Description
This collection contains cabinet cards collected by Elvera “Elvira” Keating Lack (1886-1989) possibly via correspondence that
took place mainly during her childhood through mid-twenties, though one card was dated before her birth in 1871. Elvera “Elvira”
Keating Lack was the daughter of Andrew J.W. Keating and Isabelle C. Keating, who
once owned the land that would become Culver City. It appears the cabinet cards are a result of Elvera “Elvira” Keating Lack’s
involvement in correspondence with a wide range people mainly in the Southern California area. The cabinet cards are organized
in four folders with the labels “signed” and “unsigned” referencing inscriptions on the back,
often with the photographic studio names included, though a few cabinet cards are
labelled as “No Studio Name.” Most of the items are portraits and some are hand-colored. Some of the items contain notes that
were written on the back of the cards retrospectively.
Background
This cabinet card collection belonged to Elvera “Elvira” Keating Lack (1886 - 1989) and was collected circa 1871-1912. It
should be noted that one card was dated 1871 before her birth. Most of the cards seem to be acquired through what appeared
to be her
involvement in frequent correspondence to a range of people during her child-hood
through mid-twenties. There also appears to be a portrait of her sister Isabel Keating included in the collection.
Elvera “Elvira” Keating Lack was born in England in August of 1886 and died in Brentwood California on July 1, 1989 at the
age of 102. She was the youngest of eight
siblings and the daughter of Southern California landowners Andrew J.W. Keating and
Isabelle C. Keating, who at one point owned 64,000 acres of land between West Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Her father and
two of her brothers died in a shipwreck in 1901 and subsequently much of the land owned by the family was sold between the
years of 1911-1920, most notably the land that would become Culver City. Her family
originally immigrated to America in 1896 and resided in the Ballona area of Los Angeles,
California. Elvera was married twice, once at 19 to John A. Forthmann, the son of the founder of the Los Angeles, Silk Co.,
and later to George M. Lack, a Brawley real estate developer with whom she had two children: John Lack born 1916 and Patsy
Lack born 1921. She also gained custody of her step-son J. Albert Forthmann II born in 1907.