Ray Jerome Baker (December 1, 1880 – October, 1972) was an American photographer, film maker and lecturer. His photographs are among some of the earliest professional works in

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka. Humboldt County comprises the Eureka–Arcata–Fortuna, California Micropolitan Statistica ...

and later in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

where his work focused on the people of that state.

Biography

Baker was born near

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

in 1880. From 1898 until 1903 he lived in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

, where he studied at Mechanic Arts High School and took his first photographs before attending the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

for one semester. In 1903, he moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

and shortly thereafter, in 1904, to

Eureka, California Eureka (Wiyot: ''Jaroujiji'', Hupa: ''do'-wi-lotl-ding'', Karuk: ''uuth'') is the principal city and county seat of Humboldt County in the Redwood Empire region of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt ...

. On his arrival in Eureka, his studio was in a tent until moving into a building at 5th and F Streets where he ran a commercial photography studio and became a lifelong friend of the writer

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

. Baker regularly toured southern Humboldt County on a motorcycle in the early 20th century. He met Edith Frost, a local school teacher, at a Socialist meeting in Eureka in 1906; they married shortly thereafter. Edith Frost Baker's family had holdings around Briceland and Miranda in southern Humboldt; the Bakers would visit them for the rest of their lives. Baker's photos of southern Humboldt are some of the few images of the early 20th century. During his years living in Humboldt County, Baker built "the Log House" on property that belonged to his mother-in-law who willed it to Baker's only son, Earl Frost Baker. By 1908 he moved his photography business to a new studio at 825 E Street in Eureka and he took his family to

for the first time. In August, after his return to Eureka, the Eureka Herald mentioned his name several times in connection with a charge of "taking obscene photographs"; he posted $100 bail and ended up paying a $50 fine. In 1910 Baker moved to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

with his wife and son. His studio and darkroom was located at 911 Kalakaua Avenue from 1915 until he retired in 1960. Baker remained active as a photographer and travel lecturer until 1959. He produced thousands of photographic images as black-and-white prints, postcards and books, and as glass plates. When lecturing, Baker used hand-painted lantern slides to dramatize his presentations; he made larger hand-colored glass plates backlit with daylight when exhibited. The glass plate lantern slides and many of the photographs taken by Baker were hand-colored by his wife Edith. Baker traveled to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and to the U.S. mainland where he visited

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

and

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

. Otherwise, he spent his time photographing the land, people and plants of Hawaii. He did commercial work for cane and pineapple plantations, and provided tourists arriving on ocean liners with mementos, mostly photographic postcards and bound books of photographs. His photographs appeared in mainstream media, including ''The National Geographic Magazine'', Baker wrote a memoir in 1964, titled ''Odyssey of a Cameraman''. His studies of the Pacific people of Hawaii are an ethnographic and environmental resource. His ''Racial Patterns in Hawaii'' and his ''Familiar Hawaiian Plants'', document a changing environment. Ray Jerome Baker died in Honolulu on Friday, October 27, 1972, a funeral was held over his ashes.

Collections and archives

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

, Honolulu. A large collection of original prints, negatives, glass plate lantern slides, and ephemera. *Kaua'i Historical Society. A small photo album containing 187 original photographs taken by well-known Hawaii photographer, Ray Jerome Baker. Baker gave the album the title, "Kauai Over the Years - Scenes Mostly Old, Some New." The black and white images were taken by Baker on visits to Kauai between 1908 and 1961. *Swanlund-Baker Photograph Collection,

Humboldt State University Library California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universit ...

. Large collection of correspondence and photographs from Baker's time in Northern California.

Selected works

Image:RJ_Baker_rooster.jpg, ''Local Hawaiian boy with fighting chicken'', hand-painted glass plate photograph Image:RJ_Baker_baby.jpg, ''Chinese woman on Oahu with baby'', hand-painted glass plate photograph Image:RJ_Baker_Twain.jpg, ''Mark Twain at home in Connecticut'', hand-painted glass plate photograph Image:RJ_Baker_hula.jpg, ''Hula Girls in Honolulu'', hand-painted glass plate photograph

Studio publications

*1912 - 1935 ''Alohaland'' 5″×7″ *1912 - 1935'' Hawaii'' 5″×7″ *1912 - 1935 ''Hawaii-Nei'' 5″×7″ *1914 ''Hawaiian Types'' printed booklet *1914 ''Palms and other Flora of the Hawaiian Islands'' printed booklet *1914 ''Hawaiian Island Views'' printed booklet *1914 ''Homes, Historical Buildings and Places of Interest in the Hawaiian Islands'' printed booklet *1936 ''The Romance of Raw Sugar'' *1938 ''Familiar Hawaiian Plants'' *1938 ''Camera Studies in Portraiture'' *1938 ''Hawaii the Isle of a Thousand Wonders'' *1938 ''Alohaland'' 11″×4″ *1939 ''Hawaiian Yesterdays'' *1941 ''Hawaii Then and Now'' *1943 ''Scenic Hawaii'' *1945 ''Men of our Armed Forces'' *1945 ''Art Forms in Plant Structures'' *1964 ''Odyssey of a Cameraman'', a memoir

References

External links