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Title: Ira L. Swett Cyanotype Collection
Dates: 1880-ca. 1912
Collection Number: 2017_07
Creator/Collector:
Swett
Extent: 4 linear inches; 2 boxes.
Repository:
Sherman Library and Gardens
Corona del Mar, California 92625
Abstract: The collection consists of primarily of photographs of
various towns, communities and people in Arizona Territory, California, and Sonora,
Mexico.
Language of Material: English
Materials are open for research.
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Sherman Library. Literary
rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The Sherman
Library do not hold the copyright.
Ira L. Swett Cyanotype Collection. Sherman Library and Gardens
The collection was donated to the Sherman Library by Ira L. Swett in 1974.
The collection is arranged into the following series:
- Arizona Territory (Boxes 1-2)
- California (Box 2)
Each series is then arranged in alphabetical order by city or town name, with a few exceptions at the end of each.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of primarily of photographs of various towns, communities and
people in Arizona Territory, California, and Sonora, Mexico. Most of the images are
of street scenes or of buildings, but there are also some photographs of piers, oil
wells, and mining sites. Several of the photographs feature people in them. The
cities and towns most heavily represented in the collection include Globe, Jerome,
and Tombstone, Arizona, and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.
Each one is labeled with a caption written at the bottom and an identification
number in the upper right-hand corner. In some cases, the identification numbers are
used multiple times on different photographs; these have been noted in the container
list below. Additionally, some of the numbers were crossed out and replaced with a
new number; only the new number appears on this list. All the photographs in the
collection measure 4 x 5 inches.
Cyanotypes were a photographic process in use until 1920. Occasionally produced
1840-1880, most were created between 1880 and 1920. Distinctive for their bright
blue image color, cyanotypes have a matte surface and do not have a binder layer.
Most cyanotypes were the work of amateur photographers, as little commercial or
portraiture work was done using the medium.
Although the exact dates of these photographs are unknown, they were likely taken
before February 1912, when Arizona became a state. The photos may have been taken by
the father of the donor of the collection, interurban railway historian Ira L. Swett
(1913-1975).
Arizona
Photographs - Cyanotype