P. J. Thompson photograph collection

Title: P. J. Thompson photograph collection

Dates: 1909-1913

Collection Number: MS 541

Creator/Collector: Thompson, P.J.

Extent: 400 glass plate negatives

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: The collection includes approximately 400 glass plate and film negatives. The majority are 8x10 glass plates, with a few 5x7 glass plates. Some are cracked, lack pieces or have damaged emulsion. The CSRM Library has prepared contact prints for the railroad and logging images.

Language of Material: English

This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives staff to arrange for access.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM 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 by the reader.

P. J. Thompson photograph collection. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Gift of San Joaquin Delta College, Goleman Library, 2001

These images are believed to be the work of Loyalton (Sierra County) photogapher P. J. Thompson. Although most images are not dated, a few bear dates between 1909 and 1913. Two negatives are signed "Wheeler" and one is signed "Peterson." •The collection was discovered by Ed. G. White of Loyalton in the 1960s. He gave the negatives to Don Webber of Rio Vista who passed them on to San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. •The subjects are diverse and includes scenes relating to railroads, town life, logging, icing, and farming. There are also many portraits (some formal, some informal) of people of all ages (from babies to the elderly), from school children to firemen and surveyors.

The collection includes approximately 400 glass plate and film negatives. The majority are 8x10 glass plates, with a few 5x7 glass plates. Some are cracked, lack pieces or have damaged emulsion. The CSRM Library has prepared contact prints for the railroad and logging images. There is also a binder of laminated photocopies of contact prints for selected images. (The whereabouts of these original photographic prints is not known.) •A preliminary inventory was received with the collection. The CSRM Library re-inventoried the negatives, using the negative numbers appearing on the original inventory, and assigned new numbers (beginning with 500) to facilitate identification. •The glass plate negatives are filed in two sequences: (1) numerically by the Thompson negative number and (2) by CSRM negative numbers with a suffix "F." If both numbers are present, place a reproduction order using the CSRM negative number with the suffix "F."