Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Ernest W. Myers photograph collection
MS0054
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Ernest W. Myers photograph collection
Dates: 1846-1974
Bulk Dates: 1913-1974
Collection number: MS0054
Creator:
Myers, Ernest W.
Collection Size:
6,026 photographs
(9 linear feet)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The Ernest W. Myers photograph collection consist of 6,026 photographs documenting his interest in downtown Sacramento, hunting
and fishing, and social and cultural events in the Sacramento area. The collection is organized broadly into 17 series by
the subject matter of the photographs. Series 1. Aviation, Series 2. Buildings, Series 3. Businesses, Series 4. California
State Fair, Series 5. California State Capitol / Government, Series 6. Christmas, Series 7. Churches, Series 8. Fishing
/ hunting, Series 9. Fraternal organizations, Series 10. Mining / Gold Rush, Series 11. Nature / animals, Series 12. Parades
and pageants, Series 13. Parks, Series 14. Street scenes, Series 15. Veterans, Series 16. World War I (France), Series 17.
Assorted.
Physical location: 2J3, 35J3, 35K3, 2E1 Drawer D, 4D1 Drawer F
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research use.
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted
in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron.
No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Ernest W. Myers photograph collection, MS0054, Center
for Sacramento History.
The Ernest W. Myers Photograph Collection was donated to the Center for Sacramento History by step children of Ernest W. Myers,
Don M. Russell and Mary Lou Douglass, on December 22, 1989 (accession #1989/41).
Collection originally included 11,852 photographs when accessioned. As of 2019, there were 6,026 photographs in the collection.
Collection catalogued by Sherry Hatch in 2001. Finding aid updated according to DACS by Sean Heyliger and encoded in EAD in
2019.
Biography / Administrative History
Businessman and photographer Ernest William Myers (1891-1986) was born on August 19, 1891 in Valleton Monterey, California
to J.S. Myers, a farmer who had migrated to the Monterey region from Ohio. As a young child, his family moved to Sacramento,
California where he would eventually establish a successful jewelry business, E.W. Myers Co. After working for other jewelry
stores, he opened his own store in 1919 at 722 K Street in downtown Sacramento. In 1936, he moved his store to 1005 9th street
where he remained for over twenty years. He later worked at the downtown businesses of Sacramento Loan and Jewelry, Werner
Jewelry, and California Loan and Jewelry. He developed a life long interest in photography and documented many of the neighborhoods
and buildings in Sacramento, California, which he believed were threaten by redevelopment. The social network he built with
his jewelry business allowed him access to take portraits of many of Sacramento's leading families. In addition to his interest
in photography, he was also a champion skeet shooter and hunter, competing in shooting tournaments and belonging to several
Sacramento shooting clubs.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Ernest W. Myers photograph collection consist of 6,026 photographs documenting his interest in downtown Sacramento, hunting
and fishing, and social and cultural events in the Sacramento area. The collection is organized broadly into 17 series by
the subject matter of the photographs. Series 1. Aviation, Series 2. Buildings, Series 3. Businesses, Series 4. California
State Fair, Series 5. California State Capitol / Government, Series 6. Christmas, Series 7. Churches, Series 8. Fishing
/ hunting, Series 9. Fraternal organizations, Series 10. Mining / Gold Rush, Series 11. Nature / animals, Series 12. Parades
and pageants, Series 13. Parks, Series 14. Street scenes, Series 15. Veterans, Series 16. World War I (France), Series 17.
Assorted.
Because of his business and social connections, Myers was able to photograph a wide variety of events and people in Sacramento.
Of particular note are his negatives of aviation notables Charles Lindbergh and Richard Byrd plus an outstanding series of
the U.S. Navy Airship Akron. A highlight of the collection are the images of President Harry S. Truman campaigning in 1948
and soon-to-be elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. Myers was an avid hunter and rifle marksman. The images of
his hunting expeditions in California are unique documents of the open hunting laws of the first half of this century . Included
in the image are game which now are included on endangered listings. There are also color Autochromes negatives that may be
the earliest known color images of Sacramento plus may possibly be the earliest of street and city scenes in California.
Series 1. Aviation
Series 2. Buildings
Series 3. Businesses
Series 4. California State Fair
Series 5. California State Capitol / Government
Series 6. Christmas
Series 7. Churches
Series 8. Fishing / hunting
Series 9. Fraternal organizations
Series 10. Mining / Gold Rush
Series 11. Nature / animals
Series 12. Parades and pageants
Series 13. Parks
Series 14. Street scenes
Series 15. Veterans
Series 16. World War I (France)
Series 17. Assorted
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Autochromes
California State Capitol (Sacramento, Calif.)
California State Fair and Exposition
Fishing--California
Fraternal organizations--California--History
Hunting--California--History
Parades &processions--California
Sacramento (Calif.)--History
World War, 1914-1918--France--Pictorial works