Finding Aid to the Agnes Fay Photograph Album, 1914-1943
Finding aid prepared by Lauren Gaylord and Christina Moretta
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
2011
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Title: Agnes Fay Photograph Album
Date (inclusive): 1914-1943
Collection Identifier: SFP 63
Creator:
Fay, Agnes
Physical Description:
1.0 album
(132 photographic prints); album 28 x 23.2 cm, prints 16.5 x 21.5 cm and smaller
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: Bound volume of gelatin silver prints and photo postcards documenting the professional and personal life of Agnes Fay between
1914 and 1943. A portion of the album documents the French Hospital, where Fay worked as a registered nurse during the 1910s
and 1920s.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
The collection is open for research. Available for viewing during the San Francisco History Center's Historical Photograph
Collection hours.
All requests for permission to publish from the album must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Agnes Fay Photograph Album (SFP 63), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Gift, 1984.
Agnes Fay was born on October 28 in 1886 or 1888 in Ireland, and she immigrated to the United States around 1905. Fay served
in the United States Army as a nurse during World War I between January 1918 and June 1919. She then moved to San Francisco
and lived with her brother-in-law John at 278 Seventh Avenue in the Richmond District and found work as a registered nurse
at the French Hospital around 1920. In November 1922, Fay traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii and returned to San Francisco in November
1923. Agnes Fay continued to work as a nurse through the 1940s for the Central Emergency Hospital and the Department of Public
Health. In 1951 she moved to an apartment at 400 Hyde Street where she lived until her death on November 24, 1963.
The bound volume contains 132 gelatin silver prints, including 11 loose prints, which document Agnes Fay's life between 1914
and 1943. A bulk of the photographs also documents the nurses, doctors, students, and patients at the French Hospital on Geary
Street, where Agnes Fay worked as a registered nurse during the 1910s and 1920s. The album depicts her time in Europe as a
nurse for the United States Army during World War I and includes images of soldiers and the scenery. The album includes photographs
of friends and family in the 1920s -1940s, including her travels to Hawaii. Some of the prints include hand-written captions
and dates, but for the most part the images are uncaptioned. The brown album cover reads "Postal Souvenirs" in gold on the
front cover, and the album includes 49 photo postcards.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Fay, Irene Roseann
Harwood, Catherine
French Hospital (San Francisco, Calif.)
Military nursing--United States--History--20th century
Nurses -- California -- San Francisco
Photograph albums
Photographic postcards