Yosemite National Park became a state park in 1864 and a national one on October 1, 1890. Yosemite encompasses 761,320 acres in central California, a landscape that features giant sequoia groves, soaring domes and peaks, and majestic waterfalls.
A Landmark Birthday
Yosemite National Park became a state park in 1864 and a national one on October 1, 1890. Yosemite encompasses 761,320 acres in central California, a landscape that features giant sequoia groves, soaring domes and peaks, and majestic waterfalls.
Ansel Adams, one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century, spent a significant part of his adult life in Yosemite National Park.
Born in San Francisco and trained as a musician, by 1920 he had begun making trips into the High Sierra; in 1924 he made his first important photographs there and began to publish both images and writings. Adams's work in both media contributed greatly to the American conservationist movement.
More views of this grand landmark can be seen online at our photography web site Helios.
Source: Merry A. Foresta. American Photographs: The First Century (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996).
Pictured: Ansel Adams, 1902–84, North Dome, Basket Dome, Mount Hoffman, Yosemite, about 1935, silver print on paper, 6 1/2 x 8 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.