Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: University of California, Davis Library, University Archives

Title: Oregon Girl's Photograph Album

Creator: Anensen, Marie

Identifier/Call Number: MC303

Physical Description: 1 volume 52 stock album leaves. Three real photo postcards circa 8.5 x 13 cm and 435 original gelatin silver photographs, including three large loosely inserted photos circa 19.5 x 24 cm, 303 larger mounted photos, circa 8 x 13.5 cm, and 129 smaller ones, circa 5 x 7.5 cm. Three large loose photos signed "Acme Photo" in negative. The vast majority of the mounted photos are dated and captioned in white manuscript ink. The compiler's name is written in white ink on the inner side of the front board. With two Oregon newspaper clippings dedicated to the victory in WWI mounted at rear. 26 x 30.5 centimeters

Date (inclusive): circa 1915-1920

Abstract: Extensive collection of snapshot portraits and scenes illustrating family and social life in Grants Pass and Portland (Oregon) during and shortly after WWI through the eyes of Marie Anensen, a young Norwegian immigrant.

Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.

Marie Anensen was a young Norwegian immigrant. Her father Abraham Anensen (1868–after 1920), who was a baker, brought the family to the United States in 1905, and Marie graduated either from Grants Pass High School or from Washington High School (Portland) in 1916 or 1917. Later in life, she resided in Portland with her sister Ragna (1902-1986) and worked as a bookkeeper in the Jones Lumber Co.

An interesting extensive collection of lively snapshot portraits and scenes illustrating family and social life in Grants Pass and Portland (Oregon) during and shortly after the WWI through the eyes of a young Norwegian immigrant, Marie Anensen. The three large loose photos in the album dating back to circa late 1920s include two group portraits of the Jones Lumber Co. associates, including Marie Anensen, and a view of the office interior with the associates at work. The other photos in the album date back to Marie Anensen's late teens and early twenties and include joyful portraits and scenes taken on picnics, family gatherings, hiking trips and outings with friends near Grants Pass and elsewhere in Oregon (Slate Creek, Applegate River, Savage Rapids, Evans Creek, Rogue River, Jones Creek, Cheney Creek Caves, Klamath Lake, Multnomah Falls and many others). There are also interesting street views of the Grants Pass (city park, Anensen family home, new building of the courthouse etc.), a series of eight photos of the 4th of July parade in Ashville in 1916, five photos of a "football game between Ashland & Grants Pass, 1917," ferry across Rogue River, St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, a few photos taken near Crescent City (California) etc. Numerous portraits feature Marie and her friends with over a dozen names thoroughly marked (Marie and Ragna Anensen and their mother, Mary and Barbara Jenkins and their parents, Mildred Smith, Mary Hackney, Clifford Hansen, Leonard Kindell, Phil Robin, Carl Schmidt, Mildred Lovelace and others). Interesting are Marie's portraits taken while playing ukulele and dressed as a "Persian dancer" or Hawaiian girl, posing with a "Brownie" camera, wearing an outfit for the Red Cross fundraiser in February 1918, a portrait of Ragna Anensen posing in the Girl Scouts uniform near the "New Josephine Hotel" in Grants Pass etc. The album opens with three real photo postcards showing Grants Pass high school and two panoramic views of the "residence section" and Sixth Street.

[Description provided by Wayfarer's Bookshop]

Collection is open for research.

Liz Phillips created this finding aid with information supplied by Wayfarer's Bookshop.

Purchased from Wayfarer's Bookshop, 2020.

[Identification of item], Oregon Girl's Photograph Album, MC303, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.