William H. Rau

Not to be confused with Wilhelm Rau.
William H. Rau
Photograph by J. C. Strauss, 1904
Born(1855-01-19)January 19, 1855[1]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
DiedNovember 19, 1920(1920-11-19) (aged 65)[1]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
SpouseLouisa Bell
Parent(s)Peter Rau and Mary Witschi[1]
RelativesWilliam Bell (father-in-law)

William Herman Rau (January 19, 1855 – November 19, 1920) was an American photographer who was active primarily in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for his stereo cards of sites around the world, and for his panoramic photographs of sites along the Pennsylvania Railroad.[1]

He was the official photographer of the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, and of the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland in 1905.[2] His work is now included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Getty Museum.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Sarah Weatherwax, John Hannavy (ed.), William Herman Rau, Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Vol. 1 (Routledge, 2007), pp. 1184.
  2. ^ Turner Browne and Elaine Partnow, MacMillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists and Innovators (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983), pp. 499-500.