Searching for Mary SCHäFfer

Mary Schaffer was a photographer, writer, and cartographer from Philadelphia, well known for her work in the Canadian Rockies at the turn of the twentieth century. Colleen Skidmore's engrossing study asks new questions, tells new stories, and introduces women and men with whom Schaffer interacted and collaborated. It argues for new ways of thinking about the significance and impact of Schaffer's work on historical and contemporary conceptions of women's experiences in histories and societies in which gender is fundamental to the distribution of power. Scholars and readers of women's photography and writing histories, as well as wilderness and mountain studies, will make new discoveries in Searching for Mary Schaffer.

"In her new book, Skidmore portrays Schäffer in a nuanced way by discussing the scientific and artistic communities she came from, as well as the lives of the people she travelled with. She also dissolves some of the more persistent stereotypes people use to describe Schäffer.... Readers of Skidmore's new book will better understand why Schäffer's work has moved people for so long.", "Skidmore is a social historian of photography, and with this perspective she examines Schäffer’s influence. From this publication, you can expect a feminist, academic and analytical approach to discovering Schäffer.... Throughout the book, Skidmore unpacks several fallacies in previous interpretations of Schäffer’s life, character, writing and photography. Pairing these commonly misconstrued ‘facts’ and assumptions with thorough research on existing literature – as well as newly examined material – Skidmore brings forth a new layer to the reconstruction of Schäffer’s character and meaning of her work." [Full article at https://crowfootmedia.com/2018/05/10/review-searching-for-mary-schaffer], "Skidmore’s monograph offers a robust introduction to Schäffer’s work and contributes to recent scholarship in American art that attends to work produced across the North American continent.... Overall, Skidmore delivers an analysis of Schäffer’s prolific career as an artist and writer that will be of specific interest to scholars interested in the history of photography, women’s studies, and the history of science.... Skidmore offers a refreshing alternative to other studies in her emphasis on the collaborative practices that Schäffer engaged in alongside other women who were drawn to the Canadian Rockies during the early twentieth century." [Full review at https://editions.lib.umn.edu/panorama/article/searching-for-mary-schaffer/], "...a full and fascinating narrative of Schäffer's adult life, including her four-month summer excursions, in 1907 and 1908, into remote areas of the Rockies of Alberta and BC.... In this detailed book, Skidmore writes Schäffer, deservedly, into a historical narrative heretofore populated mostly by men.... [I]t is a significant achievement.", "In this book, Skidmore considers four basic themes - women, wilderness, travel, and science. She asks questions, tells stories, and makes full use of material in the archives of Canada and the United States."

Colleen Skidmore is a photography historian and Professor at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton. Her research focuses on women's photographic practices and archives of women in photography in North America from 1860 to 1920. She is the editor of This Wild Spirit: Women in the Rocky Mountains of Canada (UAP).