The J.E. Stimson Collection contains the landscape photographs taken by Stimson during his career as a professional photographer. Many of the photographs were created under contract with the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) to promote tourism along the UPRR line in Wyoming. Many of his photographs document the growth of Wyoming towns using highly detailed images of downtown streets and panoramic views overlooking town.

A large portion of the collection contains photographs of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the surrounding area. Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo events and street scenes are featured prominently in the collection.

The collection also includes many images of agricultural production in Wyoming, especially dry farming and ranching. The wonders of Yellowstone National Park were documented by Stimson on at least two occasions, probably for use by the UPRR in their promotional material.

Two albums of Stimson’s work also accompanied the negatives, one of black and white images and the other including examples of his hand-tinting.

Stimson took several trips both east and west along the UPRR’s line. As a result, the collection also contains images of cities, towns, and locations in California, Nevada, Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas.

The collection does not include many examples of Stimson’s portraiture as the shelves holding these negatives collapsed before the collection was acquired, shattering the negatives. Scattered examples of these prints can, however, be found throughout the Wyoming State Archives’ holdings and in other archival collections. A notable exception to this is a number of self portraits and portraits of his immediate family and the extended Stimson family which were tranferred with his studio negatives.

The negatives donated are 8"x10" and 5"x7" dry process glass plates or 8"x10" and 5"x7" cellulose nitrates, though examples of other negative formats also exist.