Western History books from Bored Feet Press

Bluewater Gold Rush
The Odyssey of a California Sea Urchin Diver

Tom Kendrick

Kendrick tells a compelling and fascinating story of urchin diving on the California Coast laced with adventure, humor and tragedy. Amazing surfing tales too!

Past Tents
The Way We Camped

Susan Snyder

An affectionate portrait of early camping in the West, Past Tents is a light-hearted look at American's infatuation with the great outdoors.

Aurelius O. Carpenter
Photographer of the Mendocino Frontier

Marvin A. Schenck, Karen Holmes, and Sherrie Smith-Ferri

Aurelius Carpenter photographed the frontier of northern California's rural Mendocino County region.He documented the lives of Pomo Indians and White settlers, the coming of the railroad, logging and shipping industries, and the agricultural endeavors and natural beauties of the area.

Circles of Life
Katsina Imagery on Hopi Wicker Basketry

Judith W. Finger and Andrew D. Finger

The Hopi people are well known for their skill and artistry in creating ceramics, jewelry, and most especially, katsina dolls, but this is the first book to detail the basketry art.

Elusive Truth—Four Photographers at Manzanar: Ansel Adams, Clem Albers, Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake

Gerald H. Robinson,
Introduction by Archie Miyatake

In 1942 the United States government declared 110,000 American Japanese residents of the U.S. threat to national security and incarcerated them in eleven relocation camps around the country. This book tells the story of one such camp, Manzanar.

Searching for Joaquin
Myth, Murieta and History in California

Bruce Thornton

This fascinating, thought-provoking and ground-breaking book has so very much to offer—enough history and myth to enthrall any Californian —the great human influx and clash of cultures of the Gold Rush.

The Lovely Sea View
A Study of the Marine Photographs
Published by Gustave Le Gray, 1856-1858

Ken Jacobson

This important monograph on the photographer Le Gray was published in a limited edition. Gorgeous duotones and extraordinary detective work transport the reader into the world of French and English art photography in the 1850s.

Arizona Real Photo Postcards
A History & Portfolio

Jeremy Rowe

Rowe explores interesting facets of early Arizona as visually captured by professional and amateur postcard photographers. The topics include mining, labor unrest, the advent of the automobile, Indians, disasters, the Mexican Border War, and photography.

My Checkered Life
Luzena Stanley Wilson in Early California

Fern Henry

This historic memoir is Luzena Stanley Wilson's classic account of her family's 1849 overland journey to California and their experiences there during and after the Gold Rush.

1500 California Place Names
Their Origin and Meaning

William Bright

This is the new “pocket” version of the classic California Place Names, first published in 1949. Erwin G. Gudde's monumental work has now been released in an expanded and updated edition by William Bright.

Little White Father
Redick McKee on the California Frontier

Ray Raphael

If U.S. Indian Agent Redick McKee had succeeded in his 1850s efforts, the bloodshed against Native Americans would have stopped and natives and immigrants might have lived in peace, leading to a more equitable multicultural society.

An Everyday History of Somewhere

Ray Raphael

This classic, award-winning people's history of California's north coast is an evocative blend of oral history and narrative. These stories resonate with truth for anyone who has ever visited the area. As the subtitle says, "Being the true story of Indians, deer, homesteaders, potatoes, loggers, trees, fishermen, salmon, and other living things in the back woods of Northern California."

William Henry Jackson
An Annotated Bibliography 1862-1995

Thomas H. Harrell

An essential resource on a great western photographer.

Bury My Bones in America
The Saga of a Chinese Family

Lani Ah Tye Farkas

One of the few published histories of a Chinese family in America, this book provides a rare glimpse of a chinese-american family, through the Gold Rush, Tong Wars, early San Francisco, the 1906 Earthquake, opium dens, and international diplomacy.

California
Its Gold and Its Inhabitants

Sir Henry Huntley

British nobelman Huntley spent most of his life in the New World. This is a reprint of his memoirs of travels and adventures in northern California during the Gold Rush, first published in the 19th century.

Woodleaf Legacy
Story of a California Gold Rush Town

Rosemary Mossinger

This lively history, describes life in a small northern Sierra town. It begins with the native Maidu village, then documents the fur traders, the early mines, through years of resorts, stagecoaches and stage robbers, and lumbering.

The Savage View
Charles Savage, Pioneer Mormon Photographer

Bradley W. Richards, M.D.

The only full length biography of an excellent western photographer who emigrated to Utah in 1855, then captured more than 50 years of western landscapes, faces,and places.

Biographies of Western Photographers
Guide to Photographers Working in the 19th Century American West

Carl Mautz

This monumental work covers 15,000+ 19th century photographers who worked in 27 western states and Canadian provinces. A must for researchers, it includes a text on collecting old photographs, plus an alphabetical index by state, province or category of all photographers listed.

Photographers in Arizona 1850-1920
A History and Directory

Jeremy Rowe

This book presents a 70-year visual history of a legendary land, an exciting window into one of the most colorful periods and places in our western heritage.

Thirty Years Ago 1849-1879
Gold Rush Memories of a Daguerrotype Artist

George Dornin

A forty-niner and photographer spins his true life Gold Rush story. Edited by renowned photo historian Peter Palmquist.

Humble Work and Mad Wanderings
Street Life in the Machine Age

Ken Appollo

This remarkable book presents fascinating images from an impassioned photo-historian of street life. Striking images and stories depict street people from the last half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

Ohio Photographers 1839-1900
A History and Directory

Diane VanSkiver Gagel

Winner of the 1998 U.S. Grant Award for Genealogical Research Aide, this is the story of Ohio's visual history, from the earliest images in 1839 until the dawning of the 20th century.

Great Spirit
North American Indian Portraits

Edward McAndrews

Portraits of Native Americans by little-known photographers.

The Remarkable Carlo Gentile
Pioneer Italian Photographer

Cesare Marino

This book tells the intriguing story of Buffalo Bill's first Wild West Show photographer. The Italian photographer Carlo Gentile left his native land at age 21 and traveled around the world, landing in San Francisco in the 1850s.

Dassonville
California Photographer (1879-1957)

Peter Palmquist; Researched and edited by Susan Herzig and Paul Hertzmann

This beautiful book is the first about an influential, superb California photographer widely published in his day and the winner of numerous prizes and honors.

Natives, Newcomers, Exiles, Fugitives
Northern California Writers and their Work

Jonah Raskin

In this book Jonah Raskin examines thirty northern California writers (fifteen of them women) and their work in the context of the region in which they live and the literary community there.

American Photographic Patents
The Daguerrotype & Wet Plate Era 1840-1880

Janice G. Schimmelman

This new book lists 810 invention patents and 22 design patents pertaining to a wide range of photographic processes, equipment and methodology.

Twenty Remarkable Women Seen Through their Handwriting

Marian Gimby Brannan

Master Graphoanalyst Brannan presents short biographies of twenty highly accomplished women, then uniquely and dramatically pairs their histories with an analysis of their handwriting, creating a vivid personal encounter with each subject.