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C.C. Pierce Collection of Photographs: Finding
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photCL Pierce
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Title: C.C. Pierce Collection of Photographs
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1840-1930
Bulk dates: 1880-1920
Collection Number: photCL Pierce
Creator:
Pierce, C. C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946
Extent:
10,100 photographs in 63 boxes (51.19 linear feet)
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The C.C. Pierce collection constitutes one of the most important collections of historical photographs of early California
and Los Angeles extant. The collection of
10,100 prints was assembled by Charles C. Pierce (1861-1946), a photographer and long-time operator of a thriving Los
Angeles photographic business. The collection is divided into
nine topical headings devised by Pierce. These include Los Angeles Historical; Indians; Missions; California cities, counties,
etc.; Industries and Agriculture; Transportation;
Natural History; Art and Architecture; and Miscellaneous Scenery. Within these large sections are smaller categories that
focus on the history, landscape, people, civic and
cultural events, built environment, and development of Southern California and the Southwest from approximately 1845-1930.
Of particular interest are the various Indian tribes
depicted as well as all twenty-one of the California Missions.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
C.C. Pierce Collection of Photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased by the Friends of the Huntington Library in 1939.
The collection was numbered and catalog cards were created by Huntington staff sometime after its purchase. In the mid-1990s,
Huntington staff housed and boxed the collection.
In 2001, the original finding aid was created based on the original numbering scheme.
Charles Chester Pierce was born on November 22, 1861, in Springfield, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Pierce migrated
to Southern California in 1886.
Pierce began his photographic career in the thriving boom town of Los Angeles, first in partnership with Albert H. Lohn,
and then successively with J.B. Blanchard
and A.E. McConnell. He established his own studio around 1900 at 313 Spring Street. He moved several times during his
career, eventually expanding his business to
include the sale of photographic supplies. The most outstanding aspect of his business, however, was the vast picture library
he amassed over three decades at work.
Aside from making his own photographs, Pierce acquired the negatives and prints of other regional photographers such as
Emil Ellis, Parker and Knight, Ramsey, Herve Friend,
L.M. Clendenon, George P. Thresher, George Wharton James, and F.M. Huddleston. Pierce eradicated the existing signatures
from the photographs, stamped his own name on the
images, and organized the lot into subject files. The consequence of Pierce's business practices assured that most, if not
all, of the connections between the images and
their original creator are now lost. However, the archive which he advertised as the "C.C. Pierce Collection of Rare, Historical
and Curious Photographs, Illustrating California,
the Pacific Coast and the Southwest," became an invaluable resource for researchers and boosters alike, all of whom came
to Pierce's shop to locate an image for their purposes.
C.C. Pierce died on November 7, 1946, at the age of 84. His prints and negatives are dispersed at several Los Angeles-area
repositories including the Title Insurance and Trust Company
(or Ticor) at the USC Regional History Center; the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History; and UCLA Special Collections. In
addition, UCLA acquired the account books of C.C. Pierce's
business dealings from 1909 to 1921 (Call # 170/134). The eight volume manuscript ledgers provide a detailed listing of his
clients and the nature of the business.
The C.C. Pierce collection contains 10,100 historical photographs of early California and Los Angeles that were assembled
by Charles C. Pierce,
a photographer and long-time operator of a thriving Los Angeles photographic business.
The collection is divided into nine topical headings assigned by Pierce: Los Angeles Historical; Indians; Missions; California
cities, counties, etc.; Industries and Agriculture,
Transportation; Natural History; Art and Architecture; Miscellaneous Scenery. Within these large sections are smaller categories
that focus on the history, landscape, people,
civic and cultural events, built environment, and development of Southern California and the Southwest from approximately
1845-1930. Of particular interest are the various
Indian tribes depicted as well as all twenty-one of the California Missions. Pierce described the latter as "a very extensive
and superior collection of this subject, covering a
period of over sixty years" that includes copies of paintings and etchings made by Edward Vischer from 1842-1876 and Henry
Chapman Ford (1883).
Pierce's practice of copying other photographer's images and supplying his own identification should alert the researcher
to treat the descriptive and date information on the photographs
with some skepticism.
There are two numbers on the back of each photograph: the regular penciled number is the negative number assigned by Pierce;
the red penciled number is that assigned by the Huntington.
Researchers should refer to the red number at all times when ordering reproductions.
The original order of the collection has been maintained and all subject headings are those assigned by Pierce himself.
Cards for individual items are filed in subject and
geographical sections of the Photo Catalog.
See also:
C.C. Pierce Negative Collection (photCL 464)
for photographs related to the Charles C. Pierce family and business, including one photograph of the interior of Pierce's
last studio at 1572 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles (photCL 464 (1)).
For more information about C.C. Pierce and his business see:
"C.C. Pierce, Photographer,"
UCLA Librarian (volume 17, no. 10, March 26, 1964),
71-72.
Kurutz, Gary F."'Courtesy of Title Insurance and Trust Company'- The Historical
Collection at CHS' Los Angeles History Center,"
California History (Summer 1978), 186-194.
Smith-Baranzini, Marlene, "The CHS Southern California Historical Collection:
New Location and New Opportunities for Historic Research,"
California History (Winter 1991/1992), 397-398.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Ford, Henry Chapman, 1828-1894.
Vischer, Edward
Los Angeles (Calif.)--History--19th century--Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.)--History--20th century--Photographs.
California--History--Photographs.
Indians of North America--Photographs.
Cities and towns--California--Photographs.
Agriculture--California--Photographs.
Industries--California--Photographs.
Vehicles--California--Photographs.
Plants--California--Photographs.
Animals--California--Photographs.
Adobe houses--California--Photographs.
Landscape--United States--Photographs.
Cityscapes--California--Photographs.
Missions--California--Photographs.
Photographs.