Abstract
The Jeanne Russell Janish Photograph Collection (1918-1974) consists of 48 black-and-white and color photographic prints that feature Janish's family, her husband Carl Janish, family homes and pets, and travel photographs from the United States, China, and South America.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The Jeanne Russell Janish Photograph Collection (1918-1974) consists of 48 black-and-white and color photographic prints that feature Janish's family, her husband Carl Janish, family homes and pets, and travel photographs from the United States, China, and South America.
Access Note
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically.
Biographical / Historical Note
Jeanne Russell Janish was born on October 20, 1902 in Marshall, Iowa. She spent her early years in St. Louis, Missouri, where her father, Francis Wayland Russell (1865-1962), was a Presbyterian minister. Janish attended Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, her mother Lucile's alma mater, and graduated in 1924 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa with a major in Latin and a minor in geology. After graduation, she entered Stanford University, graduating in 1926 as the first woman to receive a Master of Arts degree in geology from the institution. While in school, Stanford paleontologist James Perrin Smith noticed Jeanne's creative abilities and encouraged her to study scientific illustration. Her career led her to illustrate thirty-two major scientific manuscripts, several field guides, and numerous scientific articles.
In 1929, Jeanne left for China on a visit, but stayed to work as a rug designer for her cousin Helen Fette at the latter's Fette-Li Rug Company, detailing her experiences at the company in her diaries. She met Carl F. Janish, a former United States Marine working for the New York Times in Beijing, and the couple married in late 1929. In 1934, the Janishes returned to the United States.
The couple spent seven years in California, where Jeanne worked as a freelance illustrator and Carl ran a summer camp, before making several moves around the country in the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1952, the couple settled in Carson City, Nevada for a short time before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1954. Carl Janish, a professional engineer, worked as a contractor at the Nevada Test Site and the Clark County Library District, while Jeanne pursued her career as an illustrator and focusing on local botany.
Jeanne Russell Janish died in Las Vegas on February 4, 1998.
Source:
"Jeanne Russell Janish." Women in Nevada History. Accessed March 26, 2019. https://www.womennvhistory.com/portfolio/jeanne-russel-janish/
Preferred Citation
Jeanne Russell Janish Photograph Collection, 1918-1974. PH-00296. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated by Jeanne Russell Janish in 1995; accession number 95-31.
Processing Note
Material was processed and an inventory created in 2003 by Special Collections staff. In 2019, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Melise Leech wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.