Nebraska History (Solomon Butcher)

Nebraska History, vintage 8 x 10 inch glossy silver print photograph with notation reading: "Spees family, negro homesteaders near Westerville, Custer Co., Nebraska. Credit: Nebraska State Historical Society / S.D. Butcher Collection." Printed in the second half of the 20th century as part of the American Heritage Publishing Archive.

Solomon D. Butcher (January 24, 1856 – March 18, 1927), itinerant photographer who spent most of his life in central Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. A settler under the Homestead Act, he began in 1886 to produce a photographic record of the history of white settlement in the region. Over 3,000 of his negatives survive; more than 1,000 of these depict sod houses. Butcher wrote two books incorporating his photographs: 'Pioneer History of Custer County and Short Sketches of Early Days in Nebraska' (1901), and 'Sod Houses, or the Development of the Great American Plains' (1904).

Verso bears credit stampings and notations. Very good condition.

Provenance: From the American Heritage Publishing Archives.