Collection Guide
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Adams (Ansel) photograph collection
PC-RM-Adams
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
Title: Ansel Adams photograph collection
Creator:
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984
Identifier/Call Number: PC-RM-Adams
Physical Description:
2.60 Linear Feet;
1 half legal document box and 1 flat box
Date (inclusive): circa 1936
Abstract: Contains 26 black and white
photographic prints taken by Ansel Easton Adams. Date of creation of photographs is unknown,
although notations on back of some photographs indicate they were taken prior to 1936.
Photographs include nature and landscape scenes; portraits; and city scenes of San
Francisco. There are two sets of photographs showing murals by Diego Rivera and Gottardo
Piazzoni. Also includes two photographs Adams took for the American Trust Company.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in
English.
Contains 26 black and white photographic prints taken by Ansel Easton Adams. Dates of
creation of photographs is unknown, although notations on backs of some photographs indicate
they were taken prior to 1936. Photographs show nature and landscape scenes in the Sierra
Nevada, Yosemite Valley, and Sequoia National Park; portraits of Sigmund Stern, Charles E.
Wood, Domenico Brescia, Ina Coolbrith and Erich Leinsdorf; and city scenes of San Francisco.
There are two sets of photographs of murals. The first set is two panoramas made up of five
prints depicting murals done by Gottardo Piazzoni that were displayed at the San Francisco
Public Library; the second is three photographic prints of a Diego Rivera mural,
Still Life and Blossoming Almond Trees, displayed at the Stern
residence in Atherton, California. There are two photographs Adams took for the American
Trust Company, one shows a pioneer family in New Melony, California, the other a view of
Gilroy Valley from Fremont Peak. Many of the photographs were gifts from Ansel Adams to
Albert M. Bender, given between 1927 and 1936.
Ansel Easton Adams was born in San Francisco on February 20, 1902. Adams started
photographing nature scenes around 1919 while a Sierra Club member. In 1927 Adams came under
the patronage of Albert M. Bender, who helped Adams publish his first portfolio. Widely
known as a photographer of natural landscapes, most especially for his images of the Sierra
Nevada and Yosemity Valley, Adams was also an environmental perservationist. In 1974 Adams
had a major retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Adams died
in Monterey, California on April 22, 1984.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/
The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust (AAPRT) holds copyright to all works by Ansel
Adams. For copyright clearance and permission to use images from the Ansel Adams photographs
held at the California Historical Society. For information about obtaining permission please
see the Center for Creative Photography.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials found in collection; provenance is unknown.
[Identification of item, date]; Ansel Adams photograph collection, PC-RM-Adams; [box
number, folder number]; California Historical Society.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bridalveil Fall (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Yosemite Valley (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Half Dome (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Sequoia National Park (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Portraits
Photographic prints
Coolbrith, Ina D. (Ina Donna), 1842?-1928