Louis S. Slevin (1878-1945) was a notable photographer in the early days of the 20th century. He was a pioneer in the early days of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, the first to open a general merchandise store in 1905, the first postmaster, first express agent, and first city treasurer. This photograph collection contains images of San Francisco and the Monterey Peninsula, covering the 1900s-1930s. It includes photographs of changes made to several notable buildings in Monterey over a period of decades, as well as early photographs of Carmel, Point Lobos and Pebble Beach. Slevin also documents everyday artifacts of the time period, from paving stones to hitching posts and household tools, that could be of use to researchers.

"Closed. Gone to the countryside." That was the sign Louis Slevin would hang on his general store when he went out to take photographs of the happenings and sights of Carmel and its environs during the early 1900's. The images in our collection reflect the extremely wide interests of this man, who came to Carmel in 1902 with his brother and mother. They built a store to sell general merchandise in 1903 and, shortly thereafter, their store became the first Carmel Post Office. While running the store, seeing to the mail, and taking photographs, Louis Slevin also found time to become Carmel's first city treasurer. He also helped start the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club and was its first treasurer and still found time to write "Ode to a Milk Shrine" and to dash off letters to the editors of the local and Monterey newspapers.

4 archival boxes of photographs

The Henry Meade Local History Department, Harrison Memorial Library does not hold copyright to these items. Permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder by the user.

Materials are open for research.