Carl S. Dentzel Photograph Collection of the American West: Finding Aid
photCL 98
Finding aid prepared by Michelle Sanchez.
The Huntington Library
© 2013
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San Marino, California 91108
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Note
Last updated by Brooke M. Black in September 2024.
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Carl S. Dentzel Photograph Collection of the American West
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 98
Physical Description:
1.58 Linear Feet
(84 photographs in 2 boxes; photographs 18 x 24 cm. (7 x 9 in.)
and smaller.)
Date (inclusive): 1870s-1890s
Abstract: Photographs of the American West,
dating from the 1870s to the 1890s, collected by Carl S. Dentzel (1913-1980), director of
the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California, including a disbound album of photographs
of Alaska taken by A. L. Broadbent. These views show Revenue Cutter Service ships and
officers; Alaskan natives; towns; scenery; the fur trade and mission schools. Other notable
photographs in this collection include portraits of John C. Frémont, Harrison Gray Otis, and
John A. Sutter; a series of Lake Tahoe card photographs; and views of early western settlers
around the time of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.
Language of Material: English.
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necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Carl S. Dentzel Photograph Collection of the American West, The
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Purchased from Paul and Elizabeth Dentzel on March 24, 1992.
Biographical Note
Carl Schaefer Dentzel (1913-1980) served as director of the Southwest Museum in Highland
Park, California, from 1956 until his death in 1980, and was integral in the founding of the
Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board in 1962. Privately, Dentzel assembled large collections
of Western American art and photographs, and Asian and Native American artifacts.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains 84 photographs of the American West that were collected by Carl S.
Dentzel (1913-1980), director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California. The
photographs date from the 1870s to the 1890s and include a disbound album of photographs of
Alaska taken by A. L. Broadbent.
The Alaska album (items 30-84) has a title page inscribed "Mr(?) Baldwin, Dutch Harbor,
Unalaska / Compliments of A. L. Broadbent." These photographs all have manuscript captions
in ink, presumably written by Broadbent. Scenes include: Alaskan natives, homes, graves;
missionaries and schools; walrus hunting; whaling ships; totem poles; portraits of officers
in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service; Greek and Russian Orthodox churches; the first grand
jury in Nome, Alaska; James Gilchrist Swan; and a portrait of photographer A. L. Broadbent.
The other photographs in the collection are a series of Lake Tahoe card photographs; a few
views of the logging industry; Kingston, Nevada; homesteaders and miners in Oklahoma; and
some portraits. Of note is a portrait of "D. S. Mitchell, Photographer" and his camera and
tent in Oklahoma.
Photographers who contributed to this collection include William C. Billington, Alfred Lee
Broadbent, F. Davey, Edward De Groff, Charles D. Kirkland, David Sedgley Mitchell, C. H.
Shaffner, Julius Ulke, and Raper James Waters.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bear (ship) -- Photographs
Church buildings -- Photographs
Grand jury -- Alaska -- Photographs
Hotels -- Photographs
Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Photographs
Logging -- Photographs
Missionaries -- Photographs
Oklahoma -- History -- Land Rush, 1889 -- Photographs
Photographers -- 1880-1890 -- Photographs
Reindeer -- Photographs
Sutro Baths (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Photographs
Totem poles -- Photographs
United States. Revenue-Cutter Service -- Photographs
Walrus hunting -- Photographs
Alaska -- Photographs
Oklahoma -- Photographs
San Diego (Calif.) -- Photographs
Siberia (Russia) -- Photographs
Sitka (Alaska) -- Photographs
Tahoe, Lake (Calif. and Nev.) -- Photographs
Unalaska (Alaska) -- Photographs
Photographs
Portraits
Lake Tahoe Series by R.J. Waters, Gold Hill, Nevada
Box 1, Item 1
Emerald Bay; Looking West
Box 1, Item 2
Maggie's Peaks from Emerald Bay
Box 1, Item 3
Marlett Lake. Source of Virginia City's water supply
Box 1, Item 4
Fallen Leaf Lake. Altitude 6320 feet. Gilmore's Glen Alpine,
illustrated.
Box 1, Item 5
Tallac Range from Sugar Pine Point
Box 1, Item 6
Lumbering at Lake Tahoe. Loading the truck
Box 1, Item 7
Log chute on the Truckee River. View taken at the moment the log enters the
water
California scenes: various
Box 1, Item 14
Rodeo at San Diego, California in early 80's [1880s]
Box 1, Item 15
[Men, women, and children at wooden structures in desert. C.H. Shaffner,
photographer]
Box 1, Item 16
Swimmers in the Sutro Baths [W.C. Billington, photographer]
Box 1, Item 17
Cowboy [C.D. Kirkland, photographer]
Box 1, Item 18
Oklahoma views: Hunting a claim [Man in suit and hat with packhorse.
Mitchell and De Groff, photographers]
Box 1, Item 19
Breaking land in Oklahoma [Two men with oxen plowing field.]
Box 1, Item 20
Boomers in Oklahoma [Men, women, and children crossing field in oxen-pulled
covered wagons]
Box 1, Item 21
[Three men and child in front of wooden shed. Mitchell and De Groff,
photographers]
Box 1, Item 22
[D.S. Mitchell's photography tent with two men in front. Mitchell and De
Groff, photographers]
Box 1, Item 23
[Group of civil engineers and surveyors]
Box 1, Item 24
General [John A.] Sutter [Julius Ulke, photographer]
Box 1, Item 25
John A. Sutter [Photo by Shew's Pioneer Gallery]
Box 1, Item 26
Harrison Gray Otis Brig. Gen. U.S. [Rest of caption unknown due to tear]
[F. Davey, photographer]
Box 1, Item 27
General [John C.] Fremont
Box 1, Item 28
West Main St. Kingston, Lander County, Nevada. About twenty-five miles from
Austin. Ghost town. Flourished from about 1864 to 1869. See history of Nevada,
edited by M. Angel; Thompson West, 1881, page 473.
Alaska photos by Alfred Lee Broadbent
Box 2, Item 30
Whaling bark "Hunter". Arctic Ocean.
Box 2, Item 31
Windom [Wynham] Glacier, Taku Inlet, Alaska
Box 2, Item 32
Revenue cutter fleet at Unalaska. July 4, 1895.
Box 2, Item 33
Officers of the Revenue Cutter fleet, 1895.
Box 2, Item 34
Reindeer station at Port Clarence, Alaska
Box 2, Item 35
The "Bear" in the ice off King's Island
Box 2, Item 36
Officers of Her Majesties' Ship "Pheasant", 1895
Box 2, Item 37
Esquimo [Eskimo] reception day on the "Bear," Arctic Ocean
Box 2, Item 38
Indian River, near Sitka, Alaska
Box 2, Item 39
Indian women curio sellers refuse to have their photographs taken. Sitka,
Alaska
Box 2, Item 40
Judge [James Gilchrist] Swan's office and Indian curios. Port Townsend,
Wash. [Washington]
Box 2, Item 41
Greek church [Sts. Peter and Paul Church], St. Paul Island
Box 2, Item 42
Reindeer on the beach, Siberia
Box 2, Item 43
Skowles village at Nass Bay, Alaska
Box 2, Item 44
Walrus scull [skull] house at Cape Prince of Wales
Box 2, Item 45
Scenery from Portage Bay, Alaska
Box 2, Item 46
Indian mission schools at Sitka, Alaska
Box 2, Item 47
View near St. Paul, Kadriack
Box 2, Item 48
"Concord." Capt. [Caspar F.] Goodrich, 1894
Box 2, Item 49
Dutch Harbor. Unalaska Island
Box 2, Item 50
Chilkat post office, Col. Rapinski P.M. and Pilot Keene.
Box 2, Item 51
Indian Ranche [Ranch?], Sitka, Alaska
Box 2, Item 53
Alaska Commercial Co.'s post at St. Michael, Alaska
Box 2, Item 54
Port Simpson, B.C. [British Colombia]
Box 2, Item 55
Mount Edgecombe [Edgecumbe], near Sitka, Alaska
Box 2, Item 56
Aleute [Aleut] natives. Unalaska Island.
Box 2, Item 57
Group of Indians at New Metlakatla, Port Chester, Annette Island, Alaska.
[Native men in Caucasian dress, one man with camera]
Box 2, Item 59
Half-breed [Part Alaskan native, part Caucasian] children, St. Michael,
Alaska.
Box 2, Item 60
Totem poles, Fort Wrangell, Alaska
Box 2, Item 61
Mission school children, Unalaska
Box 2, Item 63
Public buildings, Sitka, Alaska
Box 2, Item 64
Lieut. White. R.C.S. [Revenue Cutter Service]
Box 2, Item 65
Hoisting a walrus carcass aboard the "Bear"
Box 2, Item 68
Lieut. [Alfred Lee] Broadbent. R.C.S. [Revenue Cutter Service]
Box 2, Item 69
Esquimo [Eskimo] camp scene, Port Clarence, Alaska
Box 2, Item 70
Siberian woman with child asleep
Box 2, Item 71
Grave totem, Hoonia [Hoonah], Alaska
Box 2, Item 72
Town on St. George Island
Box 2, Item 73
Haines Mission School, Chilkoot, Alaska
Box 2, Item 74
Tuck's Mission School. Unalaska
Box 2, Item 75
Old Russian block house, St. Michael, Alaska
Box 2, Item 79
Old Russian church and custom house, Unalaska
Box 2, Item 80
Mission school house and natives, Cape Prince of Wales
Box 2, Item 81
The town on St. Paul Island. Bering Sea
Box 2, Item 82
Sitka, from the top of the old castle
Box 2, Item 83
Esquimo [Eskimo] summer house, St. Matthew's Island
Box 2, Item 84
First Grand Jury at Nome, Alaska
