USPRR Ex & Surveys 35th Parallel
JS Tidball USA Lith of Sarony Major & Knapp. New York
About this print:
"The expedition surveying the southern route along the 35th parallel, led by Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple, explored from Little Rock, Arkansas, through Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona, ending up passing through the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles. Besides the standard surveyors and artists, Whipple’s party included astronomers, geologists, naturalists, and botanists, and the report contained excellent sections on various scientific topics and a section on the Indians of the region.."
"In 1853, the U.S. congress sent several teams of surveyors from the Corps of Topographical Engineers to survey potential rail routes from the Mississippi to the Pacific. They were accompanied by naturalists and artists who were to capture the images of the "wild west". It was a dangerous expedition with Captain John W. Gunnison, artist R.H Kern, and seven others from Gunnison's survey team being killed in October of 1853, by the Ute Indians in Utah. These lithographs were part of the official government report which would ultimately determine the rail route and forever change the United States."
This is one of the sketches from the above expeditions.
Sarony, Major, & Knapp was but one iteration of a variety of lithographic partnerships involving Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896); brothers Henry B. Major (born in England, 1820-1887) and Richard Major (born in England, 1825-1894); and Joseph F. Knapp (1832-1891) and his son Joseph P. Knapp (1864-1951).
The credit lines on their prints for this iteration of reflect the following timeline:
1856-1867: Sarony, Major & Knapp
In America on Stone, Harry T. Peters wrote that Napoleon Sarony “was the leading spirit, supplying ideas, securing artists, and drawing most of the portraits, in which he was especially interested.” Sarony is remembered both for his lithographic and photographic work. He was born in Quebec, Canada, and came to New York around 1836. He did lithographic work for Henry R. Robinson and Currier & Ives before starting his own firm with Henry Major in 1845.
Sarony, Major & Knapp emerged in 1857, when they joined with Joseph F. Knapp. In an interview, Sarony later remembered, “In 1858 I sold out my interest [in Sarony, Major and Knapp] and went to Paris to Study art.
Even though Sarony was no longer active in the firm, the name “Sarony, Major & Knapp” appears on prints into the 1860s. The separate firm of Major & Knapp appears in directories as early as 1864. Trow’s Co-partnership and Corporation Directory of New York City for 1864 identifies Richard Major and Joseph F. Knapp as the partners in “Major & Knapp.” In general, from 1845-1855, the “Major” referred to Henry B. Major, and from 1855-1868, it referred to Richard Major, though city directories list both brothers as lithographers at the same business address into the mid-1870s.
Knapp later became president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. His son, Joseph P. Knapp founded the American Lithograph Company in 1891.