Ernest Marquez Photograph Collection, 1860-2009, bulk 1880s–1930s
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Marquez, Ernest, 1924-
- Abstract:
- The Ernest Marquez Photograph Collection contains photographic prints, negatives, photograph albums and ephemera compiled by collector Ernest Marquez, focused on the development of Santa Monica and Los Angeles from 1860s to 1980s, as well as other cities throughout California. The collection notably contains many 19th-century cabinet cards and stereographs, and a rare group of negatives, ca. 1890-1908, by early Los Angeles historian and amateur photographer George W. Hazard documenting the city at the turn of the century.
- Extent:
- Approximately 10,900 photographs and negatives + ephemera, in 97 boxes.
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This is a collection primarily of negatives and photographic prints depicting the growth of Santa Monica and Los Angeles from 1860s to 1980s. Many views are cityscapes or street views, showing buildings, storefronts, homes and roads, and documenting the use of railroads, trolleys, streetcars, and automobiles. There are many card photographs by early professional photographers, and also a number of snapshots made by amateurs, some in personal photo albums. The collection's scope also includes early views of many other communities in Southern California (and a few in other states); the beginnings of aviation in Santa Monica, including the first Douglas Aircraft Company buildings; a photo album of residents in Topanga Canyon, ca. 1913; automobile racing in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, 1920s; maritime views; a photo album of U.S. troops in France during World War I; a 1949 real estate development in Apple Valley, California, and others. Besides photographs, a portion of the collection consists of scarce publications and historical ephemera, primarily related to Santa Monica and Los Angeles, including brochures, advertising cards, menus, event programs and other materials.
Highlights of the Santa Monica images are aerial views of the buildings along the coast and pier (1920s); several views of the Arcadia Hotel (1880s); the Long Wharf and adjoining railroad and train depot; the first bath houses on the beach; the beach club culture of the 1920s and 1930s; the amusement piers of Santa Monica, Ocean Park and Venice; and the beginnings of the Douglas Aircraft Company. There is a large set of promotional photographs made late 1920s-1930s by Powell Press Service depicting people enjoying Santa Monica's beaches, clubs and outdoor recreation.
An important subset within the collection is 407 negatives made ca. 1890 - 1908 by Los Angeles historian and amateur photographer George W. Hazard (1842-1914). Hazard travelled around Los Angeles and vicinity photographing the adobes, houses, streets and storefronts that told the early history of the city. Many of Hazard's negatives have handwritten identifications, naming streets, former homeowners, ranchos, and other historical details.
There are a large number of cabinet cards and other card-mounted prints and stereographs. There are 1,264 stereograph prints, highlighted by the works of photographic pioneers William M. Godfrey, Francis Parker, Hayward & Muzzall, and Carleton Watkins. Other formats represented are: glass and film negatives; panoramic prints; 7 photograph albums, photographic postcards, 20th-century color prints and transparencies; and a small number of tintypes, cyanotypes and a set of chromolithographs.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Ernest Marquez (b. 1924) is a descendant of Mexican land grantees who owned the 6,656-acre Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, comprising what is now Santa Monica Canyon and parts of Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, California.
He grew up in Santa Monica Canyon and attended Canyon School and Santa Monica High School, then served in the Navy during World War II. For most of his professional career, he worked as a commercial artist for aerospace companies, retiring in the 1980s. He began collecting historical photographs in an effort to learn more about the history of his family and Santa Monica. His curiosity and interests soon reached beyond his own family's history, and he became a keen and well-known collector of images of Santa Monica, as well as early Los Angeles and Southern California. Over a period of 50 years, Marquez scoured flea markets, postcard shows and book fairs, and made discerning trades and purchases, amassing more than 10,000 photographs depicting the history of Southern California from 1860 through the 1980s.
Marquez also devoted time to researching and writing several books about the region's history, including: Santa Monica Beach: A Collector's Pictorial History (Angel City Press, 2004); Port of Los Angeles: An Illustrated History from 1850 to 1945, with Veronique De Turenne, (Angel City Press, 2007); and Noir Afloat: Tony Cornero and the Notorious Gambling Ships of Southern California (Angel City Press, 2011).
In 2015, Marquez completed a personal project to create 34 decorative crosses for the graves in the small, historic Marquez Family Cemetery on San Lorenzo Street in Santa Monica Canyon. Marquez and his family care for and maintain the cemetery, which was established in the late 1840s.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchased from Ernest Marquez, January 2014.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged in the following 10 series:
- Series 01. Photographic prints (stereographs and panoramas are in separate series)
- Series 02. Photograph albums and accompanying items
- Vol. 1 Robert Hutton Topanga Canyon album, 1913-1921, + 5 folders of loose photographs
- Vol. 2 Robert Hutton Santa Monica High School album and scrapbook, 1917-1921.
- Vol. 3 Theresa Sletton Topanga Canyon album, ca. 1913
- Vol. 4 Apple Valley Ranchos photograph album, 1949
- Vol. 5 Travel album of San Diego and vicinity, ca. 1910s
- Vol. 6 Photograph album of California and travels in the West, ca. 1915 -1933
- Vol. 7 World War I photograph album: "Photographic History of the A.E.F. in France, 1917-1919" + 6 folders of photographic postcards (accompanying album)
- Series 03. Stereographs
- Series 04. Panoramas
- Series 05. Glass negatives
- Series 06. Film negatives
- George W. Hazard negatives, ca. 1890-1908
- Powell Press Service negatives, ca. 1930s
- George Haley, "Los Angeles Evening Herald" negatives (bulk 1940s-50s)
- Bob Plunkett negatives (ca. 1928–1953)
- Other film negatives – various dates
- Series 07. Ephemera and publications
- Series 08. Copy prints
- Series 09. Copy negatives
- Series 10. Research files and original negative envelopes
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Adobe houses -- California --
Photographs.
Airplane factories -- California – Santa Monica -- Photographs.
Airplanes -- Photographs.
Airports -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Airships -- United States -- Photographs.
Amusement piers -- Photographs.
Apartment houses -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Archery -- Photographs.
Architecture, Domestic -- Photographs.
Automobile racing -- California -- Photographs.
Bathing beauties -- Photographs.
Battleships -- United States -- Photographs.
Beaches -- California -- Photographs.
Beauty contests—California -- Photographs.
Bernheimer Gardens (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Bernheimer Gardens (Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Boats and boating -- Photographs.
Brewing industry – California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Cemeteries -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Cemeteries -- California -- Santa Monica Canyon (Los Angeles County) -- Photographs.
Chinese -- California -- Photographs.
Criminals -- California -- Los Angeles.
Fire stations -- Photographs.
Funeral rites and ceremonies -- Photographs.
Golf courses -- California -- Photographs.
High school students -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Horsemanship -- Photographs.
Hotels -- California -- Photographs.
Housing development -- United States -- Photographs.
La Fiesta de Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Leisure -- California, Southern -- History.
Oil fields -- California -- Photographs.
Missions, Spanish -- California -- Photographs.
Motion pictures -- Setting and scenery -- Photographs.
Motion picture industry -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Olympic Games (10th : 1932 : Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs.
Parades -- California -- Photographs.
Parks -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Piers -- California -- Santa Monica -- Photographs.
Pioneers -- California, Southern.
Railroads -- Buildings and structures -- Photographs.
Railroad stations -- California -- Photographs.
Recreation – Southern California -- Photographs.
Real estate development -- California – San Bernardino County -- Photographs.
Ruins -- Photographs.
Schools -- California -- Photographs.
Schoolchildren -- Photographs.
Shipwrecks -- California -- Honda, Point -- Photographs.
Soldiers' homes -- California -- Santa Monica -- Photographs.
Theaters -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Tourism -- California, Southern -- Photographs.
Water-supply -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France -- Photographs.
Photographs.
Negatives.
Postcards.
Chromolithographs.
Tintypes.
Cyanotypes.
Panoramic photographs.
Stereographs.
Photograph albums.
Ephemera.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2129