RICHARD REECE PERCIVAL was born in 1835 in England and immigrated to the United States in 1841 as a child with his parents. He died in Rhode Island in 1917.
Percival arrived in Petaluma sometime before October 1867, and began advertising his services in the Petaluma Weekly Argus. He posted the price of his cartes de visite as $3 per dozen, stated that special attention was given to children’s portraits, and announced that old pictures could be carefully copied and photographs retouched in oil, watercolor or India ink. In a clever attempt to gather clients, Percival permitted Walter S. Pierce to use his gallery to display and sell his pianos. In 1869 Percival announced he had something very special in his photographic line - something he had invented he called the “medallion photograph.” He recommended the public hurry in to his gallery to see them.
Percival departed Petaluma sometime after May 1871 moving to San Jose where he continued his work as a photographer. According to the Petaluma Weekly Argus, Percival returned twice to Petaluma to visit friends and stated, “Dick says that Petaluma has improved wonderfully in the past few years, and he believes it is the best town in the State to-day.”
Petaluma Photographic Studio: Percival published an announcement in the Petaluma Weekly Argus on October 10, 1867 stating he had purchased the Johnson Premium Pioneer Photographic Gallery on Main Street, replacing William Henry Lentz as its operator. He renamed the gallery “R. Percival’s Gallery” and continued to advertise his services at this location in the Petaluma Weekly Argus through September 1870 when, according to the Petaluma Daily Crescent, James Kimball Sutterley and Stephen A. Rendall took over the establishment. In February 1871 Sutterley and Rendall split; Sutterley reunited with his brother, Clement; and together on February 25, 1871 they departed Petaluma to open a gallery in Napa and sold the Petaluma gallery back to Percival. On March 4, 1871 Percival began advertising his services once again in the Petaluma Weekly Argus, and his final advertisement appears in the paper on May 27, 1871.
Active in Petaluma: October 1867- September 1870; March 1871 - at least May 1871
Bibliography: Carl Mautz, Biographies of Western Photographers, A Reference Guide to Photographers Working in the 19th Century American West, Expanded and Revised Edition, 2018, p. 157; Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, Stanford University Press, 2000, (Palmquist does not list Percival, but includes information about his sale and repurchase of the Johnson Photographic Gallery from Sutterly and Rendall in September of 1870 and February of 1871, p. 536 top of first column); https://digital.sonomalibrary.org/about/photographers; Petaluma Weekly Argus, Oct. 10, 1867, p. 3; Petaluma Weekly Argus, Jan. 2, 1868, p. 2; Petaluma Daily Crescent, Oct. 12, 1870; Petaluma Weekly Argus, March 4, 1871, p. 2; Petaluma Weekly Argus, May 27, 1871, p.1; Petaluma Weekly Argus, February 6, 1874, p. 3 and November 22, 1878, p. 3.
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