Finding aid for the Kelly-Holiday collection of negatives and photographs, 1954-1971

Title: Finding aid for the Kelly-Holiday collection of negatives and photographs, 1954-1971

Dates: 1954-1971

Collection Number: KHAF and KH C

Creator/Collector: Kelly, Howard D. Kelly-Holliday Photography

Extent: There are six photograph boxes in the collection (3 linear ft. [1 Hollinger box = .5 linear feet]). They are labeled General Print Collection boxes 20-25. The negative portion of the collection spans four file drawers.

Repository: Los Angeles Public Library

Abstract: The Kelly-Holiday aerial photography portion of the collection consists of 3,753 4” x 5” film negatives and six Hollinger boxes of 1,076 photographs by Kelly-Holiday Photography. There is also a small amount of ephemeral material related to the collection, such as business correspondence and notes. The collection includes aerial photographs of neighborhoods, businesses, factories, landmarks and natural features in a geographically broad area that is mainly centered in Los Angeles County but ranges from Ventura County to the Salton Sea, from Long Beach to Las Vegas. Subject strengths in the collection are downtown Los Angeles, Port of Los Angeles, Central Manufacturing District, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Malibu, Palm Springs, Hollywood, Disneyland, Dodger Stadium, as well as shopping malls and drive-in theatres. The collection serves as a historical record of regional change during the growth in industry and population in the post-war years.

Language of Material: English

This collection is stored on-site at the Central Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. It is closed for research. Photograph collections may be browsed, digitally, via the Los Angeles Public Library website at http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/photosearch_pageADV.jsp

Any reproduction, redistribution, publication, or other use, by any means, without prior written permission is prohibited. Photocopies, copy prints and digital images can be provided. With the proper fees and permissions, many images can be used in commercial and non-profit applications. For personal and commercial uses of the Library's images, the Library will send to the user a Commercial Use Agreement which states access rights to images and copyright restrictions. This agreement must be returned to the library before the order will be processed. It will also state proper credit to be used for the product whenever photographs are used in commercial or non-profit situations. Further information regarding Use and Reproduction may be found on the Library’s website: http://www.lapl.org/catalog/photo_order_info.html

Finding aid for the Kelly-Holiday collection of negatives and photographs, 1954-1971. Los Angeles Public Library

Unfortunately, there isn’t a record of the acquisition of the collection. It is thought that the widow of Don Stauffer donated the collection to the library in the mid 1990’s. In an email to Christina Rice dated March 10,2010, Howard Kelly stated, “Donald Stauffer was not related to the Kelly-Holiday Studio in any way. I knew him but he had his own studio in Downey. In what manner he obtained the negatives, I have no idea.”

The Kelly-Holiday photography studio was located at 2765 E. Florence Ave., Huntington Park, and was owned by business partners and photographers Howard Kelly and George Holiday. They started the studio in 1954 and specialized in commercial and aerial photography in Southern California. In an email to Christina Rice from Howard D. Kelly dated March 20, 2010, Howard Kelly stated that he was the original photographer for the files and described the equipment used, “We had two of our own planes, one small and one for oblique photography and a Stagger Beech for mapping. Now days the oblique work is by helicopter. I also still have the original cameras that took the photos, x-military WW2 K-20 manual, and K-25 24V electric motor drive…5 inch roll film to make the 4x5 inch negatives.” Oblique photographs are aerial photographs taken with the camera axis intentionally inclined between horizontal and vertical to show a bird’s-eye view of the landscape. The photographs were taken for commercial uses and mapping and clients include real estate developers, business owners, advertising agencies and city governments. There is an entry for Howard Dewitt Kelly in Who’s Who In the West, 1978-1979, 16th ed. Born in Los Angeles on April 18, 1932, Mr. Kelly attended Pasadena City College and the University of California at Los Angeles, and graduated with a BA from the University of Southern California in 1959. He was a partner in Kelly-Holiday Photography from 1954-1957, and prior to that served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1950-1954. Subsequently, he was the owner of Dan P. Watts Photo Murals, the president and general manager of Kelly’s Industrial Photography, Inc., and the vice president and general manager of Photography Associates, Inc. In addition, Howard Kelly was a staff instructor at the West Coast School of Photography in Santa Barbara and also contributed articles on photography technique to trade journals. He retired in 2008 and resides in San Gabriel, California.

The aerials series contains 3,753 negatives and 1,076 prints, primarily black and white, photographed for clients and on spec by Howard D. Kelly from 1954-1971. This series includes aerial oblique and vertical images depicting both residential and industrial development in Southern California during the 1950s and 1960s in great detail. The collection reflects the continued rise of industry and housing development in Southern California cities even as remnants of natural features and agricultural tracts remain visible in fields of orange groves in outlying areas of Riverside and Orange Counties. Images depict construction sites, factories, office buildings, transportation infrastructure and distribution centers primarily in Los Angeles and Orange County, especially in the Central Manufacturing District in Commerce and Vernon. The series includes a large number of images depicting the construction of the Ford Motor Company Mercury plant in Pico Rivera. Also depicted are housing tracts, schools, drive-in theatres, shopping centers, and hotels in areas such as Anaheim, Downey, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Park, Los Angeles, present day La Cañada Flintridge, Palm Springs, Whittier, and Las Vegas, Nevada. The entertainment industry is represented in views of Disneyland, dozens of locations for Pacific Drive-In Theatres, and views of the studio back lots at MGM in Culver City and Twentieth Century Fox in Century City. Undeveloped areas are also represented in Apple Valley, Malibu, Palos Verdes, Salton Sea, Lake Elsinore, the high desert in Riverside County, the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the Santa Rosa Mountains and the Coachella Valley. Detailed areas of Los Angeles neighborhoods include Chavez Ravine, downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Chinatown, Westlake and Koreatown. Notable businesses and organizations pictured in the collection include Acme Machine Works, Air Reduction Pacific Co., Alcoa Company, American Vitrified Products, Anderson Tires, Apex Smelting Company, Beckman Instruments, Inc., Bethlehem Steel, Bullock’s Fashion Square, California Malting Co., Consolidated Western Steel, Disneyland, Dodgers Stadium, Dudley Steel Corp., Farmer John, Firestone Tire & Rubber, Ford Motor Company, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Grano Steel Corp., Hollywood Bowl, Hughes Aircraft, Kaiser Steel, Kraft Foods Company, Los angeles County General Hospital, Pacific Drive-In Theatres, Pioneer Flintkote, Port of Los Angeles, Proctor and Gamble, Ramo-Wooldridge, Richfield Oil Corp., Rockview Milk Farms, Standard Oil, Tidewater Oil Co., Tom Sawyer Foods, Twentieth Century Fox, Union Oil Company, United States Steel Corp., United States Steel Supply Division, USC, Western Concrete, Westinghouse Electric Corp., Whittier Downs Shopping Center, and Wilshire Oil Corp. The following is a complete list of the communities pictured: Anaheim, Apple Valley, Arcadia, Avocado Heights, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bell, Beverly Hills, Brea, Buena Park, Burbank, Canoga Park, Carson, Cathedral City, Central Manufacturing District, Century City, Chatsworth, City of Industry, Colton, Commerce, Compton, Corona, Costa Mesa, Culver City, Desert Hot Springs, Downey, Duarte, Eagle Rock, East Los Angeles, El Monte, El Segundo, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Gardena, Glendale, Glendora, Hawthorne, Highland, Hollywood, Huntington Park, Indian Wells, Inglewood, Irwindale, La Cañada Flintridge, La Habra, La Jolla, La Mirada, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Lakewood, Loma Linda, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Lynwood, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Maywood, Mojave, Monrovia, Montebello, Monterey Park, Newport Beach, Norwalk, Ontario, Orange, Pacoima, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Palos Verdes Estates, Panorama City, Paramount, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Placentia, Playa del Rey, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Rancho Mirage, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Resda, Riverside, Rosemead, Salton Sea, San Bernadino, San Leandro, San Pedro, Santa Ana, Santa Fe Springs, Santa Monica, Simi Valley, South Gate, Sunland, Taft, Tejon Pass, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Tustin, Twenty-nine Palms, Van Nuys, Vernon, Walnut Park, Watts, West Covina, West Hollywood, Westminster, and Whittier. Outside of California, parts of Arizona and New Mexico, Las Vegas and Ely, Nevada are represented.