Born January 15, 1885 in Ohio, Elmer Harvey Bone opened his own photography studio at age 17. In 1925, he moved to Gainesville, Florida where he became a partner in Van Sickel and Bone. Later he opened "The Quality Studio" (renamed "The Bone Studio" in 1951) where he worked as a photographer until 1968 when he retired at age 83. Mr. Bone died on March 13, 1976.

The Elmer Harvey Bone collection is housed at the Alachua County Historic Trust: Matheson Museum, Inc. and the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries. It contains photographs, negatives, and slides taken in Alachua County and its surrounding areas, from the first half of the 20th century. The collection also includes images from Wellsburg, West Virginia that were taken early in Bone’s career.


For more information on the digitization of the Elmer Harvey Bone Collection, please see "Digitizing Museum Objects: the Elmer Harvey Bone Photographic Collection" by Lourdes Santamaria-Wheeler.