Grant Olds, Harry

He was a photographer from the United States who emigrated to South America to work in Chile and Argentina. He began his career as a photographer at the Bishop studio. In 1894, he partnered with Albert Willman, with whom he opened several photographic studios. On June 1, 1899, Olds decided to embark for South America aboard the Buffon. He took photos at each port of call: Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and in the Strait of Magellan; most of them have been preserved in 9 x 12 cm prints with a numbered handwritten index. In the main Chilean port, Olds found work as a portrait photographer for Obde W. Heffer's studio. During his time in this country, he obtained numerous plates of views and customs of the port. On August 5, 1900, Olds took his first negative in Buenos Aires. His photographic activity in the Argentine capital was so successful that instead of returning to the United States, as he apparently planned initially, he sent for his girlfriend from Mansfield, Rebecca Jane Rank, who arrived on May 12; they married immediately. In 1901, he was appointed the official photographer of the Argentine Rural Society — the year in which he did his first job for that institution at a livestock exhibition — a position he held until 1916, which brought him recognition and a connection with the ranchers for future work. His photographs of views and customs were published, for the most part, by the magazine La Ilustración Sudamericana. In addition, various publishers turned to his extensive image bank for the publication of postcards. Notable shots include street vendors, tenement buildings, garbage fires, etc. A book published in New York in 1917 contains over two hundred photos of the provinces of Córdoba and the Argentine coast.