When AV pioneers wanted to have their portraits taken they would usually visit a traveling photographer at their “studio,” which would be set up at the Western Hotel or Lancaster Hotel and available for about two to three weeks at a time. Newspaper offices were also able to take photographs. When a local photographer was not available, residents would travel to one of the studios in Los Angeles.
One of the earliest photographers to capture Lancaster on film was G.L. Albertson; later ones included L.F. Bautier and the Rowland Studio. Famed pioneer photographer Carleton Watkins traveled through this region taking photographs of Acton (the Joshua tree paper mill), Kern County, and Tehachapi (the Tehachapi railroad loop) in the early 1880s.
"Gurba, Norma H. Lancaster. Arcadia, 2005.
Photo courtesy of MOAH Collections"