Death Valley Scotty photograph album, circa 1930s-1940s

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Summary

Title:
Death Valley Scotty photograph album
Dates:
circa 1930s-1940s
Creators:
Frasher, Burton (1888-1955)
Containers:
Box: 1
Extent:
0.73 Linear Feet 1 box
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Death Valley Scotty photograph album, Collection no. 7146, Regional History Collection, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

A bound leather album containing fifty five black and white photographs of a location in Death Valley, California, known as Scotty's Castle. Scotty's Castle was named after Walter Scott (1872-1954), better known as Death Valley Scotty, who was one of the area's best known and most colorful characters. The album includes both exterior and interior shots of Scotty's Castle (including shots of Scotty's personal living quarters -- his bed, a wall of his hats, the photographs on his walls); views of the surrounding landscape; and images of Scotty, Chicago insurance magnate Albert Mussey Johnson and his wife Bessie Johnson (who owned the residence), and a few unidentified people. Prolific western photographer Burton Frasher (1888-1955), whose name (Frasher's Fotos) is stamped in gilt on the front cover, visited Death Valley and Scotty's Castle many times in the 1930s and 1940s and became friendly with Scotty and other locals. One of the unidentified women photographed in the album may be Burton Frasher's wife, Josephine Frasher.

Biographical / historical:

Walter Scott (1872-1954), better known as Death Valley Scotty, was one of Death Valley's best known and most colorful characters. He performed as a rough rider with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show for a dozen years, hanging around the Death Valley area in the off season, until in 1902, when he decided to become a gold prospector. He convinced several wealthy businessmen that he had discovered a fabulous gold mine in Death Valley, secured substantial investment funds, and spent those funds liberally in the hotels and saloons of California and Nevada. After a few years with no tangible results, most of his investors decided they had been swindled and withdrew their support. But Scotty's most steadfast investor, Chicago insurance magnate Albert Mussey Johnson, instead came to Death Valley for a personal tour, fell in love with the place, and began a lifelong friendship with Scott. In 1915, Johnson and his wife, Bessie, bought property in Grapevine Canyon, and in 1922 construction began on a two-story Spanish Colonial style villa that served as the Johnsons' vacation home, but would become known as Scotty's Castle. Although he primarily lived in his own cabin nearby, Scott sometimes claimed to have built the Castle himself and regularly entertained visitors there.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Walkabout Books, May 10, 2023.
Physical description:
8" x 10" post-bound leather album with "Frasher's Fotos, Pomona California'" and "Death Valley Scotty" stamped in gilt on the front cover, containing fifty-five [55] black and white photographs, each measuring 4.75 x 7 inches. The photos are glued in, and are mounted on both sides of the album leaves, one per page. Nearly all of the photos bear the Frasher's Fotos round logo; 33 are captioned in the negative. Each photo also has a handwritten inventory number at the margin. Five of the photos are damaged by chips, tears, or creasing, and a few more have been re-attached to the album with non-archival tape at the corners or edges. Many images show some surface abrasion from contact with the facing page. There are also several blank pages where photos have been removed.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Bo Doub -- with collection-level notes adapted from the seller, Walkabout Books
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-06-19 16:04:53 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections 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.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Death Valley Scotty photograph album, Collection no. 7146, Regional History Collection, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
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