Norma Garrigues Dobay Family Photograph Collection
Finding aid created by San Francisco History Center staff using RecordEXPRESS
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
2016
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, California 94102
(415) 557-4567
sfhistory@sfpl.org
http://sfpl.org/sfhistory
Title: Norma Garrigues Dobay Family Photograph Collection
Dates: 1890-1950
Collection Number: SFP 91
Creator/Collector:
Dobay, Norma Garrigues
Extent: 1 carton
Repository:
San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
San Francisco, California 94102
Abstract: Photograph collection depicting family life of French Americans in San Francisco, primarily during the first half of the 20th
century. Photos depict friends and family at home, on vacation and playing sports, and in relation to French laundries.
Collection contains many formal portraits, school portraits and a substantial number of photographs taken at the Golden Gate
International Exposition on Treasure Island.
Language of Material: English
The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.
All requests for permission to publish from the collection must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Norma Garrigues Dobay Family Photograph Collection. San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco History Center
Gift. 2007.
Biography/Administrative History
All four of Norma Garrigues Dobay’s grandparents immigrated to San Francisco from France in the 1890s, marrying and starting
families shortly after their arrival. Many of the Garrigues women worked in and then later became proprietors of their own
French laundries and raised their children in San Francisco. The families lived in South of Market, Haight, and Sunset neighborhoods.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains the photographs of Norma Garrigues who, in 1937, was born into a French- American family which had
been in San Francisco since the 1890s. The collection comprises primarily of photos taken and collected into albums by Norma’s
mother, Emma Galy. The first album documents family and friends enjoying leisure activities such as swimming, camping, picnics,
and travel to Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake in the 1920s and 1930s. The second album contains many photographs taken at the
Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island (1939-1940) and family gatherings in San Francisco, Stockton and Los Angeles. There
are photographs documenting Emma’s parents’ French laundry businesses located on Haight Street and in Hayes Valley as well
as their homes on Haight Street and in the Sunset neighborhood. The third album is a collection of family portraits, collected
by Natalie Goudy (Norma’s grandmother) and dates from the 1890s to the early 1950s. There are 11 additional folders, sorted
by family member, containing studio portraits, wedding photos, and school photos, also ranging from the 1890s to the 1950s.
Other ephemera includes a school graduation memories book, two newspaper clippings, and three postcard books sent from the
southeastern United States.
French Americans - California.
Golden Gate International Exposition--(1939-1940 :--San Francisco, Calif.)
Dobay, Norma Garrigues
Photographic prints--1890-1900.
Photographic prints--1900-1910.
Photographic prints--1910-1920.
Photographic prints--1920-1930.
Photograph albums.
Portrait photographs--1910-1920
Portrait photographs--1920-1930