Walkley (S. L.) Photograph Albums, approximately 1888

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Summary

Title:
S. L. Walkley Photograph Albums
Dates:
approximately 1888
Creators:
Walkley, S. L., 1867-1891
Abstract:
Two albums containing ninety-seven photographs, chiefly by amateur photographer S. L. Walkley (approximately 1867-1891), of buildings and landscapes in Los Angeles County and San Diego County, California, in 1888. These professional-quality views by Walkley depict newly constructed buildings, street scenes, and the natural landscape, including the flora.
Extent:
97 photographs in 2 albums in 2 boxes : albumen prints ; images 11 x 18 cm, sheets 17 x 25 cm, volumes 18 x 28 cm.
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], S. L. Walkley Photograph Albums, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Two albums containing ninety-seven photographs, chiefly by amateur photographer S. L. Walkley, of buildings and landscapes in Los Angeles County and San Diego County, California, in 1888. These professional-quality views by Walkley depict newly constructed buildings, street scenes, and the natural landscape, including the flora. These volumes may have been Walkley's own albums as they contain photographs of the construction and finished exterior of his residence on St. John Street in Pasadena, California.

The albums include photographs of houses, hotels, streets, and buildings in Pasadena, California and the surrounding towns of Alhambra, San Gabriel, Whittier, and others as well as views of the Arroyo Seco, Little Santa Anita Canyon, Eaton Canyon, and the path to Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountain area. There are photographs of downtown Los Angeles; Hotel del Coronado and Old Town San Diego in San Diego County; and Avalon and Avalon Harbor on Santa Catalina Island. Several photographs show African American trainers with camels and elephants as well as an open circus wagon containing lions (volume 1, items 37-40) These scenes may be associated with the Sells Brothers Circus, which visited Los Angeles in October 1888 (See also volume 2, item 31). There is one photograph of a train labeled "Tia Juana & N.C. & O. Rwy. Train" (volume 1, item 30), presumably referring to the National City & Otay Railroad, a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railroad, formed in 1886, which connected downtown San Diego with the Sweetwater Dam (San Diego County), La Presa (San Diego County), and Tijuana (Mexico). Two photographs bear the imprint of C.W. Herr and depict street scenes in Provo, Utah and Ogden, Utah (volume 1, items 35 and 36).

Many pictures include Walkley's name and a printed caption on the image as well as numbers between 4012 and 4147, presumably the photographer’s negative number. Penciled identifications provided by a former Huntington staff member, Ed Carpenter, are included on many of the album pages.

Collection title devised by cataloger; date based on a handwritten note for volume 2 item 23, a photograph of Walkley's residence, which gives the date as October 31, 1888. 1888 was also the year that the Hotel del Coronado opened.

Biographical / historical:

Selden Lord Walkley (approximately 1867-1891) moved to Southern California from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in late 1887 due to poor health. Walkley was an active amateur photographer and a member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia. He wrote a letter, "Photographing in Southern California," published in the April 27, 1888, issue of The Photographic Times and American Photographer (pp. 198-199). In 1888, Walkley built an expansive Dutch Colonial Revival house on St. John Avenue in the Carlisle Heights subdivision of Pasadena. Walkley died on July 7, 1891.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from McLeans' Book Shop, November 1925.
Arrangement:

The photographs appear to be arranged chronologically, based on the numbers that appear on the prints.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Diann Benti and K. Peck.
Date Prepared:
© 2016
Date Encoded:
Machine readable finding aid encoded by Diann Benti in January 2016 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], S. L. Walkley Photograph Albums, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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