UCR/California Museum of Photography presents William Amos Haines i.e. California. Haines Cirkut Panoramas of the Inland Empire, an exhibition on view through September 22, 2012.
“i.e. CALIFORNIA: Haines Cirkut Panoramas of the Inland Empire” highlights panoramic views of the region east of Los Angeles photographed between 1905-1940 by William Amos Haines. The suite of images captures its natural wonders, as well as its burgeoning transformation into agricultural, industrial and resort areas. Major cities featured include Claremont, Lake Arrowhead, Ontario, Palm Canyon, Pomona, Redlands, Riverside, San Jacinto and Upland.
From 1905-1940, William Amos Haines photographed comprehensive views of major cities in the United States documenting its natural offerings and its advancement into the new century. Haines’ panoramas were marketed through the Haines Photo Company of Conneaut, Ohio and Glendale, California, and sold to schools for educational usage. Today the prints provide detailed contextual records of entire communities and natural ecosystems.
Haines used a Kodak No. 10 Cirkut camera to make negatives that were ten inches wide and up to twelve feet in length; an example of the No. 10 Cirkut is on exhibition here. Five Cirkut film sizes were manufactured, although the No. 10 was the most popular and had the longest-running production. Cirkut cameras were first produced in 1904 by Rochester Panoramic Camera Company that later became a part of Eastman Kodak. A Cirkut camera is activated by a precise operation of springs, gears, and drives. The swiveling Cirkut camera automatically pans its subject while it is exposing an entire roll of film. The large Cirkut negative is used directly for contact printing panorama photographs.
William Amos Haines’ photographs are in the collection of several museums and archives, including the Library of Congress. The California Museum of Photography has the largest Haines collection, including over 800 Cirkut negatives, vintage prints, and a vintage catalog that reproduces in miniature 238 different views of the Cirkut prints. In 2010, the collection expanded, thanks to a generous gift of 136 additional photographs from Haines’ granddaughter, Sheryl Haines Gonzalez and her husband Ruben Gonzalez.
Support for “ie. CALIFORNIA: Haines Cirkut Panoramas of the Inland Empire” is provided by UCR’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science and is organized by UCR California Museum of Photography and curated by Leigh Gleason, curator of collections, UCR California Museum of Photography and Jennifer Frias, associate curator, UCR Sweeney Art Gallery.
UCR/California Museum of Photography
3824 Main Street
Riverside, CA 92501
www.cmp.ucr.edu