The Daniel Bastian Nelson Collection contains nearly 400 images capturing scenes of daily life in and around Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The images captured by Nelson, dating from approximately 1898 to 1919, provide an intimate glimpse into the lives of Nelson's family and friends. These captivating images also highlight a community in transition as Eau Claire, Wisconsin transformed itself from a community reliant on the lumber industry into a more diversified manufacturing community.

Daniel Bastian Nelson (1874-1967) was born in Norway and immigrated to the United States as a child in 1880. While it is unknown how or why Nelson developed a passion for photography we know that he acquired a Cyclone model no. 3 camera in 1898. The cyclone was a magazine camera capable of holding 12 glass plates at a single time; model no. 3 held 4x5 inch plates. After exposure the plates would be packaged by the photographer and mailed away to be developed. The camera's simplicity, reinforced through advertisements, encouraged its adoption by ordinary people.

The collection includes 415 glass plates, stored in four boxes, and photographic prints created from nearly each of the plates. Some of the plates include duplicate or undiscernible images. The undiscernible images may be the result of issues stemming from the original exposure or the results of storage prior to the collection's donation in 2014. This online collection presents 329 of the plates, representing all of the unique discernable images captured by Danial Bastian Nelson. While the images are often captivating we ultimately know very little about the people and scenes captured by the images. Each image in this collection is presented as an item with robust metadata enabling a more comprehensive search and discovery within this platform. A detailed finding aid for the collection is available online:

Daniel Bastian Nelson Collection, 1898-1919

Accompanying this collection is an engaging exhibit produced by students in the Introduction to Public History (History 386) course at UW-Eau Claire, Fall 2024. This exhibit explores many of the themes present among Nelson's images.