Photographer Ralph R. Doubleday, Half a Century of American Rodeos

Ralph Russell Doubleday was one of the most influential photographers of early American rodeo. For more than 40 years, he traveled from one arena to another, photographing cowboys, cowgirls, livestock, and the crowds that gathered to watch them.

Even the basic facts of Doubleday's early life contain some uncertainty. Older biographies, including the National Rodeo Hall of Fame's profile, identify his birthplace as Canton, Ohio. The Amon Carter Museum and a more recent account from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum place his birth on July 4, 1881, in Canton, Iowa, within Jackson County.

Genealogical research has also suggested that he may have been born Edward Cochran and adopted the name Ralph Russell Doubleday before beginning his rodeo career. The reasons for the change remain uncertain. For collectors, the important point is that he was working professionally under the Doubleday name by 1910.

The photograph that launched his career

Doubleday's breakthrough came at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1910.

Working inside the arena with a bulky Graflex camera, he photographed cowboy Gus Nylen being thrown from a bucking horse named Teddy Roosevelt. The resulting image is widely described as the first known photograph of a rodeo cowboy suspended in midair after leaving a bronc.

It would be safer to describe this as an early landmark in rodeo action photography rather than the first photograph ever made at a professional rodeo. Rodeos and Western exhibitions had been photographed before 1910, but Doubleday's ability to freeze a rider in mid-flight distinguished his work from the more static photographs of the period.

Doubleday later explained that he watched the horse and mentally rode along with the cowboy. At the instant he felt that he would have been thrown, he released the shutter.

That combination of anticipation, proximity, and instinct became the defining characteristic of his photography.

Photographing rodeo's early stars

Following his success at Cheyenne, Doubleday spent more than four decades traveling throughout the United States. He photographed major rodeos, state fairs, roundups, and smaller community events during the formative years of professional rodeo.

His subjects included:

• Bronc and bareback riders
• Bull and steer riders
• Bulldoggers and steer wrestlers
• Calf and team ropers
• Trick riders
• Relay racers
• Rodeo clowns
• Pickup riders
• Cowgirls competing in events later removed from many major rodeos
• Famous horses, bulls, and other livestock

Doubleday frequently placed himself close to the action. The Graflex camera was large, manually focused, and far less forgiving than modern equipment. Film speeds were slow, exposures were limited, and there was no opportunity to review an image immediately after it was made.

He therefore had to anticipate a ride rather than simply react to it. His best photographs capture the fraction of a second when a horse is fully extended, a cowboy is separating from the saddle, or a rider and animal form a dramatic shape against the arena.

The results feel remarkably modern. Bodies appear suspended above the ground, hats hang in the air, and dust rises beneath animals frozen at the peak of their movement.

Cowgirls and women in rodeo

Doubleday's photographs are especially important for their documentation of women in early rodeo.

During the 1910s and 1920s, cowgirls competed in bronc riding, trick riding, relay races, roping, and other events alongside male performers. Doubleday photographed prominent women such as Hester Byers, Goldie St. Clair, Peggy Baker, Prairie Rose Henderson, Mabel Strickland, Ruth Roach, Fox Hastings, and Tad Lucas.

These photographs preserve a period when women held a highly visible place in professional rodeo. Many of their competitive events were reduced or eliminated from major programs after the death of bronc rider Bonnie McCarroll at the 1929 Pendleton Round-Up and as rodeo became more formally organized.

Group portraits, named cowgirls, and action photographs of women can be among Doubleday's most desirable postcards. They appeal not only to rodeo collectors, but also to collectors of women's history, Western clothing, occupational photography, and early sport.

Life beyond the arena

Although Doubleday is best known for rodeo action, his surviving work covers a much broader range of subjects.

He photographed:

• Cowboys and cowgirls away from competition
• Rodeo camps and informal gatherings
• Native American participants and parades
• Ranching and livestock
• Oilfields and industrial development
• Small towns and commercial streets
• Landscapes and Western scenery
• Natural disasters
• Public celebrations and fairs
• Studio portraits

A 1928 photographic postcard of a Native American parade at the Pendleton Round-Up is preserved by the Smithsonian Institution's National Anthropological Archives. Other institutional collections contain his photographs of Native riders, Western performers, oilfields, town views, and prominent rodeo personalities.

These non-rodeo subjects are much less predictable in the marketplace. Some are considerably scarcer than his familiar bucking-horse cards and may attract collectors who have little interest in rodeo.

Doubleday's photography studios

Doubleday operated studios in Iowa, Wyoming, and North Dakota during his career.

He was associated with a commercial photography studio in Dickinson, North Dakota, from approximately 1914 through early 1919. For part of that period, the business operated as Doubleday and Meyers, in partnership with E.A. Meyers.

Doubleday sold the Dickinson studio to photographer Ingemar Presthus in February 1919. The business subsequently operated as Presthus Studio and, under later owners, became associated with the Horstman name.

Doubleday did not own the later Presthus and Horstman studios, as is sometimes stated. Rather, the photographic business he operated became the predecessor of those studios. Surviving negatives from Doubleday and Meyers are now preserved alongside later Presthus-Horstman material by the Dickinson Museum Center.

Studio portraits connected directly to Doubleday can be difficult to identify unless they retain a photographer's mount, imprint, caption, or reliable provenance. Western costumes and staged cowboy themes may be visually appealing, but the presence of Western clothing alone is not enough to attribute a photograph to him.

The Rodeo Postcard King

Doubleday understood that postcards could carry his photographs far beyond the rodeo grounds.

He sold cards to spectators, competitors, shops, publishers, newspapers, and commercial distributors. His images circulated through drugstores, souvenir stands, and reportedly hundreds of Woolworth locations.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum states that Doubleday sold an estimated 30 million postcards during his career. The figure is difficult to verify independently, but the widespread survival of his cards supports the conclusion that his operation was unusually large.

Doubleday was not simply making individual photographs for rodeo participants. He was building a nationally distributed visual catalog of Western sport.

His postcards helped establish the public image of professional rodeo: flying cowboys, powerful animals, daring cowgirls, wide-brimmed hats, and dramatic moments of risk.

Identifying Doubleday postcards

Doubleday's images appeared in several formats, and collectors should not assume that every card bearing his name is a real photo postcard.

The principal formats include:

• Black-and-white real photo postcards
• Sepia-toned photographic postcards
• Mechanically printed black-and-white postcards
• Hand-colored or colorized reproductions
• Linen postcards
• Art-Colortone cards
• Souvenir folders and postcard sets
• Larger gelatin silver photographs

Early black-and-white examples are often genuine photographic postcards. The Amon Carter Museum identifies a number of Doubleday rodeo cards from around 1920 as gelatin silver prints in postcard format.

These frequently include a caption within the image naming the cowboy, cowgirl, animal, event, or location. Doubleday's name or copyright may appear near the lower edge:

• DOUBLEDAY
• R.R. DOUBLEDAY
• COPYRIGHT R.R. DOUBLEDAY
• A caption followed by the photographer's name

A genuine RPPC should normally display smooth photographic tones under magnification. A regular pattern of dots indicates a mechanically printed reproduction.

Later Doubleday images were reproduced as colorized linen and Art-Colortone postcards. These cards can be attractive, but they are printed reproductions rather than original photographic prints. Some were sold in accordion-fold souvenir folders or bundled Western action sets.

The same Doubleday image may exist as an early RPPC and as a later printed card. The photographic version will generally preserve more detail in the rider, animal, crowd, arena, and airborne dust.

Captions and attribution

Doubleday's captions are an important part of his postcards.

The most useful examples may identify:

• The contestant
• The horse or bull
• The rodeo
• The location
• The event
• The year
• A championship title

Collectors should still approach printed information carefully. Names may be misspelled, dates may reflect when the postcard was issued rather than when the negative was made, and some images were reprinted for years after the original event.

Doubleday's name within the image is strong evidence that the photograph came from his catalog. However, it does not by itself establish when that particular card was printed or whether it is a true photographic postcard.

Institutional collections and legacy

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum holds the most important body of Doubleday material.

Its Dickinson Research Center preserves more than 4,000 Doubleday photographic negatives and over 400 photographic postcards. The negatives document rodeo from the 1910s through the mid-1940s and identify many of the competitors, animals, locations, and events that shaped the sport.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art also holds numerous Doubleday postcards and photographic prints. Its catalog is particularly useful for distinguishing gelatin silver postcards from halftone and colorized reproductions.

Doubleday's photographs are also represented in the Smithsonian Institution and regional historical collections throughout the West.

He was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1988, three decades after his death on June 30, 1958.

Notes and market conditions from North West Postcards

Ralph R. Doubleday postcards are common enough that the photographer's name alone does not guarantee a high value.

His enormous production and national distribution allowed many cards to survive. Common rodeo scenes, especially later printed reproductions, can often be found for approximately $5 to $10.

Ordinary black-and-white real photo postcards commonly fall within a range of approximately $8 to $20. Dealers may ask more, but many examples remain available for long periods when the rider, animal, or location has little collector interest.

Stronger cards may sell or be offered in the $20 to $50 range. Particularly scarce or desirable examples can bring more.

Factors that can support a higher value include:

• A famous cowboy or cowgirl
• A named bucking horse or bull
• A dramatic midair fall
• An early date
• A scarce rodeo or small-town location
• A clearly identified event
• A strong group portrait
• Women competing in rodeo events
• Native American participants
• Exceptional clarity and contrast
• A rare non-rodeo subject
• An original souvenir folder or complete set
• A card with strong regional demand

Group portraits of celebrated cowgirls, scarce Native American subjects, prominent rodeo champions, and unusually dramatic action scenes can move beyond the normal market for Doubleday postcards.

Printed and colorized cards

Doubleday's later linen and Art-Colortone postcards generally sell for less than early photographic examples.

These printed cards reproduce many of his most exciting compositions, but the mechanical printing and applied color remove some of the detail found in the original photographs. Common examples may be worth only a few dollars.

Complete folders and matching sets are more interesting. Value depends on:

• The number of cards
• Whether the set is complete
• The survival of the original cover or folder
• The quality of the individual subjects
• Condition
• Whether the cards have been detached
• Whether the set contains named stars or famous images

A complete and visually strong set may be worth more intact than the total value of its individual cards.

Non-rodeo subjects

Some of Doubleday's most valuable postcards may be those least associated with his name.

Collectors should watch for:

• Native American portraits and gatherings
• Oilfields and drilling equipment
• Industrial scenes
• Early automobiles
• Small-town streets
• Businesses and commercial buildings
• Natural disasters
• Ranching operations
• Unusual occupations
• Western camps and candid cowboy life

These cards may be scarcer than the mass-distributed rodeo series. Their value is driven by subject, location, and historical importance rather than by Doubleday's reputation alone.

Native American photographs require especially careful identification and description. Tribal affiliation, the name of the individual, the event, and whether clothing was ceremonial, everyday, or arranged for public performance can substantially affect both historical interpretation and market interest.

Original photographs

Larger Doubleday gelatin silver prints are encountered less frequently than postcards.

Authenticated examples may carry greater value when they are:

• Vintage prints made near the date of the negative
• Signed or stamped
• Captioned in period handwriting
• Connected to a known cowboy, cowgirl, or animal
• Unusually large
• Well preserved
• Accompanied by reliable provenance
• Made for exhibition or presentation

Public auction information is limited. Recorded prices for individual photographs and small groups have generally remained in the low hundreds rather than reaching the thousands commonly associated with established fine-art photographers.

That does not mean an exceptional Doubleday image could not sell for more. It does mean that ambitious dealer prices should be compared with the limited number of documented sales.

For most collectors, the strongest combination is an early vintage print, a famous subject, a dramatic composition, clear identification, and excellent condition.

Collector's perspective

Doubleday's common postcards remain surprisingly affordable given their importance.

The best examples are not merely rodeo souvenirs. They are early sports photographs made under difficult conditions, records of individual competitors, and evidence of how rodeo presented itself to a national audience.

His strongest images capture more than a fall or a rough ride. They show the split second in which control is lost, gravity takes over, and the outcome of the ride becomes clear.

That is what makes finding a good Doubleday postcard so rewarding. Even after millions of reproductions and more than a century of circulation, the best photographs still feel dangerous.

Additional reading

• "Ralph R. Doubleday: Capturing Rodeo's Golden Age", National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
• "Ralph R. Doubleday — National Rodeo Hall of Fame", National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
• "Doubleday Collection", Donald C. and Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center.
• "Ralph R. Doubleday", Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
• "Ralph R. Doubleday Photograph of Native American Parade at Pendleton Round-Up, 1928", Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropological Archives.
• "Presthus-Horstman Collection", Dickinson Museum Center.
• "The Early Wyoming Petroleum Industry Through the Eyes of Photographer Ralph R. Doubleday", Petroleum History Institute.

Example postcards