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Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Photographs by Subject
photCL 400 volume 1
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Repository:
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA
91108
Phone: 626-405-2180
Email: jwatts@huntington.org
Title: Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Photographs by Subject
Dates: circa 1850-1982
Dates: (bulk 1880s-1930s)
Quantity: 24 boxes, 22.42 linear feet
Abstract: The collection consists of 3511 photographs, negatives, and ephemeral items in various formats circa 1850s-1982. Compiled
from the gifts of various donors to the Historical Society of Southern California, the collection covers a wide breadth of
subject matter. The images provide comprehensive information about many activities and events important to Southern California
in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Identification: photCL 400 volume 1
Language of Material: English
Volume 1 comprises one portion of the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC) Collection, which was donated to the
Huntington Library in 1992. The HSSC Collection as a whole contains approximately 15,000 photographs and negatives covering
the period circa 1870 to circa 1980, and almost exclusively depicts Southern California. As such, it is an important visual
record of the growth and history of the region.
The Historical Society created the collection from photographs contributed by many donors. Many of the photographs have an
identifying note regarding the donation (e.g. "Groff Gift").
The collection consists of 3511 photographs, negatives and ephemeral items in various formats circa 1850s-1982. Compiled
from the gifts of various donors to the Historical Society of Southern California, the collection covers a wide breadth of
subject matter. The images provide comprehensive information about many activities and events important to Southern California
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The photographs mainly depict Southern California, with the largest number representing the city of Los Angeles. The collection
includes images of Los Angeles streets and city views; neighborhoods (including Olvera Street, the Plaza, and Chinatown);
Los Angeles office buildings and blocks, municipal buildings and facilities (including city halls, court houses, federal buildings,
and postal facilities); Los Angeles County communities (including Culver City; Beverly Hills; Watts; Compton; the Hollywood/Cahuenga
area; Mt. Washington; Redondo Beach; Hermosa Beach; Venice Beach; Santa Monica; San Pedro; Wilmington; Long Beach; Burbank;
Glendale and the San Fernando Valley; Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley; Avalon and Santa Catalina Island); the San Gabriel
and San Bernardino Mountains; San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Francisco Counties; Los Angeles County
homes, residential buildings, and gardens; Los Angeles parks; Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside County schools, colleges
and universities; Los Angeles County churches and synagogues; Los Angeles area country clubs; hotels and theaters in Los Angeles,
Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino Counties, and the city of San Francisco; and Los Angeles County department stores, newspaper
buildings, storefronts, and restaurants. General subjects represented in the collection include industry and manufacturing
(including iron and steelworks; brick and terracotta; clothing manufacture; and the motion picture industry); agriculture;
mining and other extractive industries; infrastructure (including images depicting dams, roads, and photographs taken for
Caltrans documenting the construction of the Pasadena Freeway, also known as the Arroyo Seco Historic Parkway); water and
power (including photographs depicting the irrigation of the San Fernando Valley in the 1910s); transportation; sports and
leisure activities (including images depicting the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles); fairs and expositions (including trade and
industrial fairs; the Panama Pacific Exposition; the California Pacific International Exposition; the Lewis and Clark Centennial
Exposition; and the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition); fiestas and parades (including the Fiesta de Los Angeles, the Fiesta
de las Flores, and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses), circuses and circus wagons; missions in California, the Southwest United
States, and Mexico; and California adobes and ranchos. Miscellaneous images include national and state parks; the California
Gold Rush and mining towns; the armed forces in California; native and indigenous culture; local flora, including trees; unidentified
people; unidentified scenery; documents; maps; and a small group of ephemera pertaining to the Wilshire Boulevard Miracle
Mile.
The collection includes photographs produced by 140 identified photographic studios, photographers, and publishers including
Blanchard; Cromwell and Westervelt; Frasher's Studio; Garden City Foto; Harold W. Grieve, T.E. Hecht; William Henry Hill;
Keystone Photo Service; Luckhaus Studio; Charles F. Lummis; F.H. Maude; Harold Parker; Putnam Studios; F.H. Rogers; Julius
Shulman; Spence Airplane Photos; Stagg; A. Sturtevant; Carleton E. Watkins; and "Dick" Whittington Studio. A complete list
of known photographers can be found at the end of the Finding Aid. There are also photographs made by or for the companies
they depict. These include American Trona Corporation; Douglas Aircraft; Estelle Mines Corporation; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer;
Paramount Pictures; Selznick International Pictures; Studebaker Corporation; Union Pacific Railroad; and United Artists.
Images produced and compiled by the Federal Writers' Project Southern and Northern California branches are represented in
the collection and are indexed at the end of the Container List. These include photographs by Viroque Baker, Horace Bristol,
Burton Burt, Fred William Carter, Fred R. Dapprich, Luckhaus Studio, Julius Shulman, Art Streib, and others. Some of these
photographs also bear the stamps of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Board of Education.
Some photographs exist in multiples. Many have identifying information on the verso such as a description, date, provenance
or photographer information, a caption for an article or other type of publication, or information regarding use of the image
in the
Southern California Quarterly.
The HSSC organized the collection into subject categories, and these were retained where practicable. Within some larger subject
areas photographs have been arranged geographically or into sub-categories (e.g. "Transportation" includes the subject categories
"Railroads" and "Automobiles and motorcycles").
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Baker, Viroque.
Blanchard, J. B. (James B.), 1821-1916.
Bristol, Horace.
Burt, Burton.
Carter, Frederick William.
Dapprich, Fred R.
Grieve, Harold W.
Hecht, T.E.
Hill, William Henry, 1845-1925.
Parker, Harold A., 1878-1930.
Shulman, Julius.
Streib, Art.
Sturtevant, A.
Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916.
Cromwell and Westervelt.
"Dick" Whittington Studio.
F.H. Rogers and Company.
Frashers Inc.
Garden City Foto Company.
Keystone Photo Service.
Luckhaus Studio.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928.
Maude, F. H. (Frederic Hamer).
Putnam Studios.
Spence Air Photos (Firm).
Stagg Photography.
American Trona Corporation.
Arroyo Seco Historic Parkway (Calif.)--Photographs.
California. Dept. of Transportation.
Douglas Aircraft Company.
Estelle Mines Corporation.
Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California.
Federal Writers' Project of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Paramount Pictures.
Selznick International Pictures.
Studebaker Corporation.
Union Pacific Railroad Company.
United Artists Corporation.
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909 : Seattle, Wash.)--Photographs.
California Pacific International Exposition (1935-1936 : San Diego, Calif.)--Photographs.
Fiesta de las Flores, Los Angeles, Calif.--Photographs.
La Fiesta de Los Angeles--Photographs.
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition (1905 : Portland, Or.)--Photographs.
Olympic Games (10th : 1932 : Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco, Calif.)--Photographs.
Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, Calif.--Photographs.
Avalon (Calif.)--Photographs.
Beverly Hills (Calif.)--Photographs.
Burbank (Calif.)--Photographs.
Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
California--Gold discoveries--Photographs.
Compton (Calif.)--Photographs.
Culver City (Calif.)--Photographs.
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Glendale (Calif.)--Photographs.
Hermosa Beach (Calif.)--Photographs.
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Long Beach (Calif.)--Photographs.
Mount Washington (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Olvera Street (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Orange County (Calif.)--Photographs.
Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs.
Redondo Beach (Calif.)--Photographs.
Riverside County (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Bernardino County (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Bernardino Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Diego County (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Francisco (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Gabriel River Valley (Calif.)--Photographs.
San Pedro (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Santa Catalina Island (Calif.)--Photographs.
Santa Monica (Calif.)--Photographs.
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Wilmington (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Ephemera.
Wilshire Boulevard (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Adobe houses--California--Photographs.
Agriculture--California--Photographs.
Apartment houses--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Brick trade--California--Photographs.
Churches--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Circus--California--Photographs.
Circus wagons--Photographs.
City halls--California--Photographs.
Cityscapes--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Clothing trade--California--Photographs.
Country clubs--California--Hollywood--Photographs.
Country clubs--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Courthouses--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Dams--Photographs.
Department stores--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Documents--Photographs.
Dwellings--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Gardens--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Hotels--California--Hemet--Photographs.
Hotels--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Hotels--California--Riverside County--Photographs.
Hotels--California--San Diego--Photographs.
Hotels--California--San Francisco--Photographs.
Indians of North America‡xPhotographs.
Industries--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Iron industry and trade--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Irrigation--California--San Fernando Valley--Photographs.
Manufacturing industries--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Maps--Photographs.
Mineral industries--Photographs.
Missions--Arizona--Photographs.
Missions--California--Photographs.
Missions--Mexico--Photographs.
Missions--Texas--Photographs.
Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Municipal buildings--California--Photographs.
National parks and reserves--California--Photographs.
Neighborhoods--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Newspaper buildings--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Office buildings--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Parades--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Parks--California--Photographs.
Parks--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Plants--California--Photographs.
Post offices--California--Photographs.
Public buildings--California--Photographs.
Ranches--California--Photographs.
Restaurants--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Roads--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Schools--California--Los Angeles County--Photographs.
Schools--California--Orange County--Photographs.
Sports--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Steel industry and trade--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Synagogues--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Terra-cotta industry--California--Photographs.
Trade shows--California--Photographs.
Transportation--California--Photographs.
United States--Armed Forces--Photographs.
Universities and colleges--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Universities and colleges--California--Riverside County--Photographs.
Photographs.
Negatives.
Pamphlets.
Clippings.
Letters.
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.
Preferred citation: photCL 400 volume 1, Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Photographs by Subject, circa
1850s-1982 (bulk 1860s-1930s).
Donated to the Huntington by the Historical Society of Southern California, 1992. The collection is composed of donations
made to the Historical Society. The names of some donors whose contributions are particularly well represented in the collection
include Barbara Paul, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence J. Dixon, Groff, Lawry, Piazza, Gregg Layne, Flora Houston, Otto J. Zahn, the
Sabichi Family, J.M. Guinn, location scouting shots for Selznick International Pictures from J.B. Doan; photographs depicting
San Fernando Valley irrigation donated by Emmet Hayes; the Derkum Family, Tom LaBelle, Veda Kemper; the Los Angeles Historical
Society; and items from the Society of California Pioneer's Charles P. Turrill Collection.
The collection was partly organized by Huntington volunteers in the mid 1990s. In May to September 2006, Jessica Gambling
reorganized, numbered, and rehoused the collection and created and encoded this finding aid.
A.S. Addis, Chihuahua
Acme Photo
Ad Photo Service
Anderson, Richard O.
Anson, Jerry A.
Asher's Photo Studio
Avery, Sid
Baker, Viroque
Bareu
Baron
Bernard, Robert J.
Bertrand and Company
Black-D Photo Service
Blair Photo Service
Blanchard, J.B.
Boehner, Bruce
Broschetto Studios
Bowser Studio
Boxell, A.G., Avalon Studio
Bristol, Horace
Burt, Burton
Butterfield, S.H.
C.C. Pierce Co.
California Photography and Engraving Company
Carroll Photo Service
Carter, Fred William
Clifton, George F.
Coburn
Coulter, W.A.
Craig, Schuyler
Crandall, Pasadena
Cromwell and Westervelt
Cross Aerial Photo
Dapprich, Fred R.
Darby
Daugherty Photo
Dean, Elmer
Death Valley Hotel Co., Ltd.
Deniston, Harian
Detroit Photo Company
"Dick" Whittington Studio
Dickinson, W.C.
Dunlap, Marshall S.
E.S. Frost and Son
Ellis and Son
Ellis, Lemuel S.
Fauldings Photography
Fernekers, Frank A.
Field Studios
Fletcher, W.H.
Frasher's, Pomona
Fressler
Friend, Herve
Gallagher, William
Garden City Foto
Gardiner, R.H.
George D. Haight Architectural Photographers
Godfrey, William H.
Graham Photo Company
Graham, J.P.
Grieve, Harold W.
Hanson, Al
Hardy, J., Pomona
Hecht, T.E.
Hestand, J.G.
Hill, Andrew Putnam
Hill, Pasadena
Hiller's Studio
Hoover, Thelner
Hromatka, A.R.
Humphries, Wilfred R.
J.M. Hawthorne Studio
Jackson of Denver
Jarvis, Pasadena
Kahle, Andrew
Kauffman
Keystone Photo Service
Knepper, Fred
Kopec, Albert J.
Lark, Tommy
Lindley Eddy Studios
Livingston Company
Longworth
Luckhaus Studio
Lummis, Charles F.
Maude, F.H.
Mayer, Fred
Mercury Photo Service
Monroe, Walter
Morrison, Lorrin L.
N.H. Reed, Santa Barbara
Newdick, A.P.
Norton and Rollins
O'Brien Photos
Outland, Charles F.
Overholt, Alma
Padilla Studios
Parker and Knight
Parker, Harold A.
Pollack
Putnamn Studios
Putnam, F.B.
Quiller Photo
R.L. Hurt and Company
Rest and Company Photos
Reyes Photo
Reynolds, Merick Jr.
Rich
Richardson, B.K.
Roberts and Roberts
Rogers, F.H.
Rollins
Rolltur
Rose Photo, Pasadena
Russel Aero Photos
Sawyer Scenic Photos
Schilling, Frank
Shulman, Julius
Schumacher, Leo
Shaw, Warren W.
Smith, Loran F.
Spence Airplane Photos
Stagg
Stanton, F.E.
Streib, Art
Sturtevant, A.
Taber Photo, San Francisco
Thompson and West
Tressler Studio, Las Angeles
Vegas Studio, Las Vegas
Vitagraph
Waite Photo
Watkins, Carleton E.
Watts, Dan P.
Weaver, Miles Franklin
Wesner, Michael A.
West, H.H.
Western Photo Company
Williams, R.J.
Zalenka, Felix and Nikki