Smythe, Alice Ring Photograph Album MC352

Contributing Institution: University of California, Davis Library, Dept. of Special Collections

Title: Smythe, Alice Ring Photograph Album

Creator: Smythe, Alice Ring

Identifier/Call Number: MC352

Physical Description: 1 item 58 photographs mounted on thirty album leaves. Various sizes, ranging roughly 1½ x 3 inches to 4¾ x 3¾ inches. Most photographs captioned in manuscript. Oblong quarto. Contemporary flexible black cloth album, front cover gilt

Date (inclusive): 1927-1930

Abstract: A photograph album of a young woman hiker's excursion to Yosemite in the late 1920s.

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

Language of Material: English .

Collection is open for research.

[Identification of item], Smythe, Alice Ring Photograph Album, MC352, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Vanessa Cardona Ocegueda created this finding aid with information supplied by the bookseller.

A photograph album of a young woman hiker's excursion to Yosemite in the late 1920s. Among many other gorgeous vistas, her photographs capture images of Bridal Veil Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan, Nevada Falls, and Illilouette Falls. Our hiker, Alice Ring Smythe, is an effective photographer and expressive writer – her many attractive photos of the park are extensively captioned. For example, a picturesque view of the reflection seen in the aptly-named Mirror Lake - with mountains and a great waterfall rising high in the distance - is captioned "This is the story that a little puddle in our camp had to tell." In a more playful instance, a group of photographs of a bear with her cubs is accompanied by the phrase "Goldilocks points the camera." In other places, her descriptions are almost narrative. As she starts up the Clouds Rest Trail, Smythe writes that "We leave the ruddy warmth of the cedars behind, and ascend into the domain of the rugged pines. Half Dome begins to recede, and the hardy manzanita clings to the granite with gnarled, fantastic fingers." Two humorous manuscript "certificates" made out to Smythe from the "Department of the Hike Sierra" are placed in a pocket at the rear of the album. They announce that "Alice Ring Smythe has successfully and honourably completed the Kindergarten Course in Hikeology and is hereby qualified for admission into the Elementary Department. Signed and Sealed [with a Yosemite pine sprig encased in wax] June, 1930." The other certificate relates her report card, where our intrepid hiker earned a 150+ in behavior and a 200 in enthusiasm, although only a 69½ in appetite ("improvement looked for") and a 50 in "tree-gonometry." Smythe's trip out West may have influenced her quite a bit – though born the daughter of a bookseller in Ohio, she lived out the later part of her life in San Luis Obispo, California.

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.