Description
The Hortense and R. Merritt Baker Photograph Album, titled "Snapshots and Flashlights," documents the social and extra-curricular activities of Hortense and R. Merritt Baker
from 1906 to 1909. The album includes candid and posed photographs of the Bakers, Sidney Frantz, and their friends play-acting
and staging home-made theatrical productions; Manual Training High School athletic teams and events; as well as trips to Los
Angeles, Salt Lake City, Grand Lake (Colorado), and Bloomerville (Colorado). Although there are few captions, most pages
contain colorful hand-painted decorations and illustrations.
Background
Hortense Baker was born in 1889 and her younger brother, Robert Merritt (known as Merritt) was born in 1890. They also had
a brother named Melvine. The Bakers grew up in Denver, Colorado. Merritt was a student at the Manual Training High School
in the Whittier neighborhood, and graduated in 1910. As teenagers, both Hortense and Merritt staged home-made theatrical productions
with friends. During the 1910s, Hortense married Sidney Frantz. They had two children. Sometime in the early to mid-1920s,
the Frantzs moved to San Diego where Sidney worked as a set designer, and Hortense acted with the Yorick Players. Merritt
lived in San Diego during the early 1940s and worked at the John Weiss Organization, a real estate firm. He later became the
City Manager of Sierra Madre. He died in Los Angeles in 1955. Hortense passed away in San Diego in 1958.
Restrictions
These materials are in the public domain. However, the nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that
copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained
in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections,
San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections
as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must
also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and
private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement
of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
Availability
This collection is open for research.