Santa Cruz County Historic Photograph collection, circa 1866-1995, bulk 1875-1965
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- This collection contains original and copy prints of Santa Cruz County from 1866-1995.
- Extent:
- 102 Linear Feet 153 flats, 33 negative boxes, 1 carton, 2 flat file drawers
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Santa Cruz County Historic Photograph Collection. MS 427. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection includes 154 boxes of original photographs, copy prints, vintage postcards, oversize prints, albums, and 33 boxes of negatives. There is a small number of tintypes and magnesium plates, as well as Santa Cruz ephemera. Some of the local Santa Cruz photographers and studios represented are: Charles (C.L.) Aydelotte, C. Aichberg, Alice Halsey, Kroughs, McKean and Ort, Ole Ravnos, Reese, W.H. Sherer, George Webb, and Wicklund.
The collection spans more than 100 years of Santa Cruz city and county development and activity. The photographs document communities and towns, some now gone; businesses and stores; industries: logging, mining, farming, ranching; the natural surroundings: beaches, forests, rivers, creeks, lagoons; cultural events and entertainment: theater, exhibits, celebrations, parades; institutions: government, churches, schools, libraries; military displays and recreation: team sports, camping, and fishing; and means of transportation: railroads, streetcars, airplanes, automobiles, ships and boats. It reveals the daily lives of Santa Cruz residents and where they lived, worked, played, and worshiped. The bulk of the photographs document the city of Santa Cruz, but there are many photos of the North and South county as well. Other large portions include the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Casino, and the nascent film industry in Santa Cruz including actors, directors, and film crews on location.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Preston Sawyer, the main source for the photographs in this collection, was a proofreader and historical writer, born in Santa Cruz in 1899. He wrote the weekly column, "Santa Cruz Yesterdays" in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. He and his brother Ariel Sawyer ran the Sawyer Tile Company. As a youth, Preston Sawyer worked in the early movie industry located in the Santa Cruz mountains. A prolific amateur photographer, he took hundreds of pictures of actors, directors, film crews, and locations. He also recorded his family, friends, neighbors, pastimes, his tenure at Santa Cruz High School and the Sentinal, as well as local businesses and merchants. Sawyer and his family members were voracious collectors who bought and exchanged photographs and postcards of early Santa Cruz and surrounding areas. After his death in 1968, UCSC acquired his photographs.
- Acquisition information:
- The vast majority of the photographs were acquired by the UCSC library as part of the Preston Sawyer Collection, MS82. Other photographs were donated by various individuals and sources between 1968-2000.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Debra Roussopoulos in 2017.
Photographs were organized according to a topical scheme created by local historians and staff of Special Collections. Duplicates are stored with the originals.
After Preston Sawyer's death, and between 1968-1995, a group of local historians and relatives of Sawyer including Esther Lucille Fields Rice, Ariel Sawyer, John and Vivian Byrne, and Harold Van Gorder, dedicated significant time identifying photographs in the collection. Rice spent her retirement visiting the homes of early Santa Cruz residents and their families, sorting through thousands of photographs that were solicited from the community, and contributed to the invaluable information found in this visual record of Santa Cruz.
Many original photographs were made into vintage postcards by Preston Sawyer directly directly after the image was produced. Sawyer annotated and stamped each postcard with the date.
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022. Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
- Arrangement:
-
Photographs are arranged by size and by topical subject.
Series include:
- Series 1. Agriculture
- Series 2. Animals
- Series 3. Beaches
- Series 4. Boardwalk and Casino
- Series 5. Businesses
- Series 6. Civic Organizations and Government
- Series 7. Communications and Utilities
- Series 8. Cultural Activities
- Series 9. Disasters
- Series 10. Entertainment
- Series 11. Hotels, Cottages, and Apartments
- Series 12. Industries
- Series 13. Landmarks
- Series 14. Military
- Series 15. Nature
- Series 16. People
- Series 17. Recreation
- Series 18. Religion
- Series 19. Residences
- Series 20. Social Services
- Series 21. Towns and Communities
- Series 22. Transportation
- Series 23. Oversize
- Series 24. Albums
- Series 25. Miscellaneous and Ephemera
- Series 26. Negatives
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs. Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
- Preferred citation:
-
Santa Cruz County Historic Photograph Collection. MS 427. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Location of this collection:
-
Special Collections and Archives, University Library1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064, US
- Contact:
- (831) 459-2547