Members and friends of the Campbell and Corliss families spent part of the summer of 1890 at Chautauqua (now Ellisport) on Vashon Island. They may have been members of the Puget Sound Chautauqua Assembly which met on the island at that time. Inspired by the year-around educational activities of the Chautauqua Assembly in New York State, a local group started the Puget Sound Chautauqua Assembly on Vashon Island in 1885. This 1890 cyanotype photo was taken during a Campbell and Corliss family camping trip to Chautauqua on Vashon Island. Such blue cyanotypes could be developed in strong sunlight and were cheaper and quicker to make than black and white photos. Many amateur and professional photographers used them as proof prints for images to be developed later in black and white. Others, following a fad of the time, preferred cyanotypes as the final print.

Written on verso: When camping at Chautauqua, Vashon Island 1890. Father, Mother, Eva & Laverne. Hettie Green and 2 Harrison girls (seated).

• Subjects (LCTGM): Log cabins; Camps; Recreation; Chautauqua
• People: Campbell, James; Campbell, Mary Jane; Harrison family; Green, Hetty.