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Bullock’s Department Store Collection of
Photographs
photCL 401
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Table of contents
Repository:
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA
91108
Phone: 626-405-2180
Email: jwatts@huntington.org
Creator:
Bullock's Department Store.
Title: Bullock’s Department Store Collection
of Photographs
Dates: 1905-1971
Dates: (bulk 1912-1945)
Quantity: 15.38 linear feet,
15 boxes
Abstract: The Bullock's Department Store
Collection consists of 680 photographs, 2 boxes of ephemera related to Bullock's
publicity and events, and 29 glass plate negatives, 1905-1971 (bulk 1912-1945). It
focuses primarily on the retail spaces, displays, departments, and employees at the
downtown Los Angeles store once located at Broadway, 7th, and Hill Streets. The
photographs document the various functions associated with the store including the
full range of departments; window displays; store merchandising; employee activities
and gatherings; children’s parties and parades; advertising billboards; the August
sales event and crowds; and construction scenes from 1912 and 1928. Photographers
include Warren Bowen Studios; Brown and Warrington; duBois Photo Co.; Frank C.
Elliott; Jim England; Graham Photo; Keystone Photo; J.C. Milligan; Ernest Pratt;
Otto Rothschild; Stagg Photography; Art Streib; "Dick" Whittington Studio; Whitland
Locke Commercial Photography; and Witzel Photo.
Identification: photCL 401
Language of Material: English
The original Bullock’s Department Store was designed by the architectural firm of
Parkinson and Bergstrom and opened in March 1907 at 639-657 South Broadway in Los
Angeles. Bullock’s flagship store proved so successful that it expanded quarters in
1912. The company purchased adjacent buildings in 1917 and 1919 for a total of
460,000 square feet. "By 1920," writes Richard Longstreth, "Bullock’s and Robinson’s
functioned as anchors to an elite shopping precinct that was unprecedented in Los
Angeles." Between 1923 and 1928, Bullock’s added an additional 400,000 square feet
through the construction of three more additions while also purchasing two adjacent
buildings. Bullock’s Inc. eventually opened a second store on Wilshire Boulevard
(1929) as well as additional stores in Westwood Village (1932), Pasadena (1947), and
Fashion Square in Orange County (1958).
The Bullock's Department Store Collection consists of 680 photographs (the bulk in
photograph albums), 2 boxes of ephemera related to Bullock's publicity and events,
and 29 glass plate negatives, 1905-1971 (bulk 1912-1945). It focuses primarily on
the retail spaces, displays, departments, and employees at the downtown Los Angeles
store once located at Broadway, 7th, and Hill Streets. The collection is the remnant
of (what seems to have been) a larger archive of albums assembled and annotated
in-house to document the various functions associated with the store. As such, the
photographs depict every aspect of the store's workings including: the full range of
departments, many shown with thematic decorations for holidays and special events;
window displays; store merchandising; employee activities and gatherings such as
dances, holiday parties, Easter worship services and group portraits; children’s
parties and parades; advertising billboards; the August sales event and crowds; and
construction scenes from 1912 and 1928.
The collection is particularly strong in its documentation of the store's window
displays and merchandising efforts. There are also many pictures of mannequins
dressed in the latest fashions for men, women, and children. The World War II home
front effort is a theme that occurs throughout the collection in various display
motifs and in employee events. Many photographs depict the store's workforce
including female sales clerks, male cooks and security guards, and African American
employees in various capacities. Eight pictures at the end of Volume 9 depict
Bullock's branch locations including the famed Bullock’s Wilshire store. Volume 11
contains promotional and ephemeral materials from 1948 through 1952 associated with
the Bullock’s Wilshire store.
Photographers represented in the collection include Warren Bowen Studios; Brown and
Warrington; duBois Photo Co.; Frank C. Elliott; Jim England; Graham Photo; Keystone
Photo; J.C. Milligan; Ernest Pratt; Otto Rothschild; Stagg Photography; Art Streib;
"Dick" Whittington Studio; Whitland Locke Commercial Photography; and Witzel
Photo.
For conservation purposes, all albums were disbound and interleaved. Original order
was retained where possible.
The collection is arranged by format: loose photographs, photograph albums, ephemera,
and glass plate negatives.
See also:
Identifier/Call Number: photCL Whitt,
Title:
"Dick" Whittington Studio
Collection of Negatives and Photographs,
Huntington
Library Photo Archives.
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject
terms.
Elliott, Frank C.
England, Jim.
Milligan, J. C.
Pratt, Ernest Mitchell,
1876-1945.
Rothschild, Otto.
Streib, Art.
Bullock's Wilshire (Department
store)--Photographs.
Bullock's (Department
store)--Employees--Photographs.
Bullock's (Department
store)--Recreational use--Photographs.
Brown and Warrington.
Dick Whittington Studio.
Dubois Photo Company.
Graham Photo Co. (Los Angeles,
Calif.).
Keystone Photo Service.
Stagg Photographers (Los Angeles,
Calif.).
Warren Bowen Studios.
Whitland Locke Commercial
Photography.
Witzel Photo.
African-Americans--Employment--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Building construction--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Children--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Children's clothing--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Department stores--California--Los
Angeles County--Photographs.
Display of merchandise--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Fashion design--Photographs.
Furniture--Photographs.
Holiday decorations--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Indians of North
America--Clothing--Exhibitions--Photographs.
Indians of North
America--Photographs.
Indian pottery--North
America--Photographs.
Indian textile fabrics--North
America--Photographs.
Mannequins
(Figures)--Photographs.
Pageants--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Sales promotion--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Selling--Cosmetics--Photographs.
Show-windows--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
War work--California--Los
Angeles--1910-1920--Photographs.
War work--California--Los
Angeles--1940-1950--Photographs.
Women--Employment--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Women's clothing--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Ephemera.
Negatives.
Photograph albums.
Photographs.
Access is granted to qualified researchers and by appointment.
All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted in writing to
the Curator of Photographs. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the
Huntington as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or
imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
photCL 401, Bullock's Department Store Collection of Photographs, 1905-1971.
Gift of Ted Stiner, 1996.
The collection was rehoused and numbered, and a Container List prepared, by Jane
Apostol in 2005. The original finding aid was prepared by Jennifer Watts in August
2005.
Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements
Arrangements for viewing the glass plate negatives must be made with the Curator of
Photographs.