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Finding aid for the Forthmann family photographs 6087
6087
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Forthmann family photographs
creator:
Forthmann family
Identifier/Call Number: 6087
Physical Description:
0.84 Linear Feet
2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1912-1949, undated
Abstract: This collection consists of photographs of members of the Forthmann family, one of the first prominent families in Los Angeles
at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. John Albert Forthmann I was a German immigrant
who arrived in Los Angeles as a teenager in the 1860s and bought a small soap business that he turned into the Los Angeles
Soap Co. The photographs in this collection include various members of the Forthmann family, but generally center around Madelaine
Forthmann Boyer, John Albert Forthmann's granddaughter. There are also a few documents that provide information about the
family.
Container: 1
Container: 2
This collection consists of photographs from the Forthmann family, one of the first prominent families in Los Angeles at the
end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century. The photographs in this collection include various members
of the Forthmann family, but generally center around Madelaine Forthmann Boyer, John Albert Forthmann's granddaughter. There
are also a few documents that provide information about the family.
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
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.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Forthmann family photographs, Collection no. 6087, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California
The Forthmann family's fortunes were made by German-born patriarch John A. Forthmann, who arrived in Los Angeles in 1860,
at the age of 17. Forthmann bought a small soap business at 2nd and Spring Streets, and established the Los Angeles Soap
Company. By 1874 he had moved the business to a location closer to the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railway, which allowed him
to begin shipping his product across the western United States. Forthmann's fortune rested on his duplication of Proctor
and Gamble's Ivory soap, and the creation of the nation's first granulated laundry detergent, White King D, which was introduced
after World War I.
[Source: Cecilia Rasmussen, "Cleaning up L.A.--Till the Bubble Burst", Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1997]
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Social life and customs -- Archival resources
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Forthmann family
Forthmann family -- Photographs