Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California, 1890

Processed by Chris McDonald.

The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

1996

Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California, 1890

BANC PIC 1976.033 -- fALB

The Bancroft Library

University of California

Berkeley, California 1996

Finding aid and digital representations of archival materials funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed and encoded by:

California Heritage Digital Image Access Project staff in The Bancroft Library and The Library's Electronic Text Unit

Digital images processed by:

The Library Photographic Service

Finding aid completed:

November 1996

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California,

Date: 1890

Collection Number: BANC PIC 1976.033 -- fALB

Extent: 43 photographic albumen prints, 20 x 25 cm.; mounted and bound in album, 26 x 31 cm. 43 digital objects

Photographer: Désiré Fricot

Repository: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley.

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection stored off-site. Advance notice required for use.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Pictorial Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library 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 by the reader.

Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California, BANC PIC 1976.033 --fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Digital Representations Available

Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.

Related Collections

Title: Grass Valley and Vicinity, Taken by D. Fricot

Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1976.034 -- PIC

Title: Album of Photographs of Hawaii

Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1976.032 -- fALB

Title: Berton & Co. Records, 1904-1934

Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 70/7 c

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California album was purchased in 1976.

Biography

Désiré Fricot (1868-1940) was the son of Jules Nicolas Fricot, a french émigré who became a California mining pioneer. Part of a larger community of French prospectors, the Fricot family owned and operated a number of mines in the Grass Valley and Nevada City areas of Nevada County, as well as in Calaveras County. They also owned real estate in San Francisco, and were apparently active in French diplomatic and consular activities in California and Hawaii.

In addition to mining, Désiré Fricot was also a translator of French language documents into English. In 1940, the California Historical Society published his translation of and introduction to André Chavanne's The Burning of the Golden Gate in July 1862. The Impressions of a Survivor, André Chavanne (in California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 19, no.1, pp. 27-42), an account of the steamship Golden Gate. In 1944, the same organization published his California Unveiled: A Translation of Treny's La Californie Dévoilée (reprinted from The California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4, December 1943, and vol. 23, no. 1, March 1944).

Scope and Content

The Views of Calaveras and Mairposa Counties, Calif. album contains 43 albumen prints taken in 1890 by Désiré Fricot. The album features many scenic views of the forest land of the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as well as various other subjects, some of which are related to the Fricot family's mining interests. Calaveras County points of interest pictured in the album include the San Antonio Creek, Colwell Creek, and Hobe Ide's Ditch areas of Sheepranch (written as "Sheep Ranch" in the captions); Murphy's; San Andreas; the timber land of W.H. Clary; the Sheep Ranch Mine of J.B. Haggin; the residence and hoisting works of André Chavanne; the Columbus Mine of Jules Fricot (Désiré's father); and the Big Trees area of the county, including photographs of the "Mother of the Forest" and "Pioneer's Cabin" trees, and a dancing hall constructed atop the stump of a giant tree. Mariposa County points of interest include views of the Yosemite Valley; the town of Wawona; and the "Wawona" and "Grizzly Giant" big trees.

Individuals identified in the collection include Peter Davis, resident of Sheepranch, and Judge C.V. Gottschalk of San Andreas. Also pictured is an unidentified Native American. Appearing in several prints is a man likely to be Désiré Fricot.

The prints, most of them numbered, are mounted to the numbered album leaves. One leaf --between prints No. 8 and No. 11 --appears to be lacking. Manuscript captions appear on the mounts beneath the prints and, occasionally, adjacent to the leaf numbers. Affixed to both the spine and front cover of the album are labels reading, "Calaveras Co. & Yosemite Valley." The inside front cover bears the inscription, "Taken 1890 by D. Fricot." A title page bears the inscription, "A monsieur le juge C.V. Gottschalk, Souvenir respectueux et amical, San Francisco 13 Octobre 1890. D. Fricot."

Container Listing

:1 Fishing party -- San Antonio Creek. Sheep Ranch (Calaveras Co.). [No.] 1. [Voituredebois]