The Olive Percival Collection of Photographs contains approximately 875 photographs of California and Mexico, chiefly of locations in Los Angeles and environs and in Mexico City, taken chiefly by Olive Percival (1869-1945) from approximately 1880-1941. The photographs, mostly cyanotype snapshots and also gelatin silver prints and some sepia prints, depict San Pedro; Chinatowns in Los Angeles and San Francisco; Percival's home and garden along the Arroyo Seco in Los Angeles County; cemeteries in Los Angeles; various people and locations in Los Angeles and Southern California; various views of Mexico City; and other locations in Mexico.

Olive May Graves Percival (1869-1945) was an American author, gardener, artist, poet, book collector, photographer, suffragist, designer, and toy and paper doll maker. She was born July 1, 1869, near Sheffield, Illinois, and moved to Los Angeles in 1887 with her mother, Helen Percival, and sisters, living initially in the Women's Christian Temperance Union building at Temple and Broadway and working as a sales clerk at Hamburger's Department Store. In 1891, she began her 38-year career in the insurance industry to support herself and her mother while engaging in her many interests, working initially for fire insurance agents McLellan and Golsh and then, from 1895 until her retirement in 1929, as a sub-agency clerk with the Home Insurance Company.

Approximately 875 photographs in 6 boxes : chiefly cyanotypes and some gelatin silver and sepia prints ; prints various sizes, 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.) and smaller, chiefly 10 x 12 cm (4 x 5 in.) and smaller, 1 mounted photograph mount 31 x 26 cm. (12 x 10 in.), print 21 x 15 cm (8 x 6 in.).

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