Walter A. Scott Photograph Collection, 1877-1939
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8jd5049 No online items A guide to the Walter A. Scott photograph collection, 1877-1939 Processed by: Richard Tooker, 1984; Amy Croft and L. Bianchi, 2014.. San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Building E, Fort Mason San Francisco, CA 94123 Phone: 415-561-7030 Fax: 415-556-3540 [email protected] URL: http://www.nps.gov/safr 2014 A guide to the Walter A. Scott P83-019a (SAFR 19105) 1 photograph collection, 1877-1939 A Guide to the Walter A. Scott photograph collection P83-019a San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, National Park Service 2014, National Park Service Title: Walter A. Scott photograph collection Date: 1877-1939 Date (bulk): circa 1900-1935 Identifier/Call Number: P83-019a (SAFR 19105) Creator: Scott, Walter A. Physical Description: 4331 items. Repository: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department Building E, Fort Mason San Francisco, CA 94123 Abstract: The Walter A. Scott photograph collection, 1877-1939, bulk circa 1900-1935, (SAFR 19105, P83-019a) is comprised mainly of images of pleasure yachts, both sail and power, underway in the San Francisco Bay, California. The collection has been processed to the Item level and is open for use. Physical Location: San Francisco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department Language(s): In English. Access This collection is open for use unless otherwise noted. Nitrate negatives are restricted from use. Use-copies can be provided. Glass plate negatives may require special handling by the reference staff. Publication and Use Rights Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. Processing Note The photographs in this collection (P83-019a) were originally part of a very large collection of Walter A. Scott photographs, which were acquired by the San Francisco Maritime Museum at some point between the early days of the museum in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s, a large portion of the Scott collection was selected for cataloging. These images are now part of the Classified photograph collection. An index of this collection is currently only accessible to Park staff through the ICMS Archives Module Classified photographs directory. It is also accessible by staff through the card index (by vessel name) and the card catalog (by vessel name, other subjects, and photographer's name). The material cataloged in the mid-1960s was roughly half of yachting scenes and half of other commercial work, primarily of passenger vessels and freighters. The bulk of the remainder of the Scott collection is described here, in P83-019a; however, there are several other small Scott collections (see the Related Materials section). Generally, it seems that the photographs in P83-019a and in the Classified photograph collection are each unique and complement each other with very little duplication (based on looking at PRESIDENT WILSON negatives in P83-019a and in the Classified photograph collection). In a few cases, there is a negative in the Classified photograph collection and a corresponding print in P83-019a. There are also photograph albums in another collection (SAFR 15240, P79-040a (SCR 32a-d)) that contain prints made from many of the negatives in P83-019a. The glass plates in this collection (P83-019a) roughly begin with some dating from 1900 and 1905, but increase in frequency per year from 1910 (when he became a commercial photographer), through 1925-1926, when he shifted from glass to film. The images on film begin in 1926, and run through 1935, with the last few in 1938. The photographer numbers in this collection are generally in the range of 1-1200 and 2000-3000, with some early 4000 numbers as well. The Walter A. Scott photographs that were cataloged into the Classified photograph collection seem to generally be in the early number range of 1-1100 and in the 5000-6000 range; they also tend to have more steam powered vessels, but there are also sailing vessels included in the Classified collection. A guide to the Walter A. Scott P83-019a (SAFR 19105) 2 photograph collection, 1877-1939 Scott's system for numbering his negatives cannot be described with certainty, since no index came with the collection, nor do we have long continuous sequences of numbers. At least two persons, to judge by the handwriting, were involved in assigning photographer numbers to the negatives. In a general way, it appears that as some point Scott arranged his images of sailing yachts alphabetically by the name of the vessel (but not necessarily chronologically under each name) and numbered them (roughly photographer numbers 52 through 911, in this collection), mostly 6.5 x 8.5 inch glass plates, but some other size plates as well. He then apparently continued the number series (starting around photographer number 1006, in this collection), for the balance of the 4 x 5 inch glass plates, ending in the mid 1200s. However, he did not assign numbers to images of powered vessels or other subjects in these sizes, except where he had taken, under commission, a number of views and had numbered these as independent sets. For his 5 x 7 inch glass plates, he appears to have begun with photographer number 2000 and to have continued with this sequence when he switched to nitrate film negatives (beginning with number 2296), passing 3000 at the end, with a few numbered in the 4000s and two images in the 5000s. In this sequence, he did include images of powered vessels. While it is assumed that most of the photographs in this collection were taken by Walter A. Scott, there are a few photographs of photographs in the collection that were presumably originally taken by other photographers. For example, A.E. Wells (Item 848), Ingram of Long Beach, California (Items 838, 840) and Winter & Pond (Item 1609). In the scope note for the Walter A. Scott photographs (SAFR 19479, P78-436a), it is noted that "In addition to his own photographs, Mr. Scott acquired the photographs of T.H. Wilton and reproduced them for his own catalog of images." It is entirely possible that some of the photographs in this collection (P83-019a) are also Thomas H. Wilton photographs. Wilton was one of the foremost maritime photographers in the late 19th/early 20th century and was the proprietor of the Elite Studio. According to the SFMM Accession ledgers (406/1), Mr. Wilton was a sea captain on coastal schooners before 1870. There are also photographs of paintings and information about the original painter has been noted at the Item level, when known. Walter A. Scott was a member of the California Camera Club, and it is possible that some of the prints could be from other members of the club, though this could not be verified. In 1984, it appears that SAFR staff arranged the photographs by physical type (roughly) and assigned Item numbers to the photographs. The nitrate negatives were numbered first, then glass, then prints. See the arrangement notes for more detail. The photographer numbers are not in order within each of the physical types or across all types. Each photographic image has been assigned an Item number; there are often multiple physical forms of each image (e.g. a nitrate negative, a contact interpositive and a contact negative) which has been noted in the physical description field. SAFR staff created most of the contact interpositives and contact negatives in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. In the Fall of 2013, SAFR Archivist Taylor Horton moved the following 104 nitrate negatives from the Nitrate Discard box to regular nitrate storage, because he felt that their condition was not poor enough to warrant destruction: 64; 65; 68; 113; 116; 120; 290; 299-307; 313-318; 320; 326; 328; 330; 339-344; 347; 349; 353; 354; 382; 386; 393; 407; 411; 415; 416; 421; 424; 436; 447; 452; 467; 468; 476; 478; 481; 483; 486; 488-500; 527; 530; 532-534; 536; 538; 539; 541; 549; 558; 560; 562; 569; 579; 581; 585-587; 590; 595-602; 629; 699; 802; 808; 831; 832; 847.1; 847.2. When SAFR staff member Richard Tooker processed the collection in 1984, he noted that: "Only about one-third of the images now listed were identified by name. The majority of the negatives are numbered, but by no means at all." When staff members re-processed the collection in 2014, they were able to identify many of the "unidentified" vessels by using the numbers and letters visible on their sails and by the names on their hulls. They also intellectually arranged the photographs into Series and File Units by vessel type and subject matter. Description Notes: Dates refer to when the original photograph was taken unless otherwise noted. Some of the photographic prints and negatives in this collection are copies that were made much later than when the original photograph was taken, and the dates of these reproductions were noted when known. Note that any original enclosures that the Items were housed in at the time of donation are no longer with the collection, with the exception of one box which is now stored with the glass plate negatives in Box 49. Some dates for individual Items were derived from inscriptions on the Items themselves (either handwritten or etched onto the Item). Other dates were derived from notations on the original discarded enclosures, and the remaining dates were determined based on evaluations from previous staff members; however, there is no way to verify which method was used, and therefore some dates may be incorrect.