Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Michael T. Benning photograph collection
- Dates:
- circa 1915-1970
- Creators:
- Benning, Michael T.
- Abstract:
- The Michael T. Benning Photograph Collection includes over 20,000 portraits of various local clubs; social organizations; sports teams; church events such as Portuguese Holy Ghost festas and Catholic first communions and confirmations; structures such as churches, schools, commercial buildings, hotels, domestic residences, and bridges, as well as some excellent views of street scenes of the City of North Sacramento.
- Extent:
- ~20,000 photographs and negatives (3 filing cabinet drawers + 29 boxes + 60 linear feet of artifacts)
- Language:
- Languages represented in the collection: English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Michael T. Benning photograph collection , MS 45, Center for Sacramento History.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Michael T. Benning Photograph Collection includes many portraits of various local clubs; social organizations; sports teams; church events such as Portuguese Holy Ghost festas and Catholic first communions and confirmations; structures such as churches, schools, commercial buildings, hotels, domestic residences, and bridges, as well as some excellent views of street scenes of the City of North Sacramento. Most of the images were identified on the image itself as to subject and date; however, many school groups and portraits of individuals were not and have been grouped at the end of the collection. The collection is organized into nine series: Series 1. Sacramento schools, Series 2. Schools outside of Sacramento, Series 3. Church schools and events, Series 4. Lake Tahoe, Series 5. Commercial photography, Series 6. Organizations, Series 7. Unidentified people and groups, Series 8. Family photographs, Series 9. Artifacts, pamphlets, and correspondence. Sacramento schools, excluding school buildings, arranged alphabetically by the name of the school, and chronologically with each school. Church schools and events, excluding church buildings, arranged alphabetically by name of church or event. This category includes first communions and confirmations. Schools outside of Sacramento are arranged alphabetically by school name. Commercial photography includes local structures and advertising images which Benning did for business firms' advertisments. Organizations are arranged by name (non-school sports and non-school musical organizations are listed in the catagories "Sports teams" and "Bands and Orchestras" respectively).
- Biographical / historical:
-
Photographer Michael Thomas Benning (1892-1976) was a commercial photographer who specialized in taking portraits of school children, initially in the Sacramento area and later expanding to other schools in the areas east of Sacramento, both in California and Nevada. He was born on April 17, 1892 in Valchid (German Waldhütten), Romania, a village in central Romania with an ethnic German population. He immigrated to the United States in 1909, living first in Detroit, Michigan, before finally moving to Sacramento, California in the 1920s. In Sacramento he became a naturalized citizen and started his career as a commerical photographer focusing on taking class photographs of school in Sacramento and the surrounding area. Later, as his business flourished, Benning purchased land on the north shore of Lake Tahoe at Kings Beach and operated a resort known as Bennings Resort. He also continued his photographic profession at the resort, where he specialized in images of his and others' resorts, Kings Beach and Lake Tahoe City, early casinos, and scenic images of the lake itself. He continued the practice of doing local Sacramento images during the fall, winter and spring months and then transporting his family and business to Lake Tahoe for the summer until his death in 1979.
- Acquisition information:
- The Michael T. Benning Photograph Collection was donated to the Center for Sacramento History by Mead Kibbey on December 12, 1983 (accession #1983/0232).
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Center for Sacramento History volunteers.
- Arrangement:
-
Series 1. Sacramento schools Series 2. Schools outside of Sacramento Series 3. Church schools and events Series 4. Lake Tahoe Series 5. Commercial photography Series 6. Organizations Series 7. Unidentified people and groups Series 8. Family photographs Series 9. Artifacts, pamphlets, and correspondence
- Physical location:
- 4D1 Drawers A, J, I, Nitrates freezer, 28A5, 36A1-9, 36B1-10, 31B3
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 2013
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid created by Sean Heyliger. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: September 5, 2019.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research use.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Michael T. Benning photograph collection , MS 45, Center for Sacramento History.
- Location of this collection:
-
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.Sacramento, CA 95811, US
- Contact:
- (916) 808-7072