Creators:

California. State Earthquake Investigation Commission Lawson, Andrew C. (Andrew Cowper), 1861-1952

Extent:

60 boxes (ca. 645 negatives) and ca. 105 photographic prints

Scope and content:

Many negatives bear plate number annotations which correspond to the plate numbers in the 1908 publication "The California earthquake of April 18, 1906: report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission." These plate numbers, when legible, have been noted in the following Container List. Not all plates from the published report are present in this collection, and many negatives are present which were not published.

Compiled or photographed by Andrew C. Lawson and other members of the California State Earthquake Investigation Commission. Received by The Bancroft Library as part of the Andrew C. Lawson photograph collection, along with the Andrew C. Lawson papers. The bulk of the Earthquake Investigation Commission materials were received from Lawson's estate in 1958, with other transfers of his papers and photographs made between 1956 and 1965.

In this finding aid, the contents of the collection have been arranged into series according to photographer. As a result of this arrangement, images do not appear in item number order. Item numbers were originally assigned during various prior phases of collection processing and do not consistently reflect a natural grouping according to subject matter, location, or photographer or any other logical grouping. Because each of the photographers, for the most part, worked in a limited geographical range, the present arrangement is an attempt to reflect both the common sources as well as the content of the images. The physical arrangement of the collection and the numbering scheme used to identify and locate items reflects three artificial series created by the library. This physical and numerical arrangement is not reflected in the organization of the present finding aid, except that item call numbers contain references to "series" numbers required for retrieval. Series 1 and Series 2 have no real difference in content. They both consist of original film and glass plate negatives. Images in Series 1 were grouped by photographers' names and assigned numbers by library staff. Series 2 includes many images that would logically fall within Series 1 and are from the same photographers and geographic areas, but the numbering for Series 1 had been established and it was impossible to neatly integrate them. Series 2 has been numbered according to early numbers found affixed to the negatives on round labels. Not all numbers in the range are present. These numbers seem to correspond with caption information in an album of J.C. Branner held at Stanford University. Series 3 is largely miscellaneous, containing photographic prints with no corresponding negative or negatives which were not included in Series 1 (usually by unknown photographers) and which did not have item numbers placing them in Series 2.

Photographs taken or collected by the California State Earthquake Investigation Commission to document the effects of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 on the landscape and on buildings, roads and other structures. Locations range from Humboldt County in the north to San Bernardino and San Diego counties in the south.

The California State Earthquake Investigation Commission photographs from the Andrew C. Lawson collection consists of negatives and photographic prints taken by or collected by members of the Earthquake Investigation Commission. Images document the effects of the California earthquake of 1906 on the landscape and on buildings, roads and other structures. Locations range from Humboldt County in the north to San Bernardino and San Diego counties in the south. Most images focus on the geology of the event, documenting the results of earth movement, offset to fences and roads, landslides, etc. The series of images by Harold Wellman Fairbanks may date prior to the April 1906 earthquake, reflecting his research in Central and Southern California that lead to the identification of the San Andreas Fault. For example, Fairbanks is known to have visited the Carrizo Plain with A.C. Lawson in January, 1906. In addition to the geological landscape studies, the collection includes many views of structural damage in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Tomales, Monterey, at Stanford University, and other locales. The collection includes original glass plate negatives, later prints from some of these negatives (made by the library), glass plate copy negatives presumably made by the commission from photographic prints loaned to them, and original photographic prints made by others which were collected by Lawson or other commission members. Identified photographers include Andrew C. Lawson, Harry Oscar Wood, Harold Wellman Fairbanks, Francois Emile Matthes, Arthur Starr Eakle, Joseph N. LeConte, J.C. Branner, Grove Karl Gilbert, R.S. Holway, G.S. Crosby, and individuals only identified as Dudley, Moran, E.C. and R.A.

Subjects:

Buildings--Earthquake effects--California--San Francisco
Buildings--Earthquake effects--Photographs
Earthquakes--California--San Francisco--Photographs
Faults (Geology)--California
Faults (Geology)--California--Photographs
Geology--California
San Francisco Earthquake, Calif., 1906--Photographs

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