Harry W. Crosby (born 1926 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

) is an American historian and photographer. His parents moved to La Jolla in 1935. He graduated from La Jolla High School in 1944, and studied math and science at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, completing a double major in pre-med and psychology. After twelve years as a teacher of secondary-level science, mostly chemistry, he took up photography, and in 1967, was hired as a photographer to illustrate the book ''The Call to California'' for the Commission of the Californias, commemorating California's bicentennial. Following the route of the Portolá expedition of 1769 to make photos to illustrate a text derived from diaries of the trekkers, Crosby rode 600 miles on muleback on remote trails. Since then, he has continued to do primary research and to write extensively on the history and cave paintings of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

and the early history of

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

. Crosby's field research, writing, photography, and advocacy of the Great Mural cave paintings of Baja helped the region to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. While early archeological studies pegged the age of the rock art in Baja at between 500 and 1,500 years old, Crosby long contended that the murals were far older. His views were vindicated in 2022 with the publication of a scientific paper detailing the results of an extensive carbon-dating study conducted by a team of geoscientists and archeologists from Australia, Mexico and Argentina. The study concluded that the Great Murals in central Baja dated as far back as 11,000 years—to the end of the last Ice Age and the estimated arrival of the first humans on the Baja peninsula. The study showed that the cave paintings were created and maintained for thousands of years, ending 500 to 600 years ago with the arrival of Spanish conquistadors and Jesuit missionaries in Baja California. His books include: ''The Cave Paintings of Baja California: Discovering the Great Murals of an Unknown People'' (Copley Books, 1975, reissued by

Sunbelt Publications Sunbelt Publications is an American publication company that was incorporated in 1988. The company publishes and distributes multi-language pictorials, natural science and outdoor guidebooks, and regional references. The company is located in El ...

, San Diego, 1997); ''Gateway to Alta California: The Expedition to San Diego, 1769'' (Sunbelt, 2004), which was a finalist for the 2003 Southern California Booksellers Association award; and ''Antigua California: Mission and Colony on the Peninsula Frontier, 1697-1768'' ( University of New Mexico Press, 1996), which won the 1995 Caroline Bancroft History Prize from the Denver Public Library.Caroline Bancroft History Prize
, Denver Public Library (accessed 2012-06-20). Some of Crosby's early photography is collected in the book ''Tijuana 1964: A Photographic and Historic View'' (

SDSU Press San Diego State University Press (or SDSU Press) is a university press that is part of San Diego State University, with noted specializations in Border Studies, Critical Theory, Latin American Studies, Cultural Studies, and comics. It is the ...

, 2000); and his only novel is ''Portrait of Paloma'' (Sunbelt, 2001). His son is the late

Robbin Crosby Robbinson Lantz Crosby (August 4, 1959 – June 6, 2002) was an American guitarist who was a member of glam metal band Ratt, earning several platinum albums in the US in the 1980s. Crosby died in 2002 from a heroin overdose. Early life Crosby ...

, best known for his tenure as guitarist of the rock band Ratt.

Bibliography

* * * *

References

online collection of photographs

Baja California - In Search of Painted Caves (Documentary Film)

Harry W. Crosby Profile

MSS 333

UC San Diego Library. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Harry W. 1926 births Living people American photographers 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Historians of the American West Historians of the United States Historians of Baja California Archaeologists of the Baja California peninsula Occidental College alumni 21st-century American male writers