The FAD (Furniture, Art & Design} Gallery will present an exhibit of rare, original photochromes and cabinet cards by William Henry Jackson. An opening reception for the show will be held on July 29th from 5 to 8 p.m. at the gallery, 107 Grand Ave. in Mancos.

“We are so excited to be offering these authentic, original prints by an iconic American photographer,” said FAD owner Collette Webster. “Jackson’s early photographs of Yellowstone played a role in Congress deciding to create our first national park in 1872. And the story just gets more interesting from there.”

As chief photographer for the Hayden Survey Party organized by the U.S. Department of the Interior for mapping unknown regions of the American West, Jackson established himself as a great landscape photographer. Jackson spent several years photographing the West, as well as Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1897 he became a partner in the Detroit Photographic Company, which acquired thousands of his photo negatives as well as the rights to a newly patented photochrome colorization process. The Detroit Photographic Company was forced into receivership in 1924, and many of the company’s assets were purchased by the F.J. Haynes Company, of Yellowstone, which stored them until a huge estate auction in 1993.

In November, 2004, artist David Butler, who now lives in Yellow Jacket, Colorado, purchased some of the original Detroit Photographic inventory from the 1993 auction.

“These scarce prints are the real thing — not copies — and are a captivating part of American History rarely offered to the public,” Butler said. “People will have the chance to own an authentic piece of the story of our National Parks, and the story of photography. Other owners of Jackson’s original works include the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian and the Colorado Historical Society, so you’d be in good company. These photochromes are smaller in size, and highly detailed and of exceptional quality, especially for being over 100 years old. Rare miniatures are also part of this exhibit, and the smaller sizes make them more affordable to more people.”

The exhibit will feature ten original black and white albumen imperial cabinet cards of Mesa Verde National Park sites, 13 framed original photochromes of National Parks landmarks and a rare framed photochrome of a Ute Runner for Chief Ouray, ­photographed in Colorado in 1880.