Portraits from the Hipolita Orendain de Medina correspondence and miscellany, circa 1860-1906

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Summary

Creators:
Medina, Hipolita Orendain de, born circa 1847
Extent:
8 folders
Language:
Collection materials are in English and Spanish .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Portraits from the Hipolita Orendain de Medina correspondence and miscellany, MSP 1441, California Historical Society.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of 93 cartes de visite and 57 cabinet card portraits dated between 1863-1906, collected by Hipolita Orendain de Medina. The bulk of the photographs were taken in Guadalajara, Mexico, and San Francisco, California, and depict Mexican and Mexican American men, women, and children with whom Medina was connected by family ties or friendship. Many of the photographs are inscribed to Medina, with affectionate messages in English and Spanish. Major photographers in the collection include: the San Francisco studios Bradley & Rulofson, Wm. Shew, Edouart's Photographic Gallery, Bayley & Cramer's Studio, and Fowzer; and the Guadalajara studio Octaviano de la Mora.

Biographical / historical:

Hipolita Orendain de Medina was born in Mexico circa 1847. In the late 1850s, she settled in San Francisco with her sister, Virginia, and their widowed mother, Francisca Tejada de Orendain. According to family tradition, Francisca inherited a fortune from her late husband, Jesus Orendain, who owned a Mexican silver mine. She invested her wealth in Oakland waterfront property, married Virginia native Humphrey Marshall, and provided financial support to a company of men fighting to liberate Mexico from French rule. Marshall died in the American Civil War, and the Orendain family lost much of their fortune. To help support the family, Hipolita and her sister Virginia worked as dressmakers in San Francisco. In October 1869, Hipolita married Emilio (or Emigdio) Medina, a professional musician, diplomat, and editor of the Spanish-language newspaper La Republica; they had four daughters, Josefina, Virginia, Zarina, and Mercedes. In 1880, the couple separated, and later Hipolita referred to herself as a widow. She died circa 1922, and was buried in Los Angeles.

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated to the California Historical Society by the estate of F.V. Brigante in 1963.
Processing information:

Portraits were removed from the CHS Portrait Collection and reunited into a single collection by Louisa Brandt in 2017.

Physical location:
Collection is stored onsite.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

California Historical Society collections have been transferred to Stanford University Libraries. Collections will be unavailable as Stanford accessions them and updates records. Please contact chscollection@stanford.edu with any inquiries.

Terms of access:

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Library and Archives. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes. Responsibility for any use, including copying, transmitting, or making any other use of protected images, rests exclusively with the user. Upon request, digitized works can be removed from public view if there are rights issues that need to be resolved.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Portraits from the Hipolita Orendain de Medina correspondence and miscellany, MSP 1441, California Historical Society.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
Website