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Gervaise Purcell Family Photograph Collection photCL 179
photCL 179  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Preferred Citation
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Biographical / Historical
  • Scope and Contents
  • Processing Information
  • Arrangement
  • Related Materials

  • Contributing Institution: The Huntington Library Photo Archives
    Title: Gervaise Purcell family photograph collection
    Identifier/Call Number: photCL 179
    Physical Description: 2.34 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
    Date (inclusive): approximately 1860s-1940s
    Abstract: Photographs related to the life and family of Gervaise Purcell (1844-1925), a California pioneer and owner of Rancho Las Tunas, San Gabriel, California.
    Language of Material: Materials are in English.

    Conditions Governing Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

    Conditions Governing Use

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. Gervaise Purcell family photograph collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    Gift of Burgo Purcell, 1966. Gift of Hugh D. Purcell, 1957, 1965, 1973.

    Biographical / Historical

    Gervaise Purcell was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1844. He came to the United States and in 1871 married Helen Augusta Pope (1849-1932) of St. Paul, Minnesota. They lived in Japan for some years in the 1870s, where Gervaise worked as an engineer in the service of the Imperial Government. In 1880, the Purcells purchased Rancho Las Tunas on Mission Road, San Gabriel, California, where they lived the rest of their lives. The Purcells had seven children: Geoffrey M. Purcell; Norah Purcell (Gittings) (b.1874); Hugh G. Purcell (1875-1961); Col. Launcelot M. Purcell; Ruth Purcell (Cummings); Burgo Purcell; and Harold A. Purcell.

    Scope and Contents

    Photographs related to the life and family of Gervaise Purcell (1844-1925), engineer, surveyor, and owner of Rancho Las Tunas, San Gabriel, California. Purcell and his wife, Helen Augusta (Pope) Purcell, and their seven children all appear in portraits, as do a few other Purcell and Pope relatives. There are carte-de-visite photographs of Gervaise Purcell's family in Dublin, and images of the Purcells in Japan in the 1870s, such as baby Hugh G. Purcell on the lap of his Japanese nurse or "amah," Noe Fuchizawa (1850-1936), and a portrait of Gervaise Purcell by photographer Baron Raimund von Stillfried of Yokohama. Views in San Gabriel include the Purcell House, also known as the Las Tunas adobe, on Rancho Las Tunas, showing the house and grounds (1880–1920s); Hotel San Gabriel interiors and exteriors (1890s); an artesian well on Titus Ranch, San Gabriel; and girls at school in Sunny Slope (1896), with names written on verso. Other subjects include construction of the Outer Harbor Dock & Wharf Company in San Pedro (1910), for which Gervaise Purcell was engineer, and a travel scrapbook that belonged to Thomas Purcell, brother of Gervaise, containing snapshots from around the world prior to 1871, including scenes in Africa, Singapore, Alexandria, Egypt, and Malta. The collection also contains clippings and some correspondence related to the Purcell family and the history of Rancho Las Tunas, and a few pencil sketches of Japan by Helen Purcell, 1877.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Huntington Library staff, circa late-20th century. In 2020, Suzanne Oatey created a finding aid derived from a legacy summary report.

    Arrangement

    Arranged by subject.

    Related Materials

    Purcell, Gervaise, and Hugh D. Purcell. "Japan Journal: The Private Notes of Gervaise Purcell 1874-1880." Alhambra, Calif: Meiji Art/Litho, 1975. (DS809 .P87 1975)

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Adobe houses -- California -- San Gabriel
    Frontier and pioneer life -- California
    Girls' schools -- California -- Los Angeles
    Hotels -- California -- San Gabriel
    Pioneers -- California
    Ranches -- California -- Los Angeles County
    Voyages and travels -- History -- 19th century
    Women -- Japan
    San Gabriel (Calif.) -- Photographs
    San Pedro (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Photographs
    Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
    Scrapbooks
    Tintypes
    Clippings (information artifacts)
    Letters (correspondence)
    Stillfried, Raimund, Baron von, 1839-1911