Matthew C. Bunyan Photograph Album of the Construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (1935-1936) SFP 120
Finding aid prepared by Christina Moretta
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
2019
Title: Matthew C. Bunyan Photograph Album of the Construction of the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge
Date (inclusive): 1935-1936
Identifier/Call Number: SFP 120
Creator:
Bunyan, Matthew Chalmers, 1906 -
1978
Physical Description:
1 album; album 15.5 cm x 15.5 cm, prints 8cm
x 14 cm
(52 gelatin silver photographic prints)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 557-4567
sfhistory@sfpl.org
Abstract: The bound volume
contains 52 gelatin silver photographic prints taken by Matthew C. Bunyan which document the
construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in California, 1935 – 1936.
Physical Location: The collection is stored
onsite.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English.
The collection is available for use during Photo Desk hours.
All requests for permission to publish from 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. The Library holds copyright to the photograph
album.
Matthew C. Bunyan Photograph Album of the Construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge (SFP 120), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Gift 2013-88
Matthew Chalmers Bunyan was born on May 20, 1906 in Charlton, New York. The Bunyan family
relocated to Santa Rosa, California in the 1920s. Bunyan attended Santa Rosa Junior College
and then transferred to University of California at Berkeley (UCB). He graduated in 1930
with a BS in Civil Engineering. Bunyan married his UCB classmate Esther B. Norton in
Cincinnati, Ohio on July 11, 1931 and the couple had two children. Bunyan was employed by
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Authority from 1933 to December 1936. He served as
Junior Bridge Engineer and Assistant Bridge Engineer. Bunyan went on to work for Standard
Oil Company of California and Arabian American Oil Company. Bunyan died on March 11, 1978 in
Tucson, Arizona.
The bound volume contains 52 gelatin silver photographic prints taken by Matthew C. Bunyan
which document the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in California, 1935
– 1936. This unusual album has been hand-constructed out of blueprint paper with both typed
and hand-written captions. The photographs are mounted on recto only, with the blue print
visible on the verso of each page. Many of the photographs are of locations or vantage
points that would only be accessible to engineers or construction workers of the Bay Bridge.
Each photograph is dated and accompanied by a detailed caption, often describing the
engineering aspects illustrated. There are also several group photographs of engineers and
inspectors posing on the Bay Bridge shortly before opening, including the photographer
Bunyan's family. All photographs are of the Bay Bridge construction with the exception of 6
photographs documenting small house architecture in Berkeley and Richmond, California in
1936. There are two captions where the accompanying photographs have been removed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.)
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.)
-- Design and construction
Suspension bridges -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Design
and construction
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints -- 1930-1940
Bunyan, Matthew Chalmers, 1906 - 1978