A studio portrait of a woman, “Teacher at Kendall” is penciled in at the back. #28. Probably Alice Crosby. Photographer J. F. Standiford.
Jacob Frank Standiford (1852-?) was a photographer in Indian Territory. He was originally from what would become West Virginia, and part of his life was lived in Illinois and Kansas. In 1878, he moved to Muskogee, I.T. and received a permit from the Creek Nation to reside there. Because of this he frequently advertised himself as the only licensed photographer in Indian Territory. He maintained a studio and gallery in Muskogee.
In the 1880s, he returned to Kansas, and advertised himself as “The People’s Photographer” in Parsons. In 1886, he married Sarah E., and she joined him in his business. They were later joined by Standiford’s sister, Rachael.
By 1888 he had returned to Muskogee. Standiford traveled over most of Indian Territory by wagon and shooting portraits in a tent studiovisiting such places as Eufaula, McAlester, Tahlequah, Vinita and Wagoner.
Standiford was also an inventor. In 1892 he applied for a patent on an electric retouching apparatus used for etching. He also invented a revolving printing room. In 1900 he received a patent for a multiplying camera and making multiple exposures on a single plate.
A cabinet card showing an unidentified bearded man in a hat exhibiting a yearling colt. A short picket fence is behind them. Photographer J. F. Standiford.
In 1893, he sold the business in Muskogee to Alice Robertson and moved to Ft. Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas. He died sometime after 1920.
The Standiford images in the collections are not from a single collection, but are gathered from other collections, notable the TU archives and the Papers of the Robertson and Worcester families.
