Portraits of early California residents, 1864-1890

Processed by Jane Carpenter with assistance from Simon Elliott; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 2013
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.


Descriptive Summary

Title: Portraits of early California residents
Date (inclusive): 1864-1890

Note

Probable range of dates based on ms. dates added to photographs, type of photograph, style of dress of subjects, and operating dates of photograph studios.
Collection number: 94/200
Creator: DuPorta, Sebastiana Chacón, collector.
Physical Description: 151 photographic prints on carte de visite mounts : albumen, 11 x 7 cm.

Box title: Portraits of early California residents.

Cartes de visite photographs and tintypes have been removed from original album, now lost.

Spec. Coll. copy: each of the cartes de visite and tintypes in an individual mylar sleeve; sleeves loosely arranged in 16 small white envelopes according to photographer, studio location, or subject; unidentified photographs housed together; envelopes arranged vertically in modern beige cloth drop-spine clamshell box, with label "Portraits of early California residents."
Abstract: Collection of 127 cartes de visite, 5 cabinet cards, and 19 tintypes from ca. 1864-1890, of early residents of California.
Language: Finding aid is written in English.
Language of the Material: Materials are in English.
Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Portraits of early California residents (Collection 94/200). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 4233582 

Scope and Content

The photographs, originally housed in an album owned by doña Sebastiana Chacón DuPorta (various spellings on photographs include Du Porta, Doporto, de Doporto), are studio portraits of many different types of people of all ages: men, women, children, couples, families, groups of men, pairs of women, circus performers, gold miners. A large number of the subjects are Mexican, Californios, or Latinos. Many of the cartes de visite photographs were produced in San Jose, by the studios of J.H. Heering (22); E. Schroder (9), and W.W. Wright (8). Other San Jose studios represented include James A. Clayton, Abell & Co., Art Palace, B.F. Howland, and John Macaulay. San Francisco studios include Edouart's Photographic Gallery, Perkins & Foss, Oscar Foss, Bayley & Cramer, H.W. Vaughan, H. Olsen, C.L. Cramer, Amelia Strang, Jacob Shew, W. Dyer, Wise & Prindle, Edouart & Cobb, Bradley & Rulofson, A.K. Kipps, Chas. A. Marston, and Sullivan's Grand Art Gallery. There are eight portraits by Henri Penelon--one from his partnership with Carlo Bosco--and seven by Valentin Wolfenstein, both working in Los Angeles. From San Bernardino, there is one portrait by Maurice A. Franklin. Photographs without a studio identification have been arranged by subject: there are eight portraits of what appear to be side-show performers, including a snake charmer draped in snakes, a bearded lady, a trio of albinos, and a dwarf. The five larger cabinet card portraits portray members of the Feliz and Chavez families, including Nicolas Feliz, a properous young man in suit and tie, sitting in a bent willow chair in his garden, beside a climbing rose; two young Chavez sisters in their First Communion dresses and veils; and Inez Chavez, a chubby toddler in white eyelet skirt, wearing a ring and locket, who "died at age 3 yrs." Three of the portraits are from Los Angeles studios, including The Plaza Gallery at 513 N. Main St., F. Borgia at 674 San Fernando St., and F.E. Grover at Main & Bellevue. Also included are nine tintypes without paper frames, and ten with frames, some bearing stamp of studio of S.P. Sanders, E. Schroder, John Macaulay, and F.E. York. Many of the cartes de visite, and tintypes carry a tax stamp, as was required by law in the United States between 1864 and 1866.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects

Corona, Ramón, 1837-1889 --Photographs.
Juárez, Benito, 1806-1872 --Photographs.
Ortega de la Guerra, Trinidad.
Othon, Sóstenes E. --Photographs.
Ramírez, Francisco P., fl. 1863-1865 --Photographs.
Tapias, Delfina, 19th cent. --Photographs.
Ybarra, Filomeno, fl. 1863-1865 --Photographs.
Chavez family --Photographs.
Feliz family --Photographs.
Men --California --Photographs.
Women --California --Photographs.
Children --California --Photographs.
Families --California --Photographs.
Hispanic Americans --California --Photographs.
Clothing and dress --California --History --19th century.
Gold miners --California --Photographs.
Snake charmers --California --Photographs.
Photographers --California --San Jose --History --19th century --Sources.
Photographers --California --San Francisco --History --19th century --Sources.
Photographers --California --Los Angeles --History --19th century --Sources.
Carte de visite photographs --Specimens.

Genres and Forms of Material

Cartes de visite.
Tintypes.
Photographic prints.

Other Index Terms Related to this Collection

Abell, Frank George, 1844-1910, photographer.
Anderson, H. (Hugh), fl. 1858-1865, photographer.
Bayley, Wilbur Fisk, fl. 1865, photographer.
Bosco, Carl, fl. 1869-1871, photographer.
Chalmers, James C., fl. 1866-1868, photographer.
Clayton, James A., 1831-1896, photographer.
Cobb, David, b. ca. 1841, photographer.
Cramer, C.L. (Charles Lake), 1835-1911, photographer.
Dyer, William Denny, fl. 1826-1872, photographer.
Edouart, Alexander, fl. 1870-1872, photographer.
Foss, Oscar, fl. 1864-c. 1896, photographer.
Franklin, M.A. (Maurice Abraham), 1817-1874, photographer.
Halsey, Henry H., fl. 1871-1876, photographer.
Heering, J.H. (John Hermann), fl. 1859-1873, photographer.
Howland, B.F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1828-1900, photographer.
Johnson, J.D., 19th cent., photographer.
Kingsley, John Lucas, fl. 1865-1869, photographer.
Kipps, A.K. (Alfred Kemble), fl. 1861-1900, photographer.
Macaulay, John, 19th cent., photographer.
Marston, Charles A. (Charles Albert), b. ca. 1826, photographer.
Olsen, H. (Halver), fl. 1864-1872, photographer.
Penelon, H.C. (Henri C.), c. 1827-1874, photographer.
Prindle, Edward H., photographer.
Sanders, S.P. (Stephen Poole), b. 1835, photographer.
Schróder, E., photographer.
Shew, Jacob, ca. 1826-1879, photographer.
Spooner, J.P. (John Pitcher), fl. 1870-1898, photographer.
Strang, Amelia, fl. 1838-1870, photographer.
Vaughan, H.W. (Hector William), ca. 1827-ca. 1878, photographer.
Wise, James, photographer.
Wolfe, Samuel A., fl. 1866-1868, photographer.
Wolfenstein, V. (Valentin), 1844-1909, photographer.
Wright, W.W., 19th cent., photographer.
Zuber, William, fl. 1858-1880, photographer.
Bayley & Cramer.
Bradley & Rulofson.
Chalmers & Wolfe.
Edouart & Cobb.
Foss & Halsey.
Hodapp & Zuber.
Perkins & Foss.
Wise & Prindle.

Related Material

Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94)   in UCLA Library Special Collections.
For additional information on many of the photographers represented in this collection, consult: Pioneer photographers of the Far West: a biographical dictionary, 1840-1865 / Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford Univ. Press, 2000.