Hilda Schwier Photograph Album, circa 1936

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Summary

Creators:
Schwier, Hilda
Abstract:
Photograph album documenting Hilda Schwier's travels throughout the American and Canadian West with several female friends.
Extent:
1 volume
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hilda Schwier Photograph Album, MC304, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

An engaging and attractive album documenting Hilda Schwier's travels throughout the American and Canadian West with several female friends – Alice Prenot, Jean Prenot, Loretta Ley, and Clara Prenot. Although amateur, many of the photographs are quite good. Most images are annotated with location (and occasionally the date) in black ink, and the subjects are usually named as well. The album starts with several scenes of the Grand Canyon, with some shots taken from the South Rim. From there they proceed to Southern California, with images of the University of California ("at Westwood") and the Huntington Library, and their campsite on Huntington Beach. They also visit Catalina Island and have a beach party at Playa Del Rey. Next is Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove, Glacier Point, and Mirror Lake; they also visit Vernal and Nevada Falls, Half Dome, and the O'Shaughnessy Dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The group then heads north through the redwoods and into Oregon, stopping at Mt. Hood and then Multnomah Falls, near Portland. From there, they proceed to Washington, visiting Seattle and Rainier National Park before continuing north to Victoria, British Columbia, where they visit Butchard (i.e., Butchart) Gardens. Their last stop is Banff National Park in Alberta, where they take in Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, the Tower of Babel, and the Banff Springs Hotel. The great majority – if not all – of these color photographs appear to be original, vernacular images, taken by Hilda Schwier or the other women of her group. The images date from the mid-1930s, and the coloring may be the result of handcoloring done to order by the developing studio that developed the prints, or an example of an early Kodachrome process (these photographs date to around the dawn of the popular use of that method).

[Description provided by McBride Rare Books]

Acquisition information:
Purchased from McBride Rare Books, 2020.
Processing information:

Liz Phillips created this finding aid with information supplied by McBride Rare Books.

Physical location:
Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Physical facet:
158 colored photographs, 2.5 x 3 to 6.5 x 4.5 inches. Quarto. Blue cloth-covered boards, yellow stamping on front cover and spine. Bookplate of Hilda Schwier on front pastedown.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hilda Schwier Photograph Album, MC304, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
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