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Robert S. Watt Photograph Collection: Finding Aid
photCL 395
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Title: Robert S. Watt Photograph
Collection
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1890-1928
Collection Number: photCL 395
Extent:
248 photographs in 4 boxes : prints and glass plate negatives + 2
certificates
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: A collection of photographs approximately 1890-1928 of miner
Robert S. Watt and family living in the mountains of Los Angeles County. Assorted
views include the Watt Mines Supply Co., Los Angeles; prospecting; hunting; Los
Angeles buildings and oil wells; and miscellaneous scenes of Alaska.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
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.
[Identification of item], Robert S. Watt Photograph Collection, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Richard Van Vorst from the Watt family estate, July 1969.
The 1912 Los Angeles City Directory lists Robert S. Watt, president of Watt Mines
Supply Co. and Arthur B. Watt, assistant superintendent. In 1914, the company is no
longer listed and Robert S. Watt is listed as a mining engineer.
These photographs document daily activities and places visited by the Watt family and
unidentified others in and around Los Angeles. There are various unidentified scenes
of people hunting, cabins in the woods, horses, and a few group portraits, with some
names. Other views show ships and a harbor, possibly in San Pedro, California; Los
Angeles buildings (Plaza Church and County Courthouse) and oil wells; a group
portrait (item 113) of Los Angeles County Hospital Nurses in 1905, with names
written on back. Mining activities include the Watt Mines Supply Co. building; men
at an excavation; stamp mill machinery; a man standing at entrance to mine; mule
teams with supplies. There is also a group of photographs of Alaska, showing
trappers, roadhouses, scenery, and one miner staking a claim on a river. The
collection also includes U.S. citizenship papers for Robert
S. Watt (1890), and Alexander Barrie (1901), both emigrants from Scotland. The
majority of photographs are unidentified, but some have identifications written on
the back, including names of Watt family members and others.
Box 1 contains copy prints made from the glass negatives and other photographic
prints of various sizes. Boxes 2-4 contain 91 glass negatives.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Citizenship -- United States.
Frontier and pioneer life -- California
-- Los Angeles County -- Photographs.
Miners -- California -- San Gabriel
Mountains -- Photographs.
Nurses -- Photographs.
Oil fields -- California --
Photographs.
Alaska --
Photographs.
Angeles National
Forest (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.)
-- Photographs.
San Gabriel Mountains
(Calif.) -- Photographs.
Glass negatives.
Photographs.
Certificates.