Clara Sheldon Smith (July 1862 – November 1939) was a photographer based in California in the late 19th and early 20th century known for portrait photography and photographs of the Northern California landscape.
Career Clara Sheldon Smith set up the Ramona Art Studio in Marysville, California in the Sacramento Valley. Ramona Art Studio, at first run out of a tent, focused on portraiture. At the turn of the century Smith had a contract with the city of Marysville to photograph its prisoners. From 1900 to 1908 she photographed over 500 local criminals. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Smith documented the damage in a panoramic photograph which she shot from high up in a helium-filled balloon. In 1908 Smith sold her studio to C.C. Green and retired from photography.
Collections Smith's work is held in permanent collections including:
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County, Yuba City, California
Legacy Clara Sheldon Smith's photographs of Marysville criminals have been compiled, and paired with archival research into the lives of her subjects, in Arne Swenson's book Prisoners. Photographs from this series are also featured in the 2026 documentary film Crime and Punishment in America produced by Lynn Novick and Ken Burns.
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