Avila and Fraters Families Photographs and Papers: Finding Aid photCL
355
Suzanne Oatey
The Huntington Library
May 2023
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Note
Finding aid last updated on June 20, 2023 by Mari Khasmanyan.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Avila and Fraters families photographs and papers
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 355
Physical Description:
2.34 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1859-1917
Abstract: A collection of family photographs and
documents related to the Avila and Fraters families, their friends, and other Californio
families of Los Angeles.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and
Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Avila and Fraters families photographs and papers, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Joaquin Fraters, September 19, 1968.
Biographical / Historical
"Tajuata" in the autograph album is likely a reference to Rancho Tajuata, a Mexican land
grant property owned by the Avila family, located in present-day Watts, in the city of Los
Angeles.
Scope and Contents
A collection of photographs and documents dating from 1859 to 1917, related to the Avila
and Fraters families and other native Californio families of Los Angeles. The photographs
are mostly studio portraits of individuals and family groups dating from the 1860s to the
1890s. The collection belonged to Joseph August Fraters (1873-1936) and Petra Avila Fraters
(1873-1951), and includes their wedding portrait (1898), portraits of Petra, their children
Joaquin and Ysabel, and their house in Los Angeles. There are also three framed photographs
of Petra and her parents Felipe Avila (1832-1900) and Prudenciana Ruiz de Avila, and four
tintypes.
Other people who appear in photographs are: Ernest (Anastacio) Avila; Francisca Avila;
Francisco Avila; Hernaldo Avila with his wife Maud C. Gorham (born in Iowa) and four
children; Lugarda and Elizabeth Avila (sisters); Luisa Avila; Tomas Avila; Susana Machado
Bernard (1839-1907), with five children; T. J. Cordoza; Ernest Gibelin Du Py; Maria Elena
Hurlbert; Felipe Lugo; Petra Lugo (Vignes); Serafina Macias; Sacramenta Moulton (daughter of
Elijah T. Moulton); Christina Palomares; Concepcion Palomares; Francisca "Pancha" Sepulveda;
Ruperto Serrano; and Hortense Yorba. There are several unidentified portraits of men, women
and children.
Box 2 contains Petra Avila's autograph album (1889-1896), which has handwritten notes,
poems and drawings by family members and friends, with color decals of love sentiments
attached to some pages. The signers added their Los Angeles neighborhoods after their names:
Compton, Vernon, Florence, Green Meadows and Tajuata. There are entries by Petra's siblings
Ernest, Hernaldo, Anastacio, and Carolina Avila; P. [Pedro?] Lugo; and others with surnames
that include Van Dorn, Belieu, Palomares, Schulze, Wright, Redding, Fogal, Rivera, Sanchez,
Ochoa, Stoppel, Sawyer and Browning. Box 2 also includes the following documents and papers:
Los Angeles County tax receipt for seven dollars (Felipe Avila, 1859); communion and
confirmation certificates for Ysabel and Anastasio Avila (1875, 1878); a decorative marriage
license for Joseph August Fraters and Petra Avila (1898); a wedding announcement for
Hortensia Yorba and Porfirio R. Palomares (1901); a San Rafael, California Carnival and
Street Fair program (1902); a souvenir collection of halftone photographs of San Francisco
earthquake ruins; a funeral announcement in Spanish for Enrique Abila (Avila); and Graciosa
Vejar's Immaculate Heart College graduation announcement (1913), and marriage announcement
to William Pipkin, 1917.
There are also 14 programs for minstrel shows and concerts organized and performed by
prisoners at San Quentin Prison, 1900 to 1903. The programs appear to be mimeograph copies
with drawings, song titles and names of organizers and performers of the San Quentin Band
and San Quentin Minstrel and Comedy Company.
Processing Information
Suzanne Oatey processed the collection in 2018 and wrote a finding aid in 2023.
Existence and Location of Copies
Arrangement
Photographs arranged by family name.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Autograph albums -- United States.
Cabinet photographs
Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
Documents
Ephemera
Legal documents
Marriage certificates
Photographs
Portraits
California -- History -- 1850-1950
Families -- California, Southern
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 19th century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century
Mexican Americans -- California -- Los Angeles
Minstrel shows.
Pioneers -- California
Prisoners -- Recreation
Spanish Americans -- California -- Los
Angeles
Avila family
California State Prison at San Quentin
Machado family
Sepulveda family
Yorba family
Box 1, Folder 1
Avila family, various portraits
Box 1, Folder 2
Joseph Fraters, Petra Avila Fraters, their children, and Los Angeles
house
Box 1, Folder 3
Lugo family, various portraits
Box 1, Folder 4
Various families, identified people
Scope and Contents
Petra Avila Fraters appears in two photographs with other people.
Box 1, Folder 5
Unidentified portraits, taken by Los Angeles photographers
Box 1, Folder 6
Unidentified portraits, taken in California, Oregon, and Boston,
Massachusetts
Box 1, Folder 7
Unidentified portraits, taken by unknown photographers
Box 2
Documents, photographs, and autograph album
Box 2, Folder 1
Documents
1859-1878
Scope and Contents
Tax receipt (1859) and communion certificates (1875, 1878).
Box 2, Folder 2
Documents
1898
Scope and Contents
Marriage license certificate for Joseph August Fraters and Petra Avila, Los Angeles
County, October 5, 1898.
Box 2, Folder 3
Documents
1902-1911
Scope and Contents
Items related to the Avila (also spelled Abila), Fraters, Palomares, and Yorba
families. Also undated clippings about Dona Laura Garfias de Lainesse and Reginaldo F.
Del Valle and a program for the Celebration, Carnival and Street Fair in San Rafael,
California, July 2-5, 1902.
Box 2, Folder 4
Documents
1913-1917
Scope and Contents
Items related to Graciosa Vejar; Mr. and Mrs. Francisco Zoilo Vejar and Francisca
(Yorba) Vejar's marriage announcement for their daughter Graciosa Vangelin to William
Merrill Pipkin, 1917.
Box 2, Folder 5
San Quentin Prison entertainment programs
1900-1903
Scope and Contents
Handmade programs for minstrel shows and concerts organized and performed by
prisoners at San Quentin Prison, 1900 to 1903. The programs appear to be mimeograph
copies with drawings, song titles and names of organizers and performers of the San
Quentin Band and San Quentin Minstrel and Comedy Company.
Box 2, Folder 6
Petra Avila Fraters, framed photograph
Box 2, Folder 7
Prudenciana Ruiz de Avila, framed photograph
Scope and Contents
Mother of Petra Avila.
Box 2, Folder 8
Felipe Avila, framed photograph
Scope and Contents
Father of Petra Avila.
Box 2, Folder 9
Petra Avila's autograph album
1889-1896
Scope and Contents
Petra Avila's autograph album, dated 1889 to 1896, contains handwritten notes, poems
and drawings by family members and friends, with color decals of love sentiments
attached to some pages. The signers added their Los Angeles neighborhoods after their
names: Compton, Vernon, Florence, Green Meadows and Tajuata. There are entries by
Petra's siblings Ernest, Hernaldo, Anastacio, and Carolina Avila; P. [Pedro?] Lugo;
and others with surnames that include Van Dorn, Belieu, Palomares, Schulze, Wright,
Redding, Fogal, Rivera, Sanchez, Ochoa, Stoppel, Sawyer and Browning.
