{{use mdy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Harvey Caplin | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Harvey Harold Caplin | birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|7|21}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|11|14|1915|7|21}} | death_place = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] --> | other_names = Harvey H. Caplin | occupation = Free-lance photographer of the American Southwest | spouse = {{marriage|Grace Morton|1940}} | education = [[Rochester Institute of Technology]] | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Harvey Caplin''' (July 21, 1915 – November 14, 1984) was an American freelance photographer of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]].<ref name="AJ obit">{{Cite news |date=1984-11-16 |title=Obituary for Harvey H. Caplin |work=Albuquerque Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/albuquerque-journal-obituary-for-harvey/124825642/ |access-date=2023-05-16}}</ref> His work spanned the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]], but centered primarily on images of scenic and historical significance within the state of [[New Mexico]]. He documented the working life of cowboys on [[Bell Ranch]], the lives of Native Americans, and landmarks.
==Personal life and education== Harvey Harold Caplin was born on July 21, 1915, in [[Rochester, New York]]<ref name="WWII reg">{{Citation |title=Harvey Harold Caplin, Registration on October 16, 1940 at Rochester, New York |work=WWII Draft Registration Cards For New York State, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147 | publisher=National Archives, Saint Louis, Missouri}}</ref> to Yetta and David Chaplin. His father was an immigrant from Germany. He had a brother Albert and a sister Inez.<ref>{{Citation |title=Harvey Caplin, Rochester, New York |work=1930 Federal Census | location=Washington, D.C. | publisher=National Archives}}</ref> Caplin was raised in Rochester.<ref name="AT obit" /> He graduated with an applied arts degree from [[Rochester Institute of Technology]].<ref name="AT obit" />
Caplin married Grace Morton of [[Elmira, New York]] on May 30, 1940, and lived in Rochester after their marriage.<ref name="marriage">{{Cite news |date=1940-05-31 |title=Marriage of Grace Morton and Harvey Caplin |work=Star Gazette |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette-marriage-of-grace-morton-an/124833365/ |access-date=2023-05-17}}</ref> They had a daughter and son, Abbie and Lee.<ref name="AT obit">{{Cite news |date=1984-11-16 |title=Obituary for Harvey H Caplin |work=The Albuquerque Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-albuquerque-tribune-obituary-for-har/124823523/ |access-date=2023-05-16}}</ref>
During World War II, he served the [[United States Army Air Forces]]<ref name="AT obit" /> and was stationed in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] at the [[Kirtland Air Force Base]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1984-11-16 |title=Obituary for Harvey H. Caplin |pages=6 |work=The Deming Headlight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-deming-headlight-obituary-for-harvey/124825237/ |access-date=2023-05-16}}</ref> He was a damage photographer.<ref name="RiT">{{Cite web |title=Art on Campus: Harvey Caplin |url=https://www.rit.edu/artoncampus/harvey-caplin |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=www.rit.edu}}</ref> Caplin settled in Albuquerque in 1945.<ref name="AT obit" /> He died on November 14, 1984, in Albuquerque.<ref name="AJ obit" />
==Career== In 1940, Caplin worked at the Rochester Lithographic Company.<ref name="WWII reg" /> Caplin began taking pictures of the Southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico, in the 1940s. His interests included landscapes of [[Utah]], [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Colorado]].<ref name="AJ obit" /> In 1944, he was hired by the New Mexico Tourist Bureau to capture color images of scenic and historical significance for promotional and tourist materials.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1947-07-14 |title=Harvey Caplin appointed as photographer for State Tourist Bureau |work=Carlsbad Current Argus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/carlsbad-current-argus-harvey-caplin-app/124833999/ |access-date=2023-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1947-07-14 |title=Tourist Bureau Gets Photographer |work=Santa Fe New Mexican |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-santa-fe-new-mexican-tourist-bureau/124834423/ |access-date=2023-05-17}}</ref> The ''[[Saturday Evening Post]]'' hired him to capture a series of landscape photos. The "River of Aspens" came out of that effort.<ref name="AJ obit" /> A United States commemorative postage stamp depicts Caplin's photograph of [[Shiprock]] to memorialize the 50th year of New Mexico's statehood. He taught photography.<ref name="AT obit" />
Many of his images were taken at [[Bell Ranch]], sometimes on horseback and alongside working cowboys. He photographed [[Puebloan]] people — like [[Maria Martinez]], a notable potter from [[San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico|San Ildefonso Pueblo]] — and [[Navajo]] and [[Zuni people|Zuni]] Native Americans. He was hired by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] to preserve information about their ways of life, such as their ceremonial practices.<ref name="AJ obit" />
Caplin had a studio in [[Old Town Albuquerque]].<ref name="AJ obit" /> His works have been published in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[New Mexico Magazine]]'', ''[[Field & Stream]]'', and other magazines.<ref name="AT obit" /> Caplin was a founding member of a professional photographers' organization in 1948.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1948-04-03 |title=Photographers Hold First Meeting |work=The Albuquerque Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-albuquerque-tribune-photographers-ho/124834652/ |access-date=2023-05-17}}</ref> He cataloged 55,000 photographs that he made up to the year of his death.<ref name="AJ obit" />
==Publication== * {{Cite book |last1=Caplin |first1=Harvey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NqcAAAACAAJ |title=Enchanted Land, New Mexico |date=1973 |publisher=Bank Securities, Incorporated |isbn=978-0-910750-28-8 |language=en}} * {{Citation |publisher = Modern Press |isbn = 091075036X |location = Albuquerque, N.M |title = Albuquerque: 100 years in pictures, 1875-1975 |edition = 2nd |first1 = George |last1=Fitzpatrick |first2 = Harvey | last2=Caplin |date = 1976 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/albuquerque100ye00fitz }}
'''Posthumous books''' * {{Cite book |last1=Caplin |first1=Harvey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fy3RQgAACAAJ |title=Harvey Caplin's Real Cowboys & the Old West |last2=Caplin |first2=Abbie |date=2010 |publisher=Schiffer Pub. |isbn=978-0-7643-3434-4 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Johns |first=Douglas C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3NTezQEACAAJ |title=Harvey Caplin's Photographic Archive of the Southwest: An Archive of 50,000 Graphic Documents Illustrating the Dynamic Growth and Transformation of a Region in the Four Decades Following World War II |date=2019 |publisher=Douglas Johns |language=en}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:}} [[Category:1914 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:Artists from Rochester, New York]] [[Category:American photographers]] [[Category:Rochester Institute of Technology alumni]] [[Category:20th-century American people]] [[Category:Artists from Albuquerque, New Mexico]]