Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- J. Foster Adams photograph collection
- Dates:
- 1867-1943
- Abstract:
- The collection includes approximately 600 glass plate and film negatives. The majority of the plates are 5 x 7, but vary in size from as large as 8 x 10 to 4 x 5. The collection also includes prints made from the negatives by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club after it received the collection in 1962.
- Extent:
- 5 Linear Feet 1 letter manuscript box + glass plate negatives
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], J. Foster Adams Photography Collection, MS 601, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection includes approximately 600 glass plate and film negatives. The majority of the plates are 5 x 7, but vary in size from as large as 8 x 10 to 4 x 5. The collection also includes prints made from the negatives by the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club after it received the collection in 1962.
The bulk of the negatives are dated between 1913 and 1943.
- Biographical / historical:
-
These images are the work of J. Foster Adams (Nov. 30, 1882- May 8, 1962), a commercial photographer based in Portland, Oregon. Adams was born in DePere, Wisconsin in 1882, the son of Horace E. and Hattie (Foster) Adams. In 1910, at the age of 20, Adams traveled west to Junction City, Idaho, he started as a railroad photographer while a cashier at the Big Store in Fairchild. At the time of the 1910 US Census, Adams was married to Grace L (Hammond). On July 4, 1912, Adams and Grace had a child, Lois Elinor Adams in Leadore, Lemhi County, Idaho. In 1913, Adams settled in Portland, Oregon, where he became a successful commercial photographer. The couple had divorced by 1917. At the time of the 1917 WWI Draft registration, Adams is listed as James Foster Adams, and he is living in Portland. In 1917, he gave an illustrated lecture titled, "Our Navy in Peace and War". The views in this lecture showed the important engagements of the US Navy since the Revolutionary War.
Adams married Ruth P. Shoen on Dec. 20, 1922, in Portland, Oregon and they had a son, Gerald William, on Oct. 8, 1923. During WWII, Gerald Adams was in the 15th Air Force in Italy where he was a ball turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator.
During his 48 years of residency in Oregon, Adams began photographing engines and trains, principally on 5 x 7 glass plates starting in 1913. Adams took both still and action photographs of railroads in the Portland area, including Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation, Spokane Portland & Seattle, and others.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, 2008
- Custodial history:
-
The collection of negatives was donated by Adams to the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club in 1962. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club gifted the collection to the California State Railroad Museum, Library and Archives in 2008.
- Processing information:
-
A preliminary inventory was received with the collection. The CSRM Library has created a searchable database including corporate name, locomotive numbers, geographic location, and dates when available. The catalog can searched by the public at csrm.andornot.net.
The glass plate and film negatives are filed by the Adams negative number. Prints are filed by corporate name.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection has been arranged in two series
Series 1: Prints
Series 2: Glass plate negatives
The glass plate and film negatives are filed by the Adams negative number. Prints are filed by corporate name.
- Physical location:
- Statewide Museum Collections Center
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Southern Pacific Company
Glass negatives
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-30 21:21:59 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM 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 reader.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], J. Foster Adams Photography Collection, MS 601, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073