http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2p30028s No online items Historical Society of Southern California Collection -- Charles Puck Collection of Negatives and Photographs: Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Jennifer Watts. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Photo Archives 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © August 1999 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Historical Society of Southern photCL 400 volume 2 & volume 3 1 California Collection -- Charles Puck Collection of Negatives a... Overview of the Collection Title: Historical Society of Southern California Collection -- Charles Puck Collection of Negatives and Photographs Dates (inclusive): 1864-1963 Bulk dates: 1920s-1950s Collection Number: photCL 400 volume 2 & volume 3 Creator: Puck, Charles, 1882-1968 Extent: 11,400 photographs in 42 boxes (30.29 linear feet) Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Photo Archives 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: The Puck Collection consists of more than 11,000 photographs and negatives both taken and collected by Los Angeles resident and local history enthusiast Charles Puck (1882-1968), which he donated to the Historical Society of Southern California over more than twenty years in the mid-20th century. The photographs date from 1864 to 1963 (bulk 1920s-1950s) and depict buildings, monuments, civic happenings, modes of transportation, flora and fauna, and anything else that captured his particular interests. Puck compiled several scrapbooks on topics such as adobes and buildings of Los Angeles, illustrating them with his photographs and annotating them with historical anecdotes and personal recollections. Puck also collected the work of noted Los Angeles photographers like Charles C. Pierce and James B. Blanchard to supplement his own archive. At the time of his final donation to the Historical Society of Southern California, Puck had amassed a large array of images documenting the changing face of Los Angeles and its environs. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation Historical Society of Southern California Collection -- Charles Puck Collection of Negatives and Photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Provenance Donated by the Historical Society of Southern California, 1992. The collection, identified by Huntington Library catalogers as "Volume 2 & Volume 3" was received as a part of the Historical Society of Southern California Collection; Puck had donated the photographs to the HSSC over more than twenty years. Processing Information In the mid-1990s, Huntington volunteers recreated the collection by identifying Puck's photographs (both those taken and collected) and separating them from the remainder of the approximately 15,000 images donated by the Historical Society. They arranged the images by geographic location, numbered, and rehoused them. In 1999, Jennifer Watts created the bulk of this finding aid based, in part, on the original inventory created by the volunteers. In 2006, Sue Luftschein updated the finding aid with information about the photographs Puck collected. Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements The collection contains eight photograph albums created by Puck. These are extremely fragile and are available for researchers only through photocopied surrogates. Related materials in the Huntington Library The sub-collections of the Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Photographs are individually cataloged in the Huntington Online Catalog. Biographical Note of Charles Puck Historical Society of Southern photCL 400 volume 2 & volume 3 2 California Collection -- Charles Puck Collection of Negatives a... There is little information on Charles Puck beyond the basic facts that he was born on July 20, 1882, in California, resided in Los Angeles for many years, and worked in the city as a postal employee. Puck used his leisure hours to indulge his twin passions for regional history and photography. From 1914 until 1958, Puck set out with his camera to record many facets of life in Southern California. Puck occasionally supplied photographs to commercial photographer Charles C. Pierce, who ran a business providing stock pictures of Southern California to a variety of organizations and publishers. Consequently, Puck’s photographs have often been incorrectly attributed to Pierce in various publications and periodicals of the era. A devoted member of the Historical Society of Southern California, Puck began giving his 11,400 photographs and negatives to that institution in 1948. Photographs trickled in for the next decade, with a final donation of three large cartons from Puck’s estate in 1969, following his death in September 1968. In the forward of a 1926 scrapbook, Charles Puck expressed the driving motivation behind his work: “Noting how rapidly the old landmarks were disappearing, the writer set forth with camera to record these last remnants of a time that will never again come and it is hoped that these pictures…will be an educational contribution.” Historical Note of HSSC Founded in 1883, the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC) is the oldest historical society in California. As part of its mission to collect and preserve Southern California’s history, the HSSC amassed a photo archive over many decades. The HSSC shifted its emphasis to programs and publications in the 1980s and, in 1992, the organization donated its photo archive to The Huntington Library. The Historical Society of Southern California Collection contains approximately 15,000 photographs and negatives focused on Southern California from approximately 1870 to 1980. As such, it is an important visual record of the growth and history of the region. The collection represents a variety of donations made to the Society over many years. It is organized into discrete sub-collections (each with a unique “volume” number) within the overall collection, which is identified by call number photCL 400. Scope and Content The Puck Collection consists of more than 11,000 photographs and negatives both taken and collected by Los Angeles resident and local history enthusiast Charles Puck. Puck took (and collected) photographs of buildings, monuments, civic happenings, modes of transportation, flora and fauna, and anything else that captured his particular interests. He had a penchant for construction, demolition, and disaster of both the natural and human variety, making systematic photographic surveys of anything that fell within these broad categories. He compiled several scrapbooks on topics such as adobes and buildings of Los Angeles, illustrating them with his photographs and annotating them with historical anecdotes and personal recollections. Puck also collected the work of noted Los Angeles photographers like Charles C. Pierce and James B. Blanchard to supplement his own archive; on many of these pictures he wrote comments on the verso. At the time of his gift to the Historical Society of Southern California, Puck had amassed a large array of images documenting the changing face of Los Angeles and its environs. An avid tourist and automobile adventurer, Puck traveled throughout California to historical points of interest. He motored around the sites of the Gold Rush, and frequently ventured into the Sierra Nevada Mountains on camping trips. Aside from pictures of Los Angeles, Puck took shots in many other counties of the state including Orange County, San Diego County, Imperial County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Kern County, Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo County, Inyo County, and the counties in the eastern and central portions of California. Puck also traveled by car to places outside California, mostly in the Southwestern states and to Mexico. Pictures of trips taken between 1918 and 1953 to such places as Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Nevada and Mexico are included in the collection, primarily in the form of negatives. Arrangement The Puck Collection is divided into two parts. Volume 2 contains approximately 10,000 photographs and negatives made by Puck; volume 3 contains approximately 1400 photographs collected by Puck and taken by other photographers. The material in both groups are arranged geographically, beginning with Los Angeles city and county, Puck’s primary interest and the bulk of the collection, and followed by neighboring counties, and then by regions in the northern part of the state and outside California. The larger cities and counties, Los Angeles for instance, also have a number of subject divisions such as parks, buildings, etc. The Historical Society separated by region the photographs from Puck’s numerous automobile trips. Huntington volunteers endeavored to note the route of various trips and brought together images from specific trips where possible. In most instances, however, photographs