Walter Scott Bowman (February 8, 1865 – November 27, 1938) was a prominent professional photographer in

Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Pendleton ...

. His work is included in the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

'shttp://library.uoregon.edu/speccoll/photo/Pendleton/fbowman.html Bowman, Moorhouse, Furlong, and Drake collections. Bowman captured well known action shots from the

Pendleton Round-Up The Pendleton Round-Up is a major annual rodeo in the northwestern United States, at Pendleton in northeastern Oregon. Held at the Pendleton Round-Up Stadium during the second full week of September each year since 1910, the rodeo brings roug ...

that are included at the

National Cowgirl Hall of Fame The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is located in Fort Worth, Texas, US. Established in 1975, it is dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage and pioneering fortitude. The museum is an educ ...

. The National Cowboy Museum includes numerous Bowman photographs and

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

images.National Cowboy Museum
Photographic Study Collection Bowman photographed events around

Umatilla, Oregon Umatilla (, ) is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The population in 2010 was 6,906, but the city's population includes approximately 2,000 inmates incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution. Umatilla is part of the ...

, including

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

s, railroad scenes, Pendleton High School team pictures, dances, studio

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s and images of Native American (the

Umatilla Indian Reservation The Umatilla Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was created by The Treaty of June 9, 1855 between the United States and members of the Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla tribes. It lies in nort ...

is adjacent to the city of Pendleton).http://oregondigital.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/tlegacies&CISOPTR=282&CISOBOX=1&REC=2 The University of Oregon's Walter S. Bowman photographs collection includes 379 glass-plate negatives, 51

cellulose acetate In biochemistry, cellulose acetate refers to any acetate ester of cellulose, usually cellulose diacetate. It was first prepared in 1865. A bioplastic, cellulose acetate is used as a film base in photography, as a component in some coatings, and ...

negatives, and 200

silver gelatin The gelatin silver process is the most commonly used chemical process in black-and-white photography, and is the fundamental chemical process for modern analog color photography. As such, films and printing papers available for analog photography ...

photoprints.

Background

Bowman was part of a prominent pioneer family that came west from

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

in 1862. His parents were married in

Osceola, Iowa Osceola is a city in Clarke County, Iowa, Clarke County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,160 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Clarke County. History Osceola was named after a Seminol ...

. His cousin, Oliver Purl Bowman (1862-1939), built the

Bowman Hotel (Pendleton, Oregon) The Bowman Hotel is a historic three story brick hotel building located in Pendleton, Oregon, United States. The hotel was built in 1906 by Purl Bowman (1862–1939), a member a prominent pioneer family in Pendleton. The family lived near lower B ...

. Walter S. Bowman was born February 8, 1865, to Henry and Elizabeth (Owens) Bowman.http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=steedman51&id=I00183 The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912 by Gaston His birthplace may have been where the family lived by

Birch Creek, Oregon Birch Creek is a tributary of the Umatilla River in eastern Oregon in the United States. It rises at the confluence of East and West Birch creeks south of Pilot Rock, Oregon, at the base of the Blue Mountains and flows north, slightly west of ...

Career

Bowman began his photography studies under T.C. Ward in 1887 and purchased Ward's studio in 1890. Bowman worked in Pendleton from the late 1880s to the mid-1930s documenting life in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

including at events such as the

and workers at the

Pendleton Woolen Mills Pendleton Woolen Mills is an American textile manufacturing company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is known for its blankets and woolen clothing. Company origins The company's roots began in 1863 when Thomas Lister Kay made a tran ...

. Bowman was a member of the Pendleton Camera Club and knew O.C. Allen and

Lee Moorhouse Lee Moorhouse (1850–1926) of Pendleton, Oregon, United States, was a photographer and an Indian agent for the Umatilla Indian Reservation. From 1888 to 1916, he produced over 9,000 images documenting urban, rural, and Native Americans in th ...

(who he seems to have taken under his wing). Moorhouse lived with the Bowman family upon his arrival in Pendleton and captured an image of Bowman's studio along the

Umatilla River The Umatilla River is an tributary of the Columbia River in northern Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Draining a basin of , it enters the Columbia near the city of Umatilla in the northeastern part of the state. In downstream order, begi ...

at 916 Main Street. Bowman was considered Pendleton's "premier photographer" until his retirement in the mid-1930s. His studio was on the banks of the

. Florence Bowman Windsor remembered Bowman owning the first car in Pendleton (it may have been a Maxwell) and his arrest for driving twelve miles an hour down Main Street. Bowman died in 1938 after crashed his car off an icy road embankment about 10 miles east of Pendleton; his wife was also injured. Bowman's wife Eugenia (Ellenberger) bowman died December 5, 1954, at St. Anthony's Hospital. after an illness of 17 days. She lived in Pendleton from 1901 and was born in

Berne, Switzerland Bern () or Berne; in other Swiss languages, gsw, Bärn ; frp, Bèrna ; it, Berna ; rm, Berna is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city" (in german: Bundesstadt, link=no, french: ville fédérale ...

. She moved to

Umatilla County Umatilla County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,075. Hermiston is the largest city in Umatilla County, but Pendleton remains the county seat. Umatilla County is part of ...

at 13 and lived in

Pilot Rock, Oregon Pilot Rock is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,502 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Pendleton, Oregon, Pendleton–Hermiston, Oregon, Hermiston Hermi ...

, with her mother Fritz Ellenberger. She married Walter in 1934. He was an avid hunter.

University of Oregon collection

The University of Oregon collection includes 385 glass-plate negatives, 17 nitrate negatives, 35 cellulose acetate negatives, 7 safety negatives (replacing nitrate originals), and 338 vintage and modern silver gelatin photoprints. Twelve of the prints are on Bowman's studio mounts and another twelve are

s. The university's collection of Bowman photographs includes images donated to the library from 1947-1953 through the efforts of Umatilla County Court Judge James H. Sturgis and Lee D. Drake, a Pendleton newspaperman, county clerk, and collector of historic materials. Drake was a partner in the East Oregonian Publishing Co. and head of the Old Oregon Trail Committee of Umatilla County. Drake collected negatives he deemed worthwhile and destroyed some 900 others. The collection includes images of early automobiles and their owners in Pendleton, including a delivery of Ford roadsters by railcar to the city. Images of the

are also featured.

Selected works

*Jack Joyce on Angel (1912) *Roy Adams Riding Sea Lion?, Let 'er Buck, Round Up, Pendleton, Oregon *C. E. Morton Six Feet Up on Bucking Bull, Round Up, 1914 *Interior of Pendleton Woolen Mills *"Fancy Riding, Tillie Baldwin, the Champion Lady Buckaroo" *"The Bull Gets His Man at the Round Up" *Photograph of a Native American boy with a prosthetic hand. The boy posed standing on a wicker chair (1890s). *Photographic postcard. Lewis Mosely on "Sunfish Molly," Riding for the Championship of the World Pendleton, Oregon, ca. 1915 *Indian women c. 1895 *The Pendleton Hose Team at the 1897 Eastern Oregon and Washington Firemen's Tournament at Baker City *Woman with pistol (circa 1900) *Images of masquerade at

Lehman Hot Springs Lehman Hot Springs is a hot springs resort in Oregon. The hot springs were first used by Native Americans before being discovered by pioneer settlers. Lehman Hot Springs was founded as a resort in 1871. The springs are located along Oregon 244 east ...

. *Wheat harvests

Background

Career

University of Oregon collection

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading