Featured in this lot are one-hundred and six photo negatives taken in and around Virginia City, Nevada City and Bannack by renowned Butte photographer C. Owen Smithers circa 1920s - 1960s. These photo negatives are from the C. Owen Smithers collection. C. Owen Smithers was born in 1893. He grew up in Kalispell, where he learned the skill of photography and the usage of a darkroom while working in his father's drugstore. He enrolled in the University of Montana's new School of Journalism in 1914, becoming one of the first press photographer students. During World War I, he served as a mess sergeant in France under General Pershing. During World War II, he returned to active duty as the Army Signal Corps Photography Chief, stationed in New York City, where he oversaw all Army Photography Sections in New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Smithers arrived in Butte in 1921, after serving in World War I. From 1921 to 1923, he was the Chief Photographer for the Anaconda Standard, where he captured the ever-changing panorama of Butte, Montana, on the streets and in the mining yards. Smithers collaborated with Frank Ward and Tom Manning between 1923 and 1924, before establishing his own photography studio in 1926. From the 1930s until his retirement in 1972, Smithers photographed every President of the United States, from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon. He passed away in 1973, just a year after retiring. This wonderful collection features various locations, people, buildings and every day activities photographed by C. Owen Smithers. Some of the photos show groups of people dancing, posing for photos, a land plot map of Virginia City, ceremonies, bar tops, covered wagons, a coffee house, a blacksmith, a clothing store, a saloon, the Wells Fargo Coffee House in Virginia City, a wedding reception invite at the Residence of Judge Theodore Muffly in Virginia City, the Virginia City Water Company building, wood working tools, a man smoking a pipe, placer mining in Alder Gulch, Virginia City fire wagons, a wagon shop, a pioneer grave, a drug store and its owner, a mechanic shop, a barber shop, a mother and daughter in a shop, Wells Fargo and Company Overland Mail, Smith & Boyd Saloon Virginia City, a man panning for gold, a man smoking a cigar, Rank's Drug Store, an aerial view of Virginia City, the Bannack court house, a dredge at Bannack, two women feeding a deer, two men standing on a house, Nevada City Hotel, a log bell tower in Nevada City, a man in his study and many more. The photo negatives show fair to good condition overall with some showing more wear than others. Fading and scratches present to the photo negatives. Slight tears and creases present as well. Photo negatives are set in manila folders (larger photo negatives) and small envelopes (smaller photo negatives) to preserve their condition. They measure from 9 7/8" L x 7 7/8" W to 3 1/4" L x 4 1/4" W. They have a collective weight of 1 pound 8 ounces.