Historical Photography and its Impacts on the Life and Legend of Nate Harrison

Summary

The numerous photographs of Nate Harrison by visitors to his Palomar Mountain property are an undeniable part of his continuing legacy. There are 32 different images, making Harrison the most photographed 19th-century San Diegan. This was a remarkable feat considering that he lived so far from the urban center of the city. Photography and photographs have long been a cornerstone of substantiating historical existence and constructing knowledge about the past. This paper discusses the social, historical, and cultural processes that created the opportunity for these photographs to be taken. These factors were intertwined with key aspects of Nate Harrison’s identity, community, and the overall mountain landscape in which he lived. The pictures were powerful symbols, and the photographic process itself was rife with symbolic behavior.  Appreciating the context and meanings of both process and product are essential to gaining a greater understanding of Harrison’s life and legend.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• "Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer": Nate Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 847