Camera Workers, 1858-1950

The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950

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Rappertie, Arthur Stewart

Rappertie, Arthur Stewart[1, 2, 3]

Male 1854? - 1923

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  • Name Rappertie, Arthur Stewart 
    • VARIANT NAME: Rappertie, Arthur Stuart; Raffertie, Arthur S.; Rafferty, A.S.
    Birth 1854?  Pennsylvania? Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Home Address/Year 1882  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Blanshard Ave.
    between Cormorant and Fisgard St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1885  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Bay St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1887  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Douglas St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1877?-1889  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Douglas St.
    corner of Johnson St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1889-1890  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    163 Cook St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1890-1892  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    99 Douglas St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1891-1892  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    268 Yates St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1893  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    227 Pandora Ave.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1894-1895  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    20 Henry St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1897-1898  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    Layton St.
    corner of Cadboro Bay Rd.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1899  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    150 Fort St.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Home Address/Year 1900  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    8 Avalon Rd.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    Business Address/Year 1892-1911  Victoria, BC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Address:
    41 ½ Pandora Ave.
    Victoria, BC
    Canada 
    • 41 1/2 Pandora Ave. was renumbered in 1907 and the location in 2007 houses John's Place Restaurant, 723 Pandora Ave.
    Burial Nov 1923  Chattahoochee, FL Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Death 13 Nov 1923  Jacksonville, FL Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Association Maynard, Hannah Hatherly (Relationship: Employee) 
    Person ID I346  Camera Workers | R, vol. 1, 1858-1900
    Last Modified 24 Mar 2022 

  • Photos
    A photographer, possibly Arthur S. Rappertie, timing an exposure.    		A photographer, possibly Arthur S. Rappertie, timing an exposure.
    Photograph by S.A. Spencer. Image courtesy of BC Archives, Visual Records call no. G-03300 (catalogue no. HP096449); copied from Camera album no. 37.
    A.S. Rappertie and his mother, ca. 1898.    		A.S. Rappertie and his mother, ca. 1898.
    They are seated in their apartment behind the Maynard studio on Pandora Ave. Image courtesy of BC Archives, reference code F-06918.

  • Notes 
    • STATUS: Commercial (assistant).
    • BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY: He worked for Hannah Maynard (Mrs. R. Maynard). His obituary (Victoria Times) states he worked for her for 34 years. What appears to be Rappertie's personal photo album is dated Victoria, BC, 3 Jun 1877 (BC Archives Visual Records accession 198904-019), and Mattock-[George] Flynt Farm, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1912-1913.

      The 1881 census shows him to be age 24, Episcopal, and from the United States. In 1881 he lived with his mother or aunt, age 61, who was a teacher. Her death is not recorded in the Vital Events index on the BC Archives Web site which means she did not die in BC or her death was not registered.

      A carte-de-visite portrait taken by S.A. Spencer (BVIPA call number G-03300) is believed to show A.S. Rappertie at work timing an exposure.

      Given the coincidental timing of his appearance at Mrs. R. Maynard's studio, possibly even as early as the mid to late 1870s, Rappertie must be considered a candidate as the author of, or at least a collaborator in, the various experimental and trick photographs credited to his employer. The annual Gems of British Columbia series, for example, was produced between 1880 and at least 1895. The various living statute portraits and the multiple exposure tableaux featuring Mrs. Maynard and living and deceased family members may also have originated with Rappertie. Certainly the complexity of the poses in the multiple exposure place him or someone else behind the camera or in the darkroom.

      Rappertie appears in several Maynard family photos, some of which are found in Wilks' book.

      The existence of two mysterious photographs showing the inside of a room with photo equipment and sample photo portraits, along with Rappertie's trunk marked "Hearne, Texas" (BVIPA call numbers F-06919 and F-06920), with other photographs by the Maynards is explained by a notice in the Victoria Daily Colonist (19 Jul 1898) stating his departure for that location with his mother and a P. Dearinder. David Haynes' directory of 19th century Texas photographers does not list any male photographers for the 1890s in Hearne, Texas.

      In Mrs. R. Maynard's studio register his name and address appear in pencil on a front flyleaf as "A S Rappertie Calvert Texas".

      Around the time of Hannah Maynard's retirement, Rappertie moved to Oregon about 1911 to farm, then retired to Florida where he lived with his sister Mrs. Mollie Hamilton.

      Rappertie is buried in the Florida State Hospital Cemetery (Cemetery 3, Division 5), Chattahoochee, Gadsden County, Florida.
    • REFERENCES: WIL82; WIL85; MAL87; WIL89; HEN90; HEN91; WIL92; WIL93; WIL94; WIL95; HEN97; WIL97; HEN98; HEN99; HEN00; BC Archives Visual Records accession 198904-019 (photo album owned by A.S. Rappertie); Dominion Census, 1881 (OOA microfilm reel no. C-13,285, Johnson St. Ward); Victoria Times, 1923 11 23/13 (obit. incorrectly cites death date as 16 Nov); Wilks (1980); Mattison (2003); University of Victoria, Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery (2004); VL1908, 1911, Victoria; Florida State Hospital Cemetery List (online at FindAGrave.com; URL (accessed 6 Jan 2017): http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Rappertie&GSiman=1&GScid=2225761&GRid=116796873&; cites death date 13 Nov 1923).

  • Sources 
    1. [S666] BVIPA archival records.
      Item MS-3325, Studio register of Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery, 1891-1899.
      May be downloaded as a PDF.

    2. [S721] Census of Canada 1881.
      His mother Rebecca was a teacher and he was a photographer.
      Province of BC, District no. 190, Sub-district C, Johnson St. Ward, p. 79, line 11

    3. [S517] David Haynes, Haynes, David, (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1993).
      Neither A.S. Rappertie nor any other male photographer are listed in Haynes' directory as having worked in Hearne, Texas, in 1898 or around that time period. The only photographer Haynes lists in that location in the 1890s is a Mrs. S.A. Ward (1890-91).

    4. [S832] Find a Grave (Web site), 6 Jan 2017.
      Chattahoochee, Gadsden County, FL
      Cemetery #3, Division #5, Row #2, Grave 37.