Fannie Hoyt
CDV Portrait of Jewish Utah Pioneer Eveline Brooks Auerbach, 1870s
Albumen print
4 x 2 1/2 inches
With subject identification and studio backmark verso.
With subject identification and studio backmark verso.
A rare, unrecorded portrait of pioneering Jewish settler and businesswoman Eveline Brooks Auerbach. Based on her biography, the photo dates to the early 1870s, when she would have been a...
A rare, unrecorded portrait of pioneering Jewish settler and businesswoman Eveline Brooks Auerbach. Based on her biography, the photo dates to the early 1870s, when she would have been a young teenager. She is seen dressed in a mailcarrier’s costume. The exact purpose is unknown. Possibly in relation to the Pony Express or some other mail service arriving in the city.
Eveline Brooks was born in 1859 Timbucktoo, CA, a mining camp outside Oroville. Her parents, Julius and Fanny Brooks, had come to California 1854. They emigrated from then-Prussia to Salt Lake and then moved to the Gold Rush town of Marysville, CA, the following year. The family returned to Salt Lake City in 1864, becoming the first Jewish settlers in the area. They built up a sizeable business first of rental units, then a furniture store and finally the Brooks arcade, a handsome building at 260 South State Street.
In 1879, Eveline Brooks married Samuel H. Auerbach, son of another pioneering Jewish family who ran the impressive F. Auerbach & Brother . Department store in SLC. Eveline’s parents had amassed a good deal of property, and after the marriage they allowed Eveline and Samuel to build on that land. They built a home for themselves and two rental units, following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of their parents. By the early 1900s, they demolished these properties to construct a large mix-use building (the now-demolished Yardstick Building at 44-53 East 300 South). The property held a restaurant in the basement, a hotel above, and a large modern vaudeville theatre in the back.
Eveline and Samuel had eight children and their family continued to be prominent and influential in SLC. Eveline passed away in 1924. In 1994, her memoirs “ Frontier Reminiscences of Eveline Brooks Auerbach” was published by the Bancroft Library.
Fannie Hoyt was a commercial photographer, well-known citizen of SLC, and something of an adventurer. Her 1885 obituary, published after her sudden death in Malad, Idaho, where she had relocated, notes that she was "very fond of traveling and "somewhat adventuresome in spirit." Two years earlier, she participated in a hot air balloon excursion over Salt Lake City, possibly for photographic purposes.
Eveline Brooks was born in 1859 Timbucktoo, CA, a mining camp outside Oroville. Her parents, Julius and Fanny Brooks, had come to California 1854. They emigrated from then-Prussia to Salt Lake and then moved to the Gold Rush town of Marysville, CA, the following year. The family returned to Salt Lake City in 1864, becoming the first Jewish settlers in the area. They built up a sizeable business first of rental units, then a furniture store and finally the Brooks arcade, a handsome building at 260 South State Street.
In 1879, Eveline Brooks married Samuel H. Auerbach, son of another pioneering Jewish family who ran the impressive F. Auerbach & Brother . Department store in SLC. Eveline’s parents had amassed a good deal of property, and after the marriage they allowed Eveline and Samuel to build on that land. They built a home for themselves and two rental units, following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of their parents. By the early 1900s, they demolished these properties to construct a large mix-use building (the now-demolished Yardstick Building at 44-53 East 300 South). The property held a restaurant in the basement, a hotel above, and a large modern vaudeville theatre in the back.
Eveline and Samuel had eight children and their family continued to be prominent and influential in SLC. Eveline passed away in 1924. In 1994, her memoirs “ Frontier Reminiscences of Eveline Brooks Auerbach” was published by the Bancroft Library.
Fannie Hoyt was a commercial photographer, well-known citizen of SLC, and something of an adventurer. Her 1885 obituary, published after her sudden death in Malad, Idaho, where she had relocated, notes that she was "very fond of traveling and "somewhat adventuresome in spirit." Two years earlier, she participated in a hot air balloon excursion over Salt Lake City, possibly for photographic purposes.
Courtesy of Daniel / Oliver Gallery
Copyright The Artist