Yellowstone Country: The Photographs of Jack Richard

2002-2008
MrCracken Research Library

Reared on a dude ranch west of Cody, I learned to love and respect the mountains and valleys, the wildlife, the people and their way of life. All these I have been photographing for more years than I care to count.
- Jack Richard, 1985

SEARCH, VIEW AND PURCHASE IMAGES FROM THE JACK RICHARD COLLECTION

The exhibition, Yellowstone Country: The Photographs of Jack Richard, showcased the work of photojournalist Jack Richard, and was on display in the McCracken Research Library Exhibition Gallery.

A regional pioneer of photojournalism, Jack Richard (1909-1992) took full advantage of the camera's ability to tell a story. Based in Cody, Wyoming, Richard ran a local photographic studio and published a newspaper, The Cody Times that eventually merged with the Cody Enterprise, the award-winning newspaper founded by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in 1899, and still the leading news source for the town of Cody today.

Richard photographed in the Yellowstone area from the 1940s to the 1980s, where his crisp, superbly composed images captured the Western way of life. The McCracken Research Library of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is proud to hold the collection of Jack Richard, which he and his wife, Doris, donated in 1988.

Richard's collection covers a tremendous range of topics and photographic styles. Controlled studio portraits document the residents of Cody, yet they also occasionally capture an intangible, powerful western spirit in weathered faces and proud postures. Yellowstone National Park and Shoshone National Forest are ever present themes in his work, and his love of wilderness and the American West shine brilliantly in these images. Yet these photographs went beyond the mastery of documentation and reporting to grasp the essence of the arts -the creation of images that touch people's emotions and excite the imagination.

The exhibition features photographs recently published in the book of the same title, Yellowstone Country: The Photographs of Jack Richard by Mark Bagne and Bob Richard (Roberts Rinehart Publishers and Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 2002).

Craig Satterlee, Mary Ellen Lee and Linda Gail Lipe of Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming produced the print enlargements from digital scans of Richard's negatives.

Sponsorship

The exhibition was underwritten by the Charles J. Belden Fund for Photography, set up by Margot Belden Todd to further the appreciation of the photographic arts.

IMAGES - Jack Richard Collection, BBHC.
1. A pack string climbs a trail toward the Thorofare on Ishawooa Creek on the Southfork of the Shoshone River. (1954)
2. Outfitter Bob Adams prepares to put up his horse after a rainy ride. (1957)
3. A workhorse nibbles some ice at the Old Frost Ranch on Sage Creek, on the Northfork of the Shoshone River. (1962)