Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Bowman (Ralph Bowers) San Diego Photographs Collection
MS-0537  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Scope and Contents
  • Arrangement Note
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Physical Access Requirements
  • Source of Acquisition
  • Accruals and Additions
  • Custodial History
  • Related Materials
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biographical Note
  • Processing Information

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections & University Archives
    Title: Ralph Bowers Bowman San Diego Photographs Collection
    Creator: Bowman, Ralph Bowers
    Identifier/Call Number: MS-0537
    Physical Description: 5.33 Linear Feet
    Date (inclusive): 1922-1937
    Language of Material: English .

    Scope and Contents

    The Ralph Bowers Bowman San Diego Photographs Collection (1922-1937) includes scenes of the San Diego metropolitan area. Subjects of the photographs include landmarks, waterfront scenes of fishing boats, freights ships and naval ships; Balboa Park; La Jolla; Point Loma; aerial views; street scenes; football games; visiting dignitaries; and personal photographs of Bowman's children and family. Also documented by the photographs are several road trips to St. Louis, the Imperial Valley, Phoenix and Prescott, Arizona, and the Yosemite Valley.

    Arrangement Note

    I.  Photo Albums, 1922-1937
    II. Negatives, 1923-1937

    Conditions Governing Access

    This collection is open for research. Any photograph with an identifiable family member may not be made use of by a third party or licensed for commercial use without the permission of Julia E. Reid or her brother, Stewart Reid, during their lifetimes.

    Conditions Governing Use

    The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
    Any photograph with an identifiable family member may not be made use of by a third party or licensed for commercial use without the permission of Julia E. Reid or her brother, Stewart Reid, during their lifetimes.

    Physical Access Requirements

    Photo albums are unbound. Black paper is decomposing badly and produces a large amount of black dust when handled. Negatives are housed in paper sleeves. Loose photo prints are housed in mylar sleeves.

    Source of Acquisition

    James E. Lunbeck

    Accruals and Additions

    2015-051

    Custodial History

    James E. Lunbeck is the partner of Julia E. Reid, the daughter of Ralph Bowers Bowman's daughter, Constance Bowman Reid. The donors have chosen to donate the majority of Bowman's photographs of St. Louis and Phoenix to historical institutions in their respective cities.

    Related Materials

    John and Jane Adams Postcard Collection, 1880-2007
    G. Hamilton Hammon Scrapbook, 1911-1939
    San Diego Corral of the Westerners Records, 1921-2013
    San Diego Photograph Collection, 1870-1975

    Preferred Citation

    Identification of item, folder title, box number, Ralph Bowers Bowman San Diego Photographs Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, San Diego State University Library.

    Biographical Note

    Ralph Bowers Bowman (1878-1937) was a businessman who sold industrial machinery. After the death of his first wife he remarried and moved his family from St. Louis to Phoenix to live with his mother, eventually settling in San Diego. His two daughters by his first wife were Julia Bowman Robinson (1919-1985), an eminent mathematician and the first woman president of the American Mathematical Society, and Constance Bowman Reid (1918-2010), a biographer of mathematicians. Around the time of his first wife's death, Bowman took up photography, a hobby that would produce thousands of photographs. For a more detailed history of Ralph Bowers Bowman and his family, see document titled "Ralph Bowman Photographs" by Julia E. Reid in the James E. Lunbeck Donor File.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Lucas Buresch, November 2017.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    San Diego (Calif.)--Pictorial works
    San Diego (Calif.)--History
    San Diego County (Calif.)--Pictorial works
    San Diego County (Calif.)--History--Sources