Gervaise Purcell Family Photograph Collection photCL 179
Suzanne Oatey
The Huntington Library
June 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
reference@huntington.org
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.
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[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.
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.
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.
Processed by Huntington Library staff, circa late-20th century. In 2020, Suzanne Oatey
created a finding aid derived from a legacy summary report.
Arranged by subject.
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
Box 1
Gervaise Purcell family photograph collection
Box 2
Gervaise Purcell family photograph collection