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Eadweard Muybridge

Last Updated: 25-Sep-2012

Works by and resources about photographer Eadweard Muybridge in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. Muybridge conducted the earliest of his photographic studies of animal motion at Leland Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm.

Works by Muybridge

Photograph collection, 1868-1929 (PC0006)
Image from this collection have been digitized and are available at the link above. Collection includes original Muybridge glass plate negatives and prints, as well as modern day copy prints of his photographs. Original materials, 1872-1880, include images of the Stanfords' residences in Sacramento and San Francisco, other unidentified estates, and two printed cards from his horse in motion series, 1878. Images represented by copy prints include Canadian Pacific Railway, Native Americans, San Francisco, Oakland, and several Central America photographs. Also included in the collection is a set of glass slides, primarily of images included in this collection, probably assembled by Harry C. Peterson, former curator of the Stanford Museum.
Photographs, circa 1870-1890 (MSS PHOTO 167)
39 prints in 10 folders.
Yosemite, its wonders and its beauties : with information adapted to the wants of tourists about to visit the valley.
San Francisco: 1868. Includes 20 photographs by Muybridge, mounted.
The Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico; the Isthmus of Panama; Guatemala; and the cultivation and shipment of coffee
San Francisco: 1876. 144 photographs, mounted in album; 26 x 38 cm. There is also a second copy with 59 photographs. A guide to both albums with a list of plate titles is available in the Special Collections reading room.
Panorama of San Francisco from California-Street Hill, 1878
13 photographs, mounted on one sheet of cloth to form one panoramic view; 69 x 585 cm. folded to 69 x 44 cm. Use copies are available; use of the original requires permission from Special Collections staff.
The attitudes of animals in motion, 1881
Full title: The attitudes of animals in motion: a series of photographs illustrating the consecutive positions assumed by animals in performing various movements; executed at Palo Alto, California, in 1878 and 1879. 170 pages with mounted photographs; 25 x 36 cm. Images have been scanned and are available at the link above.
Animal locomotion: an electro-photographic investigation of consecutive phases of animal movements, 1872-1885
781 plates; 49 x 63cm. The plates are numbered consecutively and supplied only with two title-pages (v. [1] and [16]) A prospectus and catalogue of plates was issued the same year and has been catalogued separately under call number TR140.M91. Plates in this copy are incomplete; a detailed list is available in the department.
Descriptive zoopraxography; or, The science of animal locomotion made popular.
Published as a memento of a series of lectures given by Muybridge under the auspices of the United States Government Board of Education, at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Animals in motion : an electro-photographic investigation of consecutive phases of animal progressive movements
1872-1885. 264 pages; 25 x 32 cm. Stanford copy has presentation inscription from the author to Leland Stanford Jr. University.
The human figure in motion; an electro-photographic investigation of consecutive phases of muscular actions
1872-1885. 280 pages, including plates; 25 x 32 cm. This copy is missing pages 91-150.

Archives and Manuscript Collections with Information on Muybridge

Archives and manuscript collections are stored off-site and must be requested at least 48 hours in advance of intended use.

Leland Stanford papers, 1840-1896 (SC0033A)
Includes correspondence about J.D.B. Stillman’s book The Horse in Motion and Muybridge's copyright claim to the work.
Leland Stanford collection, 1869-1975 (SC0512)
Primary and secondary sources pertaining to the life of Leland Stanford and the history of Stanford University's founding. Includes material on Muybridge’s work at Palo Alto Stock Farm and the invention of motion pictures.
David Starr Jordan papers, 1861-1964 (SC0058)
Papers of Stanford University’s first president. Includes correspondence with Muybridge.
Walter R. Miles research concerning Eadweard Muybridge, 1928-1932 (M0736)
Miles, a professor of experimental psychology at Stanford University, wanted to memorialize Muybridge's work by establishing a permanent exhibit at the Stanford Museum and hosting a 50th anniversary event. The collection includes correspondence about Muybridge; material about the Semi-Centennial Celebration and the invention of moving pictures; ephemera and published articles about Muybridge; and photographs and negatives, including those used by Miles in his articles and publications about Muybridge.

Reference Works, Reprint Editions, and Exhibit Catalogs

Eadweard Muybridge / Marta Braun.
London : Reaktion Books, 2010.
Art » Stacks » TR849 .M87 B73 2010
Eadweard Muybridge / Philip Brookman with contributions by Marta Braun ... [et al.].
London : Tate Pub. ; Göttingen : Steidl, 2010.
Special Collections » University Archives Reference (Non-circulating) » TR849 .M87 B77 2010

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 10 April-18 July 2010; Tate Britain, London, 8 Sept. 2010-16 Jan. 2011; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 26 Feb.-7 June 2011.

Eadweard Muybridge in Guatemala, 1875 : the photographer as social recorder / photographs by Eadweard J. Muybridge ; text by E. Bradford Burns.
Berkeley : University of California Press, c1986.
Art » Stacks » F1464 .B94 1986

Photographs by Eadweard J. Muybridge; text by E. Bradford Burns. Photographs are reprinted from The Pacific Coast of Central America and Mexico; the Isthmus of Panama; Guatemala; and the Cultivation and Shipment of Coffee; Illustrated by Muybridge (1876).

The man who stopped time : the illuminating story of Eadweard Muybridge : pioneer photographer, father of the motion picture, murderer / Brian Clegg.
Washington, D.C. : Joseph Henry Press, c2007.
Green » Stacks » TR849 .M84 C64 2007
Eadweard Muybridge : the Kingston Museum bequest / editor Stephen Herbert ; contributors Marta Braun, Paul Hill, Anne McCormack.
[Hastings] : Projection Box, c2004.
Green » Stacks » TR849 .M87 E23 2004 F
Muybridge : man in motion / by Robert Bartlett Haas.
Berkeley : University of California Press, c1976.
Special Collections » Reference (Non-circulating) » TR849 .M87 H3
Eadweard Muybridge and the photographic panorama of San Francisco, 1850-1880 / David Harris, with Eric Sandweiss.
Montréal : Canadian Centre for Architecture = Centre canadien d'architecture, 1993.
Special Collections » Rare Books Collection (Non-circulating) » F869 .S3 M78 1993 F

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal from in 1993. The exhibit was later circulated to the Friends of Photography, Ansel Adams Center, in San Francisco; and to the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

Eadweard Muybridge: the father of the motion picture.
New York, Grossman [1975]
Green » Stacks » TR849 .M87 H46
Eadweard Muybridge, the man who invented the moving picture.
[1st ed.] Boston, Little, Brown [1972]
SAL 1&2 » Stacks » TR849.M87 M3
Muybridge's Complete human and animal locomotion : all 781 plates from the 1887 Animal locomotion / by Eadweard Muybridge ; introd. to the Dover edition by Anita Ventura Mozley.
New York : Dover Publications, c1979.
Art » Stacks » QP301 .M82 1979 F V.1
Panoramic San Francisco, from California Street Hill, 1877.
San Francisco, T. C. Russell [19--?]
Special Collections » Rare Books Collection (Non-circulating) » F869 .S3 M8
San Francisco 1878 : portrait of the city / by Eadweard Muybridge ; [researched and prepared by Robert S. McBain].
[San Francisco] : History Department, Wells Fargo Bank, c1979.
Special Collections » University Archives: Request at Special Collections Desk » F869 .S3 M83 1979

Discusses the 75-foot enlargement of Muybridge's panoramic view of San Francisco, produced for the Wells Fargo Bank Penthouse from original photographic plates owned by Stanford University.

Time stands still : Muybridge and the instantaneous photography movement / Phillip Prodger ; with an essay by Tom Gunning.
[Stanford, Calif.] : Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University ; New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press, 2003.
Special Collections » University Archives: Request at Special Collections Desk » TR849 .M87 P76 2003

Catalog of an exhibition at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts.

River of shadows : Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild west / Rebecca Solnit.
New York : Viking, 2003.
Green » Stacks » TR849 .M87 S55 2003
Eadweard Muybridge; the Stanford years, 1872-1882.
[Stanford, Calif., 1972]
Special Collections » University Archives: Request at Special Collections Desk » 3591

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Stanford University Museum of Art, Oct. 7-Dec. 4, 1972; the E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, Dec. 16, 1972-Jan. 14, 1973; and the University Galleries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Feb. 8-Mar. 11, 1973.