The Edwin Ehrhardt Photograph Collection consists of photographic prints and negatives taken or collected by Edwin Ehrhardt (1915-1996), a Lodi, California, policeman, who off duty owned and operated Ehrhardt's Photo Shop with his wife, Winifred Wood Ehrhardt (1920-2009). The images feature men, women, children, families, and other groups posing at weddings, engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, and other occasions, as well as for passports, advertisements, and licenses. Also included is a wide range of family heiroom photographs evidently entrusted to Ehrhardt for copying. The collection affords visual insights into individuals and families from a cross-section of society; clothing fashions; and wedding practices in and around Lodi, California, during the last half of the twentieth century.

A native of Kansas, Edwin Ehrhardt (1915-1996) moved to Lodi, California, as a youth. Graduating from Galt High School, he worked briefly at a local tire manufacturer then joined the Lodi Fire Department. In 1948, he became an officer in the Lodi Police Department and soon afterward won appointment as the Department's identification officer, a position he held until his retirement two decades later. Ehrhardt subsequently attributed his hiring to his longstanding interest in photography. Several years after joining the Lodi Police Department, he acquired the business (and possibly the stock) of Howard W. Rode, a local photgrapher, and opened Ehrhardt's Photo Shop with his wife. The Ehrhardts' business is known to have taken official photographs at more than fourteen hundred local weddings during its forty years in existence, many of which are included in this collection. Ehrhard also photographed a variety of other events, took passport photos, and, among other services, prepared copies of heirloom photographs for customers.

2 linear feet

The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.

Collection is open for research by appointment.