The collection consists of an album containing 133 albumen photographs of estates and the countryside of Sonoma Valley, California taken by Watkins in 1887 for the Sonoma Valley Improvement Company as a promotional tool. The name "Briggs, Fergusson & Co., Real Estate Agents and Auctioneers" appears on the first pages of the album and indicates probable ownership of the album. Estates featured in the album include those of George H. Maxwell, Charles T. Wilkinson, Caleb Carriger, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (Lachryma Montis), C. F. Leiding, O. Rufus, the Ewell Family, Mrs. Robert Johnston (Buena Vista), Col. J. K. Rigers, Hon. William McPherson Hill, Col. George F. Hooper (Sobre Vista), and J. Chauvet. Also included are views of the town of Sonoma, its railroad depot buildings and a railroad construction camp; as well as views of orchards, farming, wineries and their surrounding grounds. The album also includes promotional information about Sonoma Valley.

Carleton E. Watkins was born in Oneonta, Oswego county, New York, on November 11, 1829. He was the youngest of five children of a Scottish innkeeper. During his youth he became acquainted with Collis P. Huntington, who frequented his father's hotel. Soon after the discovery of gold, both young men went to California, where Huntington later became one of the Big Four who built the Central Pacific Railroad.

133 photographic prints in one album; 28 x 40 cm. 133 digital objects

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.

Restricted originals. Use viewing prints only. Use of originals only by permission of the Curator of Pictorial Collections, The Bancroft Library.