BEALS, JESSIE TARBOX

born 1870, Hamilton, Ontario, Can. died May 30, 1942, New York, N.Y., U.S. ne Jessie Tarbox American photographer, one of the first women in the United States to have a career as a photojournalist. Jessie Tarbox moved to Williamsburg, Massachusetts, at the age of 18 to make her living as a teacher. She taught for nearly 10 years, though she never found the occupation satisfying. Having in that time won an inexpensive camera and familiarized herself with the art of photography, she stopped teaching and devoted her time to photography. In 1897 she married Alfred Beals, and the couple collaborated as itinerant photographers, with Jessie taking pictures and recruiting clients and Alfred handling the darkroom duties. In 1900, when Beals's photographs of a Vermont fair were published in local newspapers, she earned the distinction of being the world's first woman news photographer. In 1901 Beals landed a job as a staff photographer for the Buffalo Courier. Beals's determination took her to St. Louis, Missouri, where the World's Fair was being held, in 1904, and, despite the initial resistance to a female photographer, Beals obtained a permit. Her photographs of the fair appeared in several important national periodicals. In 1905 the couple moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and established a studio. By then a polished professional, Beals had no shortage of work and became famous as an urban photographer. She documented many of New York City's architectural icons and used her camera to capture the "soul of New York" by visiting Chinatown, Central Park, and the Lower East Side and choosing subjects that ranged from slum children to socialites. In 1917 Beals and her husband, whose relationship had become increasingly turbulent, parted permanently. During the 1920s Beals, no longer able to maintain the hectic pace of earlier years, turned to photographing the gardens and homes of the wealthy and publishing her work in national gardening magazines. She fell on hard times during the Great Depression and eventually died in poverty at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.