Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: S. L. Walkley Photograph Albums
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1888
Collection Number: photCL 57
Creator:
Walkley, S. L., 1867-1891
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.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
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.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
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.
Provenance
Purchased from McLeans' Book Shop, November 1925.
Biographical Note
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.
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.
Arrangement
The photographs appear to be arranged chronologically, based on the numbers that appear on the prints.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Hotel del Coronado (Coronado, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel (San Gabriel, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Raymond Hotel (Pasadena, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Sells Bros. Circus -- Photographs.
Adobe buildings -- California -- Photographs.
African Americans -- Photographs.
Circus -- California -- Photographs.
Hotels -- California -- Photographs.
Missions -- California -- Photographs.
Railroad stations -- California -- Photographs.
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Pasadena (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Diego (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Catalina Island (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Utah -- Photographs.
Forms/Genres
Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Contributors
Herr, C. W., photographer.