A disbound album of primarily amateur snapshots of 19th century California adobes taken during the 1930s and 1940s by Lucius Panfelo “Paul” Soberanes (1882-1959), a descendant of early Spanish landholders in California. The photographs primarily document the exteriors of the historic adobes and include typewritten captions added by Soberanes in the 1950s. A strong emphasis is given to adobes in Monterey County, especially in downtown Monterey. The album’s strength is in the documentation of lesser-known adobes, which include not only houses, but also commercial and military buildings such as hotels, soldiers’ barracks in Sonoma, and the Bale Grist Mill in Napa.

Lucius Panfelo "Paul" Soberanes (1882-1959) was born in California on December 30, 1882, and was a descendant of Spanish soldier Jose Maria Soberanes, who arrived in California in the 1700s, and Feliciano Soberanes, who purchased the Soledad Mission Rancho in 1846.

278 photographs in 2 boxes; prints 26 x 32 cm (10.25 x 12.5 in.) and smaller, album pages 37 x 29 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/4 in.)

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