http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0f59q6d0 No online items Finding aid prepared by Jessica Gambling. The Huntington LibraryJuly - August 2006 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108 photCL 400 volume 1 1 Overview of the Collection Repository: The Huntington Library 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108 Phone: 626-405-2180 Email: [email protected] Title: Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Photographs by Subject Dates: circa 1850-1982 Dates: (bulk 1880s-1930s) Quantity: 24 boxes, 22.42 linear feet Abstract: The collection consists of 3511 photographs, negatives, and ephemeral items in various formats circa 1850s-1982. Compiled from the gifts of various donors to the Historical Society of Southern California, the collection covers a wide breadth of subject matter. The images provide comprehensive information about many activities and events important to Southern California in the late 19th and early 20th century. Identification: photCL 400 volume 1 Language of Material: English Historical Note Volume 1 comprises one portion of the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC) Collection, which was donated to the Huntington Library in 1992. The HSSC Collection as a whole contains approximately 15,000 photographs and negatives covering the period circa 1870 to circa 1980, and almost exclusively depicts Southern California. As such, it is an important visual record of the growth and history of the region. The Historical Society created the collection from photographs contributed by many donors. Many of the photographs have an identifying note regarding the donation (e.g. "Groff Gift"). Scope and Contents The collection consists of 3511 photographs, negatives and ephemeral items in various formats circa 1850s-1982. Compiled from the gifts of various donors to the Historical Society of Southern California, the collection covers a wide breadth of subject matter. The images provide comprehensive information about many activities and events important to Southern California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The photographs mainly depict Southern California, with the largest number representing the city of Los Angeles. The collection includes images of Los Angeles streets and city views; neighborhoods (including Olvera Street, the Plaza, and Chinatown); Los Angeles office buildings and blocks, municipal buildings and facilities (including city halls, court houses, federal buildings, and postal facilities); Los Angeles County communities (including Culver City; Beverly Hills; Watts; Compton; the Hollywood/Cahuenga area; Mt. Washington; Redondo Beach; Hermosa Beach; Venice Beach; Santa Monica; San Pedro; Wilmington; Long Beach; Burbank; Glendale and the San Fernando Valley; Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley; Avalon and Santa Catalina Island); the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains; San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Francisco Counties; Los Angeles County homes, residential buildings, and gardens; Los Angeles parks; Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside County schools, colleges and universities; Los Angeles County churches and synagogues; Los Angeles area country clubs; hotels and theaters in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino Counties, and the city of San Francisco; and Los Angeles County department stores, newspaper buildings, storefronts, and restaurants. General subjects represented in the collection include industry and manufacturing (including iron and steelworks; brick and terracotta; clothing manufacture; and the motion picture industry); agriculture; mining and other extractive industries; infrastructure (including images depicting dams, roads, and photographs taken for Caltrans documenting the construction of the Pasadena Freeway, also known as the Arroyo Seco Historic Parkway); water and power (including photographs depicting the irrigation of the San Fernando Valley in the 1910s); transportation; sports and leisure activities (including images depicting the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles); fairs and expositions (including trade and industrial fairs; the Panama Pacific Exposition; the California Pacific International Exposition; the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition; and the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition); fiestas and parades (including the Fiesta de Los Angeles, the Fiesta de las Flores, and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses), circuses and circus wagons; missions in California, the Southwest United States, and Mexico; and California adobes and ranchos. Miscellaneous images include national and state parks; the California Gold Rush and mining towns; the armed forces in California; native and indigenous culture; local flora, including trees; unidentified people; unidentified scenery; documents; maps; and a small group of ephemera pertaining to the photCL 400 volume 1 2 Wilshire Boulevard Miracle Mile. The collection includes photographs produced by 140 identified photographic studios, photographers, and publishers including Blanchard; Cromwell and Westervelt; Frasher's Studio; Garden City Foto; Harold W. Grieve, T.E. Hecht; William Henry Hill; Keystone Photo Service; Luckhaus Studio; Charles F. Lummis; F.H. Maude; Harold Parker; Putnam Studios; F.H. Rogers; Julius Shulman; Spence Airplane Photos; Stagg; A. Sturtevant; Carleton E. Watkins; and "Dick" Whittington Studio. A complete list of known photographers can be found at the end of the Finding Aid. There are also photographs made by or for the companies they depict. These include American Trona Corporation; Douglas Aircraft; Estelle Mines Corporation; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Paramount Pictures; Selznick International Pictures; Studebaker Corporation; Union Pacific Railroad; and United Artists. Images produced and compiled by the Federal Writers' Project Southern and Northern California branches are represented in the collection and are indexed at the end of the Container List. These include photographs by Viroque Baker, Horace Bristol, Burton Burt, Fred William Carter, Fred R. Dapprich, Luckhaus Studio, Julius Shulman, Art Streib, and others. Some of these photographs also bear the stamps of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Board of Education. Some photographs exist in multiples. Many have identifying information on the verso such as a description, date, provenance or photographer information, a caption for an article or other type of publication, or information regarding use of the image in the Southern California Quarterly. Arrangement The HSSC organized the collection into subject categories, and these were retained where practicable. Within some larger subject areas photographs have been arranged geographically or into sub-categories (e.g. "Transportation" includes the subject categories "Railroads" and "Automobiles and motorcycles"). Index Terms This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms. Persons: Baker, Viroque. Blanchard, J. B. (James B.), 1821-1916. Bristol, Horace. Burt, Burton. Carter, Frederick William. Dapprich, Fred R. Grieve, Harold W. Hecht, T.E. Hill, William Henry, 1845-1925. Parker, Harold A., 1878-1930. Shulman, Julius. Streib, Art. Sturtevant, A. Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916. Organizations: Cromwell and Westervelt. "Dick" Whittington Studio. F.H. Rogers and Company. Frashers Inc. Garden City Foto Company. Keystone Photo Service. Luckhaus Studio. Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928. Maude, F. H. (Frederic Hamer). Putnam Studios. Spence Air Photos (Firm). Stagg Photography. photCL 400 volume 1 3 American Trona Corporation. Arroyo Seco Historic Parkway (Calif.)--Photographs. California. Dept. of Transportation. Douglas Aircraft Company. Estelle Mines Corporation. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California. Federal Writers' Project of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Paramount Pictures. Selznick International Pictures. Studebaker Corporation. Union Pacific Railroad Company. United Artists Corporation. Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909 : Seattle, Wash.)--Photographs. California Pacific International Exposition (1935-1936 : San Diego, Calif.)--Photographs. Fiesta de las Flores, Los Angeles, Calif.--Photographs. La Fiesta de Los Angeles--Photographs. Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905 : Portland, Or.)--Photographs. Olympic Games (10th : 1932 : Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)--Photographs. Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, Calif.--Photographs. Places: Avalon (Calif.)--Photographs. Beverly Hills (Calif.)--Photographs. Burbank (Calif.)--Photographs. Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. California--Gold discoveries--Photographs. Compton (Calif.)--Photographs. Culver City (Calif.)--Photographs. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. Glendale (Calif.)--Photographs. Hermosa Beach (Calif.)--Photographs. Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. Long Beach (Calif.)--Photographs. Mount Washington (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. Olvera Street (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs. Orange County (Calif.)--Photographs. Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs. Redondo Beach (Calif.)--Photographs. Riverside County (Calif.)--Photographs. San Bernardino County (Calif.)--Photographs. San Bernardino Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs. San Diego County (Calif.)--Photographs. San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Photographs. San Francisco (Calif.)--Photographs. San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs. San Gabriel River Valley (Calif.)--Photographs.