Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Related materials
Conservation Note
Biographical / Historical
Scope and Contents
Arrangement
Title: John Gerrard Graham Photograph Collection
Date (inclusive): 1936-1994
Identifier/Call Number: SFP 38
Creator:
Graham, John Gerrard
Physical Description:
15 cartons and 1 oversize box (approximately 7,700 photographic prints and 4,730 negatives)
(16 Cubic Feet)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: The John Gerrard Graham Photograph Collection includes over 7,700 photographs and 4,730 negatives from the collection of San
Francisco transit historian John Gerrard Graham (1917–1995). The collection consists of two groups of images: original photographs
and negatives photographed by Graham from approximately 1936 to 1994 and official company and agency photographs (some being
copy images of operations of early San Francisco street railways). The strength of the collection is in its documentation
of San Francisco street railways from the late 1930s through the late 1950s including operations of the Market Street Railway,
Municipal Railway of San Francisco and the California Street Cable Railroad Company.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in
English.
Access
The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to publish photographs must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Preferred Citation
John Gerrard Graham Photograph Collection (SFP 38), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Provenance
Gift. 2002-37
Related materials
Graham's interests included street and main line railroads outside of San Francisco with his collections spread across the
San Francisco Bay Area. There is a collection of East Bay street railway photographs at the Oakland Public Library. Many of
Graham's North Bay railroad photographs are included in the collection of Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society
Archive. Approximately 500 nitrate negatives of Market Street Railway Elkton wreck photos are in the archives of Bay Area
Electric Railroad Associations' F.M. Smith Memorial Library. Graham's artifacts are included in the Market Street Railway
Archive and the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation's Museum in San Jose.
Conservation Note
During processing, the entire collection was re-foldered and re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes.
Biographical / Historical
John Gerrard Graham was born on November 14, 1917 in San Francisco to John Gerrard Graham and Kittie Gerrard Fowler Graham.
Graham was a graduate of Lick-Wilmerding High School (1935) where he studied machine shop and mechanical design. Upon graduation
he went to work for the Enterprise Engine and Foundry Company as an apprentice machinist.
Pursuing a lifelong fascination with the street railways of San Francisco, in 1942 Graham went to work part-time for the Market
Street Railway in addition to his machine shop job. A few years later, Graham began work as a conductor and within a year
became a motorman. His knowledge and interest in mechanical matters persisted and he started to make repairs on cars at the
end of the line. Graham then became employed as a "shop man" in the Turk and Fillmore Car House. After the consolidation of
the Market Street Railway into the Municipal Railway of San Francisco in 1944, the Fillmore barn closed on July 31, 1948.
Graham was assigned to the Funston Yard, which served as the "bone yard" where retired Market Street Railway cars were prepared
for scrapping. After the closing of Funston Yard in 1949, Graham transferred to the Muni's new electric trolley coach shop
at Potrero Car House, where he worked until his retirement.
Graham was fatally injured on December 9, 1995 when crossing Fourth and Townsend Streets to board a Muni bus at CalTrain Station.
Scope and Contents
The John Gerrard Graham Photograph Collection includes over 7,700 photographs and 4,730 negatives from the collection of San
Francisco transit historian John Gerrard Graham (1917–1995). The collection consists of two groups of images: original photographs
and negatives photographed by Graham from approximately 1936 to 1994 and official company and agency photographs (some being
copy images of operations of early San Francisco street railways). The strength of the collection is in its documentation
of San Francisco street railways from the late 1930s through the late 1950s including operations of the Market Street Railway,
Municipal Railway of San Francisco and the California Street Cable Railroad Company. Given Graham's access to all shops and
yards, Graham photographed his interests in both operational and mechanical aspects of the railway operation. Graham's collection
also includes documentation of cars and buses being repaired from accidents or prepared for scrap. He also photographed a
number of crews (both on the cars and in the shop). The collection includes several photographs of him on duty.
The bulk of the collection consists of primarily 2 ¼" x 3 ¼" and 2 ¼" x 4 ¼" negatives with some 4 x 5" and 5 x 7" copy negatives.
Sixty percent of the prints do have corresponding negatives. There are approximately 2,000 negatives for which there are no
prints and 3,000 prints for which there are no negatives.
Arrangement
Arranged in two groups: 1. Photographs by John Gerrard Graham, 1936-1994. 2. Official Photographs, 1903-1960.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Transportation--California--San Francisco.
Street-railroads -- California -- San Francisco
Electric railroads -- California -- San Francisco -- Cars.
Buses -- California -- San Francisco.
Cable cars (Streetcars) -- California -- San Francisco
Local transit - California - San Francisco
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Transit systems.
Photographic prints, 1930-1940
Photographic prints, 1940-1950
Photographic prints, 1950-1960
Photographic prints, 1960-1970
Transparencies
Snapshots
San Francisco Municipal Railway.
Market Street Railway.