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Alson Clark Collection of Photographs: Finding Aid
photCL 361  
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Collection Contents

 

Container List

 

Series I. Alson Clark and Family, Studio, and Projects. 1889-1939, 1962

Physical Description: 238 items in 2 boxes and 1 flatfile

Scope and Content

This series contains portraits of Alson Clark, Medora Clark, and others; scenes from family travels chiefly in Europe, California and the Southwestern United States, and New York; depictions of Clark's home studio in Pasadena, California; and various projects, chiefly murals.
 

Subseries A. Portraits and family travels

Physical Description: 159 photographs

Scope and Content Note

Photographs include studio portraits of Alson Clark from 1893-1894 and from 1939 (plus a reprint of one portrait, dated 1962); images of Clark in Algiers and Paris; photographs of Clark with Keith Spalding on the yacht Goodwill in 1920, taken by Eudora Spalding; depictions of Clark with Medora Clark and son Alson Clark, Jr., in Pasadena; Clark painting en plein air and in military uniform in 1918 (Folders 1-2); photographs of Medora Clark (Folder 5); and images depicting people and residences in Thousand Islands, Comfort Island, Watertown, and Saint Lawrence, New York (Folders 7-9). Also included are four photographs and a ticket book from travel to Spain in 1909 and 1910, one of these a portrait of Clark holding a palette (Folders 3-4), and one photograph depicting artists and others seated around a table at a formal dinner in Pasadena, with people identified on verso (Folder 6).
Box 1, Folders 1-2

Alson Clark, Medora Clark, Alson Clark, Jr., and friends. 1889-1939, 1962

Box 1, Folders 3-4

Spain. 1909-1910

Box 1, Folder 5

Atta Medora Clark. 1911, approximately 1920-1935

Box 1, Folder 6

Various people. approximately 1889-1925

Box 1, Folders 7-9

New York. approximately 1915-1919, 1926

 

Subseries B. Studio home

Physical Description: 24 photographs
Box 1, Folder 10

Interior and exterior views. 1920-1930

Box 4, Folder 1

Views of Arroyo Seco. approximately 1920

 

Subseries C. Various projects

Physical Description: 55 photographs

Scope and Content Note

Includes one photograph album containing 16 photographs taken by Harold Tyler from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, chiefly of buildings and also one photograph of a curtain painted by Clark; exterior and interior views of the Pasadena Playhouse, including depictions of portions of Clark's mural; images of Clark's models, including an album with five photographs of Medora Clark; and depictions of murals in the Polytechnic Elementary School and the First Trust and Savings Bank in Pasadena, with panels showing scenes from the cinema and shipping industries.
Box 4

Photograph album, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Diego. 1915

Box 1, Folder 11

Pasadena Playhouse. approximately 1925

Box 1, Folder 12

Artists' models. approximately 1925-1928

Box 1, Folder 13

Murals. approximately 1925-1930

 

Series II. California and Southwest. Views. 1920-1939

Physical Description: 277 items in 3 boxes
 

Subseries A. California

Physical Description: 167 photographs

Scope and Content Note

Photographs include landscape views of the Colorado Desert, Palm Springs, Owens Valley, Sespe, La Jolla, Beaumont, and other locations, as well as wildflowers, people on horses, and onion harvesters parked with vehicles (Folders 1-3); and depictions of journeys to Palm Springs, some showing Medora Clark and others at a dwelling in the desert (Folder 4); Panamint City (Folder 5); and La Jolla (Folder 6), including beach scenes.
Box 2, Folders 1-3

California. Landscape views. approximately 1920-1930

Box 2, Folder 4

Palm Springs. approximately 1938

Box 2, Folder 5

Panamint City. approximately 1920-1938

Box 2, Folder 6

La Jolla. approximately 1920-1938

 

Subseries B. Southwest

Physical Description: 110 photographs

Scope and Content Note

Photographs include depictions of Indians, including in poses; Western models including cowboys in rodeos; and various buildings (Folder 1); Mother Lode towns, Carson City, Nevada, and Tyler, Texas (Folder 2); various landscape views depicting deserts and mountains (Folders 3-4); and oversize photographs depicting bison on a range and locations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and unidentified sites.
Box 3, Folder 1

Indians and Western models. approximately 1920-1938

Box 3, Folder 2

Mother Lode towns, Carson City, Nevada, and Tyler, Texas. approximately 1938

Box 3, Folders 3-4

United States Southwest. Landscape views. approximately 1920-1938

Box 4, Folder 2

Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Views. approximately 1920-1938

 

Series III. Mexico. approximately 1920-1937

Physical Description: 507 photographs and 2 clippings in 2 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Includes photographs depicting markets, street scenes, street vendors, churches, indigenous people, and villages, as well as images depicting Mazatlán; Mexico City and environs; Taxco and Cuernavaca, including views of the Santa Prisca church and of cockfights; and Punta Banda, in which several photographs show people camping and painting. Many of the photographs are very small snapshots, 7 x 9 cm (2 x 3.5 in.) or smaller, taken by unidentified photographers; examples are in Box 6, Sleeves 1-3 and 6.
Box 5, Folders 1-4

Various views. approximately 1920-1937

Scope and Content Note

Includes a newspaper article describing the expansion of train service from Los Angeles to Tepic, Nayarit and a photograph of one of Clark's paintings depicting a church, along with two photographs of the church (Folder 3).
Box 6, Sleeves 1-2

Various views. approximately 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 3

Mazatlán. 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 4

Mexico City and environs. 1931

Box 6, Sleeves 5-6

Taxco. 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 7

Punta Banda. approximately 1937

 

Series IV. Views of Asia, Europe, and Canada. approximately 1905-1919

Physical Description: 267 photographs in 4 boxes
Box 8, Folders 1-3

Asia approximately 1890-1910

Scope and Content Note

Contains 24 photographs depicting China including the Forbidden City; palaces, temples, and street scenes in Beijing; statues of animals in Nanking and at the Western Qing Tombs; birds-eye views of Macao; Wuchang; and scenes from the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, including an image of Westerners standing over corpses and heads of beheaded rebels (Folder 1); 3 photographs of India including Benares, Darjeeling, and the Agra fort (Folder 2); and 4 photographs depicting Seoul, Korea, including people at a festival and a birds-eye view of the city (Folder 3).
Box 5, Folder 5

Europe. approximately 1912-1914

Scope and Content Note

Includes one photograph of Granada, Spain; 9 photographs depicting street scenes, markets, and street vendors in Dalmatia; and unidentified cityscapes.
Box 6, Sleeves 8-10

France. approximately 1905-1919

Scope and Content Note

Includes views of Rochefort-en-Terre and other locations in Brittany, chiefly depictions of markets and street scenes as well as views of military parades and warplanes; the photographs are 9 x 9 cm (3.5 x 3.5 in.) and smaller, chiefly 5 x 8 cm (2 x 3 in.).
Box 7

Photograph album and photograph. approximately 1917-1918

Scope and Content Note

Includes 1 photograph album containing 39 photographs depicting post-World War I scenes including buildings in ruins; a British dugout; coal mining machinery in Lens; a British Officers' rest house in Germany; soldiers and men, women, and children on streets in France and Brussels, Belgium; a post office in the Netherlands; and several images of Bailleul, including the destroyed Hotel de Ville. The loose photograph is an aerial image of an unidentified location by the United States Navy (1917).
Box 6, Sleeves 11-13

Canada. approximately 1906

Scope and Content Note

Includes views of the city and province of Québec, chiefly depicting city streets, villages, and residences, and also showing ships at a harbor, timber, and a few images of a flood.