Collection Guide
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Armer (Laura Adams) photograph collection
PC-RM-Armer
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California Historical Society
Title: Laura Adams Armer photograph collection
Creator:
Armer, Laura Adams, 1874-1963
Identifier/Call Number: PC-RM-Armer
Physical Description:
1.42 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): circa 1899-1939
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.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in
English.
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.
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.
CHS is not taking appointments for research at this time. Please check the Library's website updates:
https://californiahistoricalsociety.org/collections/north-baker-research-library/
The California Historical Society (CHS) has no information about copyright ownership for
this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials
from it.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Laura Adams Armer and Sidney Armer, 1958.
[Identification of item, date]; Laura Adams Armer photograph collection, PC-RM-Armer; [box
number, folder number]; California Historical Society.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photograph albums
Photographic prints
Portrait photographs
Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.)
Chinese Americans -- California -- San Francisco
San Francisco (California)
Telegraph Hill (San Francisco, Calif.)
Waterfronts -- California -- San Francisco