Beverly Bennett Dobbs

"Eskimo girl" named Minnie

Road House Saloon, Bluff City, Alaska

Largest nugget found in Anvil Creek, Alaska

Beverly Bennett Dobbs (1868–1937) was a photographer and filmmaker in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The University of Washington has his work in their collection.

Dobbs was born near Marshall, Missouri. He moved with his family to Lincoln, Nebraska when he was eight.

Dobbs moved to Bellingham, Washington in 1888 and partnered with F. F. Fleming at Dobbs & Fleming between 1890–1891. Dobbs had a photography studio in Bellingham for 12 years until 1900 when he moved to Nome, Alaska.

For the trip to Alaska, he took a small schooner from Seattle to try and film the emergence of islands in the Bogoslof group. In Nome he photographed the town, the Seward Peninsula, and Inuit people. He also reportedly prospected for gold. He partnered with A. B. Kinne to form Dobbs & Kinne in Nome.

Dobb's photograph of the Manufacturer's Building at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition (AYPE) in Seattle, 1909

Canada Building at the AYPE

In 1909, he established the Dobbs Alaska Moving Picture Co. and made films about the Gold Rush including travelogues. He also photographed the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition taking place in Seattle that year.

Walrus hunter sitting on dozens killed in the Bering Sea for their tusks, 1911

By 1911, he his shifted his focus to filmmaking, selling off his negatives to Lomen Brothers. He moved back to Seattle by 1914. He ran the Dobbs Totem Film Company until his death in 1937. His work includes photographs of fish processing operations at Pacific American Fisheries (PAF) in the Fairhaven, Washington area of Bellingham.

Inuit child in fur parka

He was awarded a gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World’s Fair) in 1904 for his "Eskimo" photographs.

In 1896 Dobbs married Dorothy Sturgeon in Bellingham.

• At the Top of the World, Atop of the World in Motion, also known as Top of the World in Motion, a collection of his travelogue films
• A Romance of Seattle shot in and around Seattle in 1919