Program to Feature Jessamine Spear Johnson, Early Western Photographer

Tempe Javitz In 2019

This month’s Sheridan Community Land Trust (SCLT) Explore History Program will feature Tempe Javitz, the granddaughter of Jessamine Spear Johnson who was an early photographic artist in Wyoming & Montana. It will be held on Jan. 11, 10:30 a.m. at The Hub on Smith.

Jessamine was the oldest daughter of Willis Spear, who at one time controlled more than a million acres of ranch land in Wyoming and Montana, and ran nearly 60,000 head of cattle. Willis and his wife, Virginia Belle (Benton) Spear, started Spear-O-Wigwam in 1923 in the Bighorn Mountains. Jessamine’s younger sister, Elsa Spear Byron, was also a photographer who lived in Big Horn.

Jessamine’s mother Belle was also a photographer, and both Jessamine and Elsa helped to print her photos, often using a kerosene lamp, which began their love of photography.

Since 2007, Javitz has worked to preserve Jessamine’s 34 boxes of photos, plus diaries and genealogical notes. Javitz said Carrie Edinger, SCLT, asked her to speak at the Hub program about her upcoming book, Jessamine Spear Johnson: A Photographic Artist of the Changing West, which will be published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press later this year.

“It’s basically a photo book with an introduction to Jessamine and her life and then lots of photos. They loved her photos,” Javitz said in an email interview. “I have a lot of history with Sheridan. I grew up on a ranch 52 miles north of Sheridan in what was then Kirby, Montana (the post office closed years ago). I came to Sheridan with my family to start 4th grade. By then three of my oldest siblings were in high school and my parents didn’t want them all boarding out anymore. I graduated from SHS in 1967 and went to California for college, where I met my husband Hal our senior year. I moved to the Bay Area in 1971 to be with Hal when he started grad school at Berkeley.” She said they have lived in the Bay Area ever since.

“I haven’t been back “home” to the area since July 2019” Javitz said. That year she came back to celebrate her 50th Anniversary of Sheridan WYO Rodeo Queen. She added, “My older sister Sandra lives in Big Horn and for years was a docent at the Kings Saddlery Museum. My other sister Jolly lives in Wyola on her ranch, just across the border. I usually come home every summer, but the Covid epidemic has kept me here.”

She will also speak about how she conserved and cataloged Jessamine’s photos, while preserving Jessamine’s impressive span of photographic techniques and wide breadth of themes.

SCLT Explore History Program works to tell the local and regional history through the lens of natural resources, landscapes, and diverse cultures. SCLT historic projects offer community members and visitors to Sheridan insight about local history and heritage of Sheridan County.