Background
Ira Emerrill Sumner was born on June 18, 1845, in McHenry County, Illinois, United States.
Ira Emerrill Sumner was born on June 18, 1845, in McHenry County, Illinois, United States.
Ira Sumner had received little formal education, studying daguerreotype and tintype-making under the tutelage of an early photographer, Z. Roberts, in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Ira Sumner went into partnership with Z. Roberts about 1868-1869, dissolving it in 1872 when he married and moved to Northfield, Minnesota. There he set up Sumner Studio, which he operated from 1875 until his death.
Although his studio work consisted of the mam of portraits as well as group poses for the nearby college, Ira Sumner frequently did photojournalistic work. He is noted for his photographs of the notorious Younger brothers and of two shooting victims of Jesse James and the Younger brothers who were killed during the robbery of a Northfield bank in the early 1860s. Unfortunately, most of his well-preserved negatives were destroyed through negligence after his death.