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Austin, Nevada
Timothy H. O'Sullivan (born Ireland 1840-died New York City 1882)
1868
- Medium
- albumen silver print
- Classification
- Photographs
- Dimensions
- sheet and image: 7 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. (19.7 x 26.7 cm.)
- Culture
- Austin
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Graphic Arts
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Dreams of fortune buried deep in silver mines attracted over 10,000 people to Austin, Nevada, in the early 1860s. Located in the remote Toiyabe Range, this boomtown was soon deserted, leaving the buildings seen here to fall into disrepair. Clarence King led a team through Austin for the U.S. government sponsored Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, a survey that covered an expanse 800 miles long and 100 miles wide between the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Timothy O’Sullivan’s photograph illustrates with precision and clarity the scientific findings of this major geological study.
