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Guide to the Charles Lummis Photographs
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Title: Charles Lummis photographs
Dates: circa 1888-1905
Creator:
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928
Collection Size:
5 flat boxes
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd
Library.
Claremont, CA 91711
Abstract: The bulk of the Charles Lummis Photographs are of Peru, Native
Americans in New Mexico, central Mexico, the San Fernando Mission in California, and
portraits of friends and acquaintances of Lummis.
Physical location: Please consult repository.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English
Collection open for research.
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special
Collections.
[Identification of item], Charles Lummis photographs. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd
Library, Claremont University Consortium.
Gift of Don Meadows, 1985
The Charles Lummis Photographs originally came to Honnold/Mudd Library Special
Collections as part of the Marion Parks Papers. For clarity between the Parks and Lummis
materials, it was decided to divide the Parks collection two distinct collections:
Marion Parks Papers and Charles Lummis Photographs.
The majority of the photographs were identified by captions or inscriptions on verso of
the print, usually in Charles Lummis' writing. Photographs that did not have a caption
or any clues that revealed the location or individual were identified, when possible,
through matching the image in publications of Lummis' photographs.
Sources referenced: Autry National Center, Southwest Museum of the American Indian.
"Collections Online" http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/collections/ (visited July 19,
2006). Fiske, Turbese Lummis and Keith Lummis.
Charles F. Lummis:
The Man and his West
. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1975. Gordon,
Dudley. Charles F. Lummis: Crusader in Corduroy. [Los Angeles] Cultural Assets Press
[1972]. Moneta, Daniela P., ed.
Chas. F. Lummis: the centennial
exhibition commemorating his tramp across the continent
. Los Angeles :
Southwest Museum, 1985.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher (1 Mar. 1859-25 Nov. 1928), author, editor, and explorer was a
lifetime supporter of Native American culture and worked to preserve national landmarks
such as the California missions. Lummis is known for numerous undertakings, including
city editor of the Daily Times, chief librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library,
editor of Land of Sunshine (later retitled Out West), and founder of the Southwest
Museum. Charles Lummis was also an avid and prolific photographer, documenting his
travels across the Southwest and trips south of the American border. His most commonly
printed cyanotypes, a process that was relatively portable and easy to do. Many of his
photographs regularly appeared in Land of Sunshine and Out West.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Charles Lummis Photographs are a mixture of cyanotypes and albumen prints taken
between 1888 and 1905. There are 316 unique images in the collection with many of the
prints having multiple copies. The photographs were taken by Charles Lummis, with the
exception of a noted few that appear to have been given to Lummis by friends or
acquaintances.
The bulk of the photographs cover Lummis' trip to Peru with the archaelogist, Adolph
Bandelier, Native Americans in New Mexico, central Mexico, the San Fernando Mission in
California, and portraits of friends and acquaintances of Lummis.
Arrangement of the Photographs
The photographs are divided by geographic location or subject mater with the following
series:
- Southwest (USA)
- Mexico
- Guatemala
- Ecuador
- Peru
- California
- American Indian and Southwest Collections of Objects
- Lummis Family and Acquaintances
- Eucalyptus Flowers
- Unidentified Landscapes
- Paintings
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928--Archives.
Librarians--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Historians--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Editors--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources.
Civic leaders--California--Los Angeles--Archival
resources.