Laura Adams Armer photograph collection, circa 1899-1939

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Summary

Creators:
Armer, Laura Adams, 1874-1963
Abstract:
Collection consists of one photograph album and 57 photographic prints taken by photographer Laura Adams Armer in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1899 and 1939. The photograph album includes portraits of family and community members, political candidates, artists, photographers, sculptors and writers. The mounted photographic prints depict various locations in San Francisco, including Chinatown, the waterfront, Telegraph Hill, downtown, and general views of the city. Most photographs show scenic views with people, particularly children. Mounted photographic prints also include portraits of subjects known to Laura Adams Armer.
Extent:
1.42 Linear Feet
Language:
English and Collection materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date]; Laura Adams Armer photograph collection, PC-RM-Armer; [box number, folder number]; California Historical Society.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of one photograph album and 57 photographic prints taken by photographer Laura Adams Armer in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1899 and 1939. The photograph album includes portraits of family and prominent community members and political candidates, including Sidney Armer; the Chabot family children; David Farguharson, architect; W.H. Beatty, chief justice of the California supreme court; two members of the Toklas family; Lewis F. Cockroft of the Oceanic Steamship Company; and Austin Lewis, the Socialist party candidate for governor of California in 1906. Includes many photos of artists and writers, such as Arthur Matthews, Anne Bremer, Boardman Robinson, and Royal Cortissoz. There are also portraits of photographers William Dassonville and Oscar Maurer, and sculptor Robert Aitken. The bulk of photographic prints are mounted and depict various locations in San Francisco, including Chinatown, the waterfront, Telegraph Hill, downtown, and general views of the city. Most photographs show scenic views with people, particularly children. There are also portraits of people, including Charles Keeler; Anne Brigman; Sarah Whitney; Arthur Matthews; Oscar V. Lange; Lucy Snow Penfield; an unidentified male and female couple and an unidentified woman seated under a tree.

Biographical / historical:

Laura Adams Armer was born in Sacramento, California in 1874, and moved with her family to San Francisco sometime before 1880. Armer attended the California School of Design in the Mark Hopkins Institute, but left school in 1899 to open a photographic studio in the Flood Building. Adams enjoyed a short career as a published and exhibited photographer before marrying Sidnery Armer and relocating to Berkeley. Armer continued to photograph in the early 1900s, becoming particularly fascinated with the Hope and Navajo of the American Southwest who she documented in both photographs and writings. She died in 1963.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Laura Adams Armer and Sidney Armer, 1958.
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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date]; Laura Adams Armer photograph collection, PC-RM-Armer; [box number, folder number]; 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
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