George Robinson Fardon, born in Birmingham, England in 1807, arrived in San Francisco sometime around 1854, probably from New York City where he had worked as a commission merchant, a buyer and seller of goods on commission.  Nothing is currently known about Fardon’s photographic education and training.  His first appearance relative to photographic history is in late 1854 when he occupies a vacated photographer’s studio in San Francisco.

Though Fardon operated a portrait studio, he was known primarily for his views.  Indeed, the Photographic and Fine Art Journal called the daguerreotypes on his studio walls “not good”.  His views, on the other hand, they considered “beautiful specimens of the Art.”

Fardon left San Francisco in 1858, following the gold rush to British Columbia.  Here, in Victoria, he operated a studio, but again it was his views that attracted notice.  The London Illustrated News reproduced a wood engraving of the city of Victoria in its January 14, 1863 issue that was based on Fardon’s panorama on display at the 1862 international exposition in London.

In 1871 Fardon went to Oakland, CA. to work in partnership with William H. Bluett.  His stay was brief, however, and he returned to Victoria, where he died in 1886.

The San Francisco Album is considered the first published compilation of photographs of any American city and the major work of Fardon’s career.  In these albums (each of the nine known albums, with approx. 30 photographs, is slightly different from the other) San Francisco is pictured in views, street scenes, and architectural studies.  Seven of the views (six views in GEH album) combine to form a panorama of San Francisco, though in none of the albums are these photographs arranged sequentially.

One author has suggested that many of the buildings depicted were included in the album for political or civic reasons.  For example, photographs of various fire companies may have been included to assuage fears generated by San Francisco’s many fires from 1849 to 1851.  A darker aspect of the album is its relation to the Vigilance Committee, of which William Herre, one of the publishers, was a member.  Referred to as a “mercantile juanta [sic]” by one contemporary, the Vigilance Committee ruled San Francisco during the summer of 1856 and was responsible for the lynching of four men.  One of Fardon’s photographs included in the album depicts Fort Vigilance, the site of the hangings.

Bib. Ref.  San Francisco Album.  With contributions by Rodger C. Birt, Marvin R. Nathan, Peter E. Palmquist, and Joan M. Schwartz.  San Francisco:  Fraenkel Gallery and New York: Hans P. Kraus, Jr.,  1999.

This album, which came to the museum as part of the Gabriel Cromer collection, is housed in the museum’s Richard and Ronay Menschel Library.
 

D. Wooters
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