The Pedro de Saisset Family Collection is primarily comprised of photographs of members of the Pedro de Saisset family from the 1860s to the 1950s. The collection includes portraits of family members, photographs of the family at their ranch in Alameda County and their city home in downtown San Jose, and photographs of extended family and friends in various countries. The collection also includes correspondence between family members and a few pieces of ephemera related to the family.

The de Saisset family was a prominent pioneer family in the San Jose and Santa Clara Valley starting in the late 1800s. Pedro de Alcantara Brazileiro de Saisset (1829-1902) was a San Jose pioneer, the Honorary Vice-Consul for France and founder of the Brush Electric Company. Pedro de Saisset was born in Paris, France, the son of Henrietta Josephine Mees (1803-1864) and Dom Pedro I of Brazil (1798-1834), Emperor of Brazil. Raised as the son of Pierre Joseph Felix de Saisset, "Officier de la Legion d'Honneaur" and Colonel of the French National Guard under Louis Phillip, Pedro de Saisset grew up within an old aristocratic family of France with a strong history of prominent military service including his step-uncle Admiral Jean Marie Joseph Theodore and a step-brother Captaine de Frigate Pierre Joseph Ernest de Saisset (1828-1891).

3 boxes (1.5 cubic feet)

Neither the original photographs nor the digital images in the catalog may be reproduced, published, or used on the Internet without the expressed, written permission of either the Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History. The credit line, "Courtesy of Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History," should accompany any such use.

Collection is open for research.