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A Photograph by O.S. Goff: Old West Photographer (1843 – 1916)

A Photograph by O.S. Goff: Old West Photographer (1843 – 1916)

Cabinet card portrait of four men made by O.S. Goff, possibly in Wisconsin or Bismarck, North Dakota

A cabinet card portrait of four men by photographer O.S. Goff, probably taken in Bismarck, Dakota Territory. Handwritten on the back are the names Jack Abrl, Pearl Uferwin, Jim Gibney, and Ambrose Keeley.
A cabinet card portrait of four men by photographer O.S. Goff, probably taken in Wisconsin. Handwritten on the back are the names Jack Abrl, Pearl Uferwin, Jim Gibney, and Ambrose Keeley.

This is a cabinet card portrait of four men made by the studio of O.S. Goff.

When you search the names of historic photographers found on these old cabinet cards, you never know what you’ll find. Often — actually, most of the time — you find very little information.

Sometimes though, you find a gold mine of information. Such was the case with O.S. Goff. 

Orlando Scott Goff worked in Bismarck, in what was then the Dakota Territory, and is now the State of North Dakota. Tt’s possible where this photograph was made, but there is some evidence that it may have been shot in Wisconsin. 

Video: Looking at a historic portrait by O.S. Goff.

About Orlando Scott Goff

Goff was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1843. The youngest of five children, he stood 5’7″ inches tall and he had dark hair and blue eyes. 

At age 18, Goff enlisted in the Union army, serving from 1861 until 1865 — nearly the entire length of the American Civil War. He received a gunshot wound to his chest and arm during the war. The use of his right arm declined as he aged but according to sources, he was unable to obtain a full military disability. The physical disability was bad enough that he was unable to return to his civilian occupation as a carriage maker.

After the war, Goff learned photography in Lyons, New York and went west to Wisconsin where he worked as a traveling photographer. In 1873 he went further west to Bismarck where he opened a studio. He made the last photograph of General George Armstrong Custer and the first photograph of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

In 1878 he took a photography wagon with glass plates and chemistry and all the necessary gear out into the northern great plains where he photographed Sitting Bull and many other notable Native Americans.

He also made photographs of the infamous Little Bighorn battlefield. 

Goff’s Bismarck studio was located in a downtown building called the Dakota Block, which still stands. His photographs are held in the collections of the Library of Congress and other public and private collections, and are sometimes sold at auction.

Goff unsuccessfully ran for the office of Mayor of Bismarck in 1884.

Some sources say Goff retired from photography in 1900, but the newspaper clipping above, dated 1905 reports a fire that destroyed his Havre, Montana studio, where he was living at the time. In 1907 he ran for office in Montana, where he was elected to the State House of Representatives. In 1910, Goff and his wife Anna moved to Boise, Idaho, where he died six years later on October 17, 1916.

If you want to know more about Goff, the State of North Dakota hosts a beautiful 24-page PDF about him online. The document contains photographs of Goff and his wife Annie, who worked as a music teacher.

About the photograph

Most cabinet cards of that era were albumen prints, but this doesn’t look like an albumen print. Its matte surface and tonality appears more like a neutral black and white photograph, perhaps an early gelatin developing out paper (DOP), made before the innovation of the baryta surface coating. It’s also possible that this is in fact a baryta surface paper with only a very thin baryta coating or that it was treated with a matting agent.

The O.S. Goff portrait doesn't look like a typical albumen print (example below). This one could be a gelatin silver print, or perhaps a gelatin developing out paper (DOP), made before the innovation of the baryta surface coating. It's also possible that this is in fact a baryta surface paper with only a very thin baryta coating or that it was treated with a matting agent.
The O.S. Goff portrait doesn’t look like a typical albumen print (example below). This one could be a gelatin silver print, or perhaps a gelatin developing out paper (DOP), made before the innovation of the baryta surface coating. It’s also possible that this is in fact a baryta surface paper with only a very thin baryta coating or that it was treated with a matting agent.
A look at this different cabinet card shows the typical color and gloss of albumen prints. This print is more reddish-brown than the previous one shown above.
A look at this different cabinet card shows the typical color and gloss of albumen prints. This print is more reddish-brown than the previous one shown above.

Here’s an albumen print. Notice the shiny surface and the reddish-brown tones. The glossy surface of albumen prints made them controversial, with many people finding their appearance to be garish.

They are difficult to see, but there are four names written on the back of the cabinet card in pencil. The names are Jack Abrl, Pearl Uferwin, Jim Gibney, and Ambrose Keeley. I wasn’t able to learn anything about these gentlemen.

Handwritten on the back are the names Jack Abrl, Pearl Uferwin, Jim Gibney, and Ambrose Keeley.
Handwritten on the back are the names Jack Abrl, Pearl Uferwin, Jim Gibney, and Ambrose Keeley.

Sources and Links

Archives West, “O.S. Goff photographs, 1889”

State Historical Society of North Dakota, “Chasing an Enigma: Frontier Photographer Orlando S. Goff”

Library of Congress. The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, March 23, 1905, Image 1

2 comments

  1. A great source of history that we can all be thankful for, for with out these photographs we would never really know the past.

    1. It’s an incredible thing to look into the eyes of someone who lived 100+ years ago.

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