march 2017 Museletter IGNITE your curiosity. DISCOVER your story. Through Her Lens: The Photography of Sara Cartwright Jackson Loomis By: Leah Davis Witherow, CSPM Curator of History & Archivist Sara Loomis came of age as photography became accessible to the public. As a result, her life and our community are well documented. Loomis was born in Rochester, New York on October 26, 1878 and moved with her family to Colorado Springs as a young girl. Living in a stately home on North Tejon Street, Loomis attended the Cutler Academy at Colorado College. In the early 1890s Loomis became interested and quite proficient at photography, also known as “Kodaking” at the time. She began to document her everyday life, important events, friends, family, pets and her travels. In addition to taking photographs, she kept detailed daily diaries and journals that recorded the subjects of her images. While Loomis was merely documenting what to her must have seemed ordinary, today her vast archive of 20,000 images provides a remarkably rare glimpse into her world. As a young woman from an affluent Colorado Springs family, Loomis had both the economic resources to pay for her photography hobby – and the leisure time necessary to be so prolific. In 1909 Loomis married Dr. Philip A. Loomis, a protégé of well known pioneer tuberculosis researcher and physician Dr. Edwin Solly. Philip Loomis was born in Chicago in 1875 and graduated from Rush Medical College in 1904. During medical school, he contracted tuberculosis and received the advice, to regain his health in the west. Loomis purchased a round-trip ticket from Chicago to Colorado Springs, but once here he decided to stay. Dr. Loomis became a renowned cardiac specialist and later in life gained recognition as an award-winning hybridizer of irises. Many of the gardens in Colorado Springs contain specimens that reflect Dr. Loomis’ contributions to botanical studies. The Loomis iris beds outside the Pikes Peak Library District’s East Branch location are a living legacy of his work. Sara and Philip Loomis raised their two children Barbara Loomis Woodward and Philip Loomis Jr. in their beautiful home at 1414 Culebra in the Old North End of Colorado Springs. The family traveled frequently in addition to owning vacation homes on both coasts. The children attended private schools in Colorado Springs, California and in the East. Throughout her long life, Loomis continued to photograph the people and places she loved. Her vast collection of photograph albums, diaries and notebooks provides evidence of a life well lived. This illustrated talk will examine the wealth of history recorded Through Her Lens: The Photography of Sara Cartwright Jackson Loomis. pg. 2
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