Document Type

Finding Aid

Publication Date

1940

Abstract

Thase Christine Ferguson was born December 5, 1907, to C. Curran and Daisy Moore Ferguson in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She attended Ouachita Baptist College and graduated with a B.A. in music. While at Ouachita she met and married John T. Daniel. Then, in the mid-twentieth century, Thase Daniel gained international fame as a nature and wildlife photographer.

Daniel's interest in outdoor photography began in the 1930s with a failed attempt at taking a picture of a Steller's jay. She began studying works of wildlife photographers and put technique into practice by taking pictures of birds near her home. At that time photography was her hobby. In achieving her status as one of the world's leading wildlife photographers, Daniel found her subjects as nearby as the Arkansas wetlands and as far away as Africa, Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, Greenland, India, Nepal, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and South America. Photography also took Daniel on numerous adventures. She went on a two-week expedition by dogsled across the Greenland icecap, rode an elephant across a river in India, and suffered a broken ankle when attacked by a 600-pound bull sea lion. Her pictures sold to collectors and leading magazines such as "Ranger Rick" and "Field and Stream." Photographs of Southern flora and fauna were the focus of her book "Wings on the Southwind," published in 1984.

Thase Daniel died September 10, 1990, in El Dorado, Arkansas.

Thase Daniel took over 250,000 photographs during her career. This collection includes more than 57,000 of those images in slide format and forty-six volumes of field notes which give background to some of the shots. Among the places described in the field notes are Africa, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Canada, Florida, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Nevada, Louisiana, California, Trinidad, French Guiana, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Other materials include articles by Daniel, newsclippings, prints, and a slide inventory.

Comments

This collection is open for research. Manuscripts may only be photocopied by Special Collections staff.

Permission to examine archival materials does not constitute permission to publish. Any publication of such materials beyond the limits of fair use requires specific prior written permission. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed in writing to the Head of Special Collections, Riley- Hickingbotham Library, 410 Ouachita Street, Box 3742, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, 71998-0001.

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