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Frederic Hamer Maude (1858-1959) Collection, ca.1890-1920
P-002.2
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Title: Frederic Hamer Maude (1858-1959) Collection, ca.1890-1920
Dates: ca. 1890-1920
Collection Number: P-002.2
Creator/Collector:
Maude, F. H. (Frederic Hamer)
Extent: 42.1 linear feet (Boxes: letter, ½ letter) Photographs and negatives.
Online items available
Repository:
Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
Abstract: F.H. Maude was a photographer and photographic collector of the American Southwest. Relocated from England to Los Angeles,
California, Maude ran a commercial photography business, acquiring local photographers’ collections in addition to his own
work. This collection depicts the urban development of Los Angeles and San Francisco at the turn of the nineteenth century,
as well as the rural surrounding areas and wildernesses. Native tribes of the American West are also heavily represented,
with a focus on the Acoma, Navajo, Havasupai and Zuni communities.
Language of Material: English
Research is by appointment only
Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the Seaver Center. The Seaver Center does not claim copyright
to images, however it is the researcher’s responsibility to obtain permission from any copyright holder. In addition culturally-sensitive
materials, including photographs of ceremonies and sacred places of Native Americans, are restricted in their use and are
not available for reproduction or publication.
Frederic Hamer Maude (1858-1959) Collection, ca.1890-1920. Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum
of Los Angeles County
The collection made its way to the Seaver Center after passing through many hands after Maude’s retirement. The negatives
most likely went to Maude’s photographer friend George Robinson, and after his death was inherited by his son Stanley who
sold them to the Keystone Photo Company. The company eventually went out of business, at which point the Los Angeles photographer
Al Greene acquired the images. Al Greene sold the collection to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 1966.
Biography/Administrative History
Frederic Hamer Maude was born in 1858 in Little Mollington, Cheshire, England to Thomas James Maude and Louisa Emily Hamer,
a well-off and distinguished couple. He attended prestigious schools in both the towns of Rugby and Highgate, and in 1883
he earned a medical degree at the University of Aberdeen. During Maude’s short-lived medical career, he explored his interest
in photographic arts at the Royal Photography Society in London.
Maude left England in 1887 for California by way of Canada, settling in Ventura. By 1895 Maude had relocated to Los Angeles
and bought the commercial photography business of C.B. Waite on West 1st Street. Maude’s purchase included the large inventory
of Waite’s own photographic negatives, well known works featuring views of Southern California. Maude changed the name of
the business to F.H. Maude & Co. and began selling Waite’s collection as well as other local photographers’ works with an
imprint of his own name, as was common practice at the time. Maude led a successful career by selling prints to individuals
and to publications and began specializing in lantern slides. Maude’s photographic expertise and notoriety grew, as he twice
served as president of the Los Angeles Camera Club, lecturing on the photographic arts and on his own body of work.
Maude’s photography is best known for its focus on the American Southwestern desert and mountains; images made possible by
arduous expeditions to the Grand Canyon and to various Native American pueblos. However, his importance to California history
lies more in his acquisition and aggregation of other local photographers’ collections rather than in his own work.
Maude’s name last appeared in the city directory in 1924 alongside a mentioned profession, and so it is presumed that this
was the year that he retired from active business. Maude continued to travel the Southwest with his camera equipment for decades
after retirement. He passed away in Los Angeles in 1959 at the age of 100.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection of 4,000 glass-plate negatives is one of the two most important collections of
Maude images (the other is housed at the Braun Research Library at the Southwest Museum in
Los Angeles). The images feature early urban development in Los Angeles, views of the
Southern California wilderness, and various other areas of the Southwest including the Grand
Canyon and certain Southwestern native tribal lands and peoples. The collection is divided by
geographical headings and subdivided by subject headings
Acoma Indians
Arroyos
Canyons
Formations (Geology)
Havasupai Indians
Historic buildings
History, Local
Indians of North America Dwellings
Missions, Spanish
Mountains
Navajo Indians
Rivers
Sedimentary structures
Zuni Indians
Alaska
Arizona
California
New Mexico
Wyoming