Noble & Fell’s Sunbeam Gallery

NOBLE & FELL’S SUNBEAM GALLERY was located in downtown Petaluma at 649 Main Street, and it was in operation for only six months. On December 5, 1873 an advertisement in the Petaluma Weekly Argus announced that A. W. Fell & Company had purchased Hugh Anderson’s Sunbeam Gallery and would provide the “best style of the art, at Anderson’s set prices”; however, just 14 days later, on December 19, an advertisement proclaimed that Nobel & Fell were the successors to Huge Anderson’s Sunbeam Gallery. On May 15, 1874 a “Dissolution Notice” appeared in the Petaluma Weekly Argus announcing, “A. W. Fell retires from the firm, and the business will hereafter be carried on by S. S. Noble…” Skelton Stanford Noble renamed the studio “S. S. Noble, Sunbeam Gallery”, created his own imprint, and operated as its sole owner until sometime in 1875.

ALBERT WEBSTER FELL was born in 1852 in Ontario, Canada and died in San Mateo, California in 1931. The 1870 and 1880 census record him living in Petaluma with his father and mother, Erastus and Lucy Fell, and his younger brother, Charles A. Fell. It appears he purchased Hugh Anderson’s Sunbeam Gallery as its sole owner in early December 1873, but later in the month took Skelton Stanford Noble as a partner. Sometime after dissolving the partnership, Fell departed Petaluma and operated photography studios in the California cities of Lompoc, Gilroy, Watsonville, Salinas City, and Livermore.

SKELTON STANFORD NOBLE was born in Missouri c. 1833. He worked as a photographer in many California cities before arriving in Petaluma. He worked in Petaluma with Albert Webster Fell in the Noble & Fell partnership beginning in December 1873. In May 1874 the partership was dissolved, but Noble continued to operate the studio until 1875. Noble’s sole ownership is evident in the Sunbeam Gallery imprint which changed from “Noble & Fell’s Sunbeam Gallery” to “S. S. Noble, Sunbeam Gallery”. Evidently in possession of an enlarger, Noble advertised between July and December 1874 his ability to produce “full-sized” portraits, announcing, “For life-sized pictures go to S. S. Noble, of the Sunbeam Gallery". After departing Petaluma, Noble operated photo studios in Sierra City, Nevada City, and Cambria. To view the portraits taken when the Petaluma Sunbeam Gallery was under his sole ownership, click on his name in blue above.

Bibliography: Carl Mautz, Biographies of Western Photographers, A Reference Guide to Photographers Working in the 19th Century American West, Expanded and Revised Edition, 2018, pp. 123, 154. Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, Stanford University Press, 2000, pp. 420-421. Petaluma Weekly Argus, December 5, 1873, p. 2; December 12, 1873, p. 2; Dec. 19, 1873, p. 2; January 30, 1874, p. 2 and 3; March 13, 1874, p. 3; May 15, 1874, p. 2; May 22,1874, p. 4; July 3, 1874, p. 3; December 18, 1874, p. 3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/249623342/albert-webster-fell . https://digital.sonomalibrary.org/about/photographers.

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