Images of Jed
By Daryl Morrison (JSS Member)
This portrait is the only one known with any claim to authenticity. It is said to have been done from memory by a friend after Jed died. It appears as the frontispiece of Sullivan, Maurice S. The Travels of Jedediah Smith: A Documentary Outline, Including His Journal. 1934. Rpt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Artist Ruth Senf Framberg later used it for the basis of her oil painting held at the Friends of the Middle Border Gallery, Mitchell, South Dakota. Both appear in The Pacific Historian 11, no. 2 (Spring 1967).
Those who know the history of photography and of the early demise of Jedediah Smith know that a photograph of the stalwart mountain man is an impossibility. Smith died near the Cimarron River on May 27, 1831, when he was attacked by the Comanche; however, the invention date of photography is commonly thought to be 1839.
An unidentified artist did this sketch for Col. Frank Triplett’s Conquering the Wilderness; Or New Pictorial History of the Life and Times of the Pioneer Heroes and Heroines of America. Chicago: Werner, c. 1883. Engravings from designs by Thomas Nast, Felix O. C. Darley, and other artists added a modish moustache in the 1880s.
This painting appeared as the cover of TOGETHER magazine (June 1960); as the cover of The Pacific Historian 15, no. 3 (Fall 1971); and as the dust jacket of Lavender, David. The American Heritage History of the Great West. New York: American Heritage Publishing, 1965. The original painting is a large canvas on display at South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota.
This painting appeared as the cover of TOGETHER magazine (June 1960); as the cover of The Pacific Historian 15, no. 3 (Fall 1971); and as the dust jacket of Lavender, David. The American Heritage History of the Great West. New York: American Heritage Publishing, 1965. The original painting is a large canvas on display at South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota.
A photograph by Leonard Covello of this painting appeared in The Pacific Historian 20, no. 2 (Spring 1976). Original painting in Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library.
Without a photograph of Jedediah Smith, what images can we offer researchers looking for illustrations of Jedediah? Photographs of three brothers, Peter, Ira, and Benjamin, and three sisters, Sally, Betsy, and Eunice can be found in the Smith/Bacon Family Collection, 1821-1847, held in the Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections of the University of the Pacific. We leave the researcher to determine if Jedediah’s brothers’ images resemble Jedediah Smith (of course, the siblings are much older in years than Jed’s young adulthood).
Photographs of Peter and Benjamin Smith may bear a reasonable likeness to Jedediah Smith. These photographs appear in Sullivan, Maurice S. The Travels of Jedediah Smith: A Documentary Outline, Including His Journal. 1934. Rpt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
A copy of this painting appeared in The Pacific Historian 17, no. 3 (Fall 1973). The original is held in the Special Collections Department, University of the Pacific Library.
Photos Currently Unavailable
Of the 14 children of Jedediah Smith, Sr. and Sally Strong, there are six with photographs (in their later years) in the collection. Copies of these photographs are in MSS 20 Smith/Bacon Family Papers in the Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections: Sally Smith (b. 1791), Betsy Smith Davis (b. 1796), Eunice Smith Beers (b. 1797), Peter Smith (b. 1810), Ira Gilbert Smith (b. 1811) with his daughter Libbie, (Benjamin G.) Paddock Smith (b. 1812).
More Images of Jedediah Strong Smith
Dedicated Nov. 21, 1992, the statue is located at City Hall, W. Bonita Ave., San Dimas, California. Sponsored by the San Dimas Festival of Western Arts, the San Dimas Chamber of Commerce, the Jedediah Smith Society, and many local donors.
Three-dimensional quarter life-size sculptures by artist George S. Stuart
In his Ojai, California, studio Mr. Stuart has created more than four hundred historical figures of some of history’s most famous and infamous personalities. Additional information and detail on the construction of these figures may be found on http://www.galleryhistoricalfigures.com.
OAS (Online Archive of California)
Three collections at the University of the Pacific are linked to the Online Archive of California (OAS) site. Each collection provides a general description and a list of specific items.
“Register of the Jedediah Smith Society Collection, 1943 – http://oac.cdib.org/findaid/ark:13030/tf2v19n9cx
“Register of the Smith/Bacon Family Collection, 1821-1947”
http://oac.cdib.org/findaid/ark:13030/tf1j49n7wf
Register of the Maurice S. Sullivan Papers on Jed Smith”
http://oac.cdib.org/findaid/ark:13030/tf7k4008k7
Items Belonging to Jed Smith
Early percussion lock, not converted from flint, @ 50 caliber, single shot, Cap and Ball, 15 ½ inches long, 9 ½ inch octagonal barrel, muzzle load. Apparently recovered from the Comanche by Mexican traders after Smith had been killed. Now lost, having been stolen in San Diego in 1961. The San Diego Historical Society transferred the title to Jedediah Smith Society in 1975 for the missing piece and the holsters.
Donated on March 23, 1974, by great grandnephew Julian Smith Bacon, Jr. to society archives held in the Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific.
This original signature appeared on a bond document posted in 1827, Monterey, California.
Courtesy Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.
Logos in Jed’s Honor
Jedediah Smith in the Rocky Mountains. Design based on sculpted medal panel by Laura Gardin for a door at the Library, West Point Military Academy, New York. Prepared and presented by Robert Bussman, Past President JSS in memory of his father.
Jedediah Smith west of South Pass. Official corporate seal designed by graphic artist Irene Steiner, Soler Graphics, Hillsborough, California, from a drawing by artist Jose Cisneros, commissioned and donated by James Shebl, Past President JSS.
