Joseph L. Douglass

Joseph L. Douglass was a prolific photographer who worked in Columbia, Missouri. According to an obituary in the Mexico Weekly Ledger, Douglass apprenticed with Frank Thomas of Columbia in the 1880s. Then he moved to Mexico, Missouri, and lived there for a short period of time working with a photographer named Richard Graham before moving back to Columbia.

On November 1, 1886, Douglass opened his studio at 910 1/2 East Broadway, in Columbia. He worked in Columbia for twenty-seven years, taking photographs of University of Missouri students for the campus yearbook The Savitar, photographs of the university’s campus, photographs of individuals and groups, and of Boone County scenes. According to an article in the Evening Missourian, in 1911 Douglass had 20,000 negatives in his studio, he employed four people, and had equipment worth $3,000.

Douglass was involved with the Missouri Photographers Association, and in 1896 served as its first vice president and in 1900 as its president. He exhibited widely, winning prizes at the national and state level. He had the distinct honor of being the winningest photographer of first-place prizes awarded annually by the Missouri Photographers Association.

Joseph L. Douglass died on July 18, 1911. After his death, his wife, Laura Douglass, and his sister, Frances Douglass, ran the studio until they sold it to Henry Holborn, a photographer from St. Louis, in September 1911.