to drink, her mother sold everything she could to keep the family afloat. Jessie’s brothers split to lighten the burden, 10 years later Jessie would do the same, following a bother to western Massachusetts (20 miles from where I live now).

At the stupendously young age of 17, Jessie Tarbox was hired to run a schoolhouse in the rural village of Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Longing to stay connected to the world, Jessie quickly secured a camera to use with her students. The camera would prove a lifeline for Jessie and showed that as early as 1888 Jessie Tarbox was already setting new standards for women and technology.

Though the camera cost her two week’s salary, Jessie wanted more versatility and soon saved up for a top-of-the-line Kodak camera. She took to photography genuinely and was excited about the ways she could now operate (communicate). Given her extreme rural nature there was plenty of time for Ms. Tarbox to fiddle with aperture and shutter tricks. Her experiments with up close bird watching were unheard of in that era and helped her advance with comfort around the camera. She used her camera on many trips, especially a life changing trip to the 1893 World fair in Chicago. It was there Jessie was first exposed to some of the places she would travel later in life. Delighted by grand concessions and vistas from foreign lands, this trip was planting seeds of travel to come.

By 1900 Jessie had buried her parents and quit teaching. She met a man, a machinist named Alfred Beals, married him and moved him to Greenfield, MA. Jessie was able to grow her photographic reputation and soon taught Alfred to develop and process negatives. Now that Jessie had someone to take over the time-consuming post-production side of the profession, Jessie ramped up her photography. The pair moved to Brattleboro, VT and blazed a trail into the annals of photography and never looked back. With a full dark room staffed by her mustachioed beau, Allie, Jessie Tarbox could take the photos at from 8am-1pm, hump them back to camp where they would be developed and delivered to the printers by 6pm for the morning paper pressing. Truly a momentous feat for 123 years ago.

Canvassing by neighborhood, Jessie hit the pavement to find her subjects. She photographed everyone and everything she came across. Her natural hustle gave her an edge when speaking to young or old. The speed at which the Tarbox Beals Corp. could turnaround negatives would make your head spin. It also kept them in high demand. Their expertise was well known and word of mouth kept their coffers full and sitting sessions booked solid. Mind you, this was not the efficient, light weight pro-consumer cameras she was wielding. No, ma'am. Jessie was hauling roughly 40lbs of gear wherever she went, along with delicate glass, volatile powders, and finicky mechanisms. Along with her 10 lbs. of woolen get up, hat, glasses, light cloak etc. Gee whiz, it is a miracle we have any of her phots.

Jessie and Alfred Beals made a life as itinerant photographers and found their way to Florida among other notable spots before settling down in Buffalo, NY in 1902. It was not long before Jessie’s hustle and great work garnered her staff photographer positions at the Buffalo Inquirer and the Buffalo Courier. She quickly developed relationships with the top brass of Buffalo politics and society, and it was in Buffalo her signature 8x10 camera usage would take hold. Jessie regularly sided herself with groups, some self-important, and photographed all the members, many would buy prints. Her other most well-known trait, pushing the bounds of what is allowed versus what is public right. Though her photos were black and white, Jessie often found herself in the grey area. It would be a wild 18 months in Buffalo, but it was only a primer for the next venture at the 1904 World’s Fair.

Jessie, Alfred and as much equipment as they could manage, made for the frontier town of St. Louis and the Columbian Exposition. Without prior agreements Jessie strode up to the palatial grounds and presented her credentials. It took weeks but Jessie managed not only an official press pass, but she also wedged herself into the highest echelons of the fair. David R. Francis, President of the Fair Board, his guests the first family Roosevelts, Chinese royalty Pu Lin met Jessie, as did thousands of delighted fairgoers. Her photos won her worldwide notoriety and numerous prizes from the fair board.

Jessie and Co. used the momentum of never-before-seen views and new relationships to seize the opportunity of Jessie’s lifelong goal, opening a studio in New York City. By the time they were sweeping up the sawdust from the fair cleanup in 1905 Jessie, Allie and a few thousand negatives opened their new doors on 5th Avenue. Her connections with President Roosevelt proved most useful as she was now on the path to meet many other dignitaries. She was even invited on an exclusive Rough Rider Reunion in San Antonio.

New York and the Rest of the World

Jessie’s time in New York City was marked with a few studios, constant acquisition and implementation of the newest photography devices and trends, an affair with pregnancy but not before capturing some of the most expressive images of the era. Her understanding of what newspaper editors wanted was perhaps her most valuable trait. It was at the heart of her hustle. There would always be an editor open to hear a Tarbox pitch. Jessie connected with people on daily basis to such an extent she was often taking 30 portraits a day. Balls, dinners, parties, galas of the highest degree kept Jessie constantly in motion.

When she wasn’t hustling on the streets to fill her 5th avenue studio, she was likely entertaining at her house. Long parties and nightly solons were the norm for much of Jessie’s time in the Big Apple. It was just these salons and convivial nature of Jessie’s business that never sat quite right with Alfred. Allie was the second fiddle in Jessie’s one-woman band, and it was only a matter of time for this to come to a head.

By 1910 their marriage was mostly a business arrangement and they both seem to have tread paths of adulty. This book is not clear on the transgressions only that in 1911 Jessie gave birth to a daughter (Nanette) that was not Alfred’s. Regardless, the couple attempted to carry on despite the tension. Given Jessie’s position at the head of the business it was her shoulders that carried the future of the enterprise. Nanette lived mostly with Alfred, and later extended family and boarding schools. Jessie’s love for spending never wavered and their business grew to support the many new expenses.

The success train rolled well but by 1920 Allie and Jessie were not on speaking terms and they would be divorced four years later. Jessie relocated to Greenwich Village and made the bohemian lifestyle hew new business. With a tearoom and art studio she would glide through the next phase of her life as the center of parties for progressives causes. Still heavy into photography, Jessie needed a slowdown from the rigorous schedule others had grown accustomed to. By 1928 she was photographing California movie executive wives and their ostentatious mansions of the American West.

The Twilight Years

In the end of her life Jessie reconciled with her daughter, but she was never able to reconcile with herself. Long feeling that a key attribute in her career, that of taking on ANY job, kept her from the height of monetary and professional acclaim. This, her divorce and her love of spending caused her to be penniless and in a charity hospital upon her death bed. It is said not even her once stalwart beau, Alfred Beals could not be bothered to attend the funeral.

Jessie Tarbox Beals was a prize of a person, and we are fortunate to have had her eye and zest for life. It is thanks to Jessie’s endless spirit that the doors to many industries were tossed off their hinges, forever evening the playing field. Pure chutzpa, that’s how the daughter of a down and out millionaire and drunken sewing machine designer gets to meet presidents, princes and queens.

We almost lost Jessie and her photography altogether. She jettisoned negatives multiple times in her career leaving limited proof of her massive contribution. What remains is a testament to her industrious nature and earnest eye. Advancing the reach of technology at an early age and continuing that practice all her life was one of her many calling cards. She was so prodigious in her photography many of her photos went uncredited, though you have likely seen them if you read much history from the last 100 years.

Thanks, Jessie. Your eye was incredible, yet no match for your heart.