Fonds F0981 - L.A. Huffman fonds

Laton Alton Huffman, 1854-1931, was born in Castalia, Iowa, USA. He and his family moved to Waukon, Iowa in 1865 where his father opened a photo studio. L.A. worked in the studio and ca. 1875 opened his own studio in Postville, Iowa. He moved to Minnesota in 1878 to work in Frank Jay Haynes' photo studio, but later that year took a position as post photographer at Fort Keogh, Montana. He also acted as a hunting party guide, started a cattle ranch and hunted buffalo.

Huffman gave up his photography position ca. 1881 and moved to Miles City, Montana to open a studio which he operated until 1890. During the next few years he moved to Portland, Oregon, opened a studio in Billings, Montana and moved back to Miles City where he operated a studio until 1905. He then devoted time to producing and selling his photographic images as postcards and stereographs. These included views of Cheyenne, Sioux and Crow; open range in Montana; and the Little Big Horn. He and his wife, Lizzie, had at least two children, Ruth (Scott) and Bessie (Felton).

For further information see The Frontier Years : L.A. Huffman, Photographer of the Plains / Mark H. Brown and William R. Felton. - New York : Henry Holt and Company, 1955; Before Barbed Wire : L.A. Huffman, Photographer on Horseback / Mark H. Brown and William R. Felton. - New York : Henry Holt and Company, 1956; and Nancy Ellis' article, "L.A. Huffman : Frontier Photographer" in Cowboys and Indians. -- vol. 3, no. 3 (Fall, 1995), p. 46-50.