Collection Guide
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Koenig (Louise H. "Ila") 1906 Earthquake Collection
SFH 587
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Title: Louise H. "Ila" Koenig 1906 Earthquake Collection
Date (inclusive): 1906-1975
Identifier/Call Number: SFH 587
creator:
Koenig, Louise
Physical Description:
5 folders
(.18 Cubic Feet)
Abstract: Contains 1906 earthquake photographs, mostly taken by Arno Richter, and a letter of earthquake recollections written by Ila
Koenig who was an earthquake survivor.
Physical Location: The collection is stored on site.
Language of Material: Collection materials are in English.
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center Photo Desk hours.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscrips must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. 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.
[Identification of item], Louise H. "Ila" Koenig 1906 Earthquake Collection, (SFH 587), San Francisco History Center, San
Francisco Public Library.
Collection was donated by Tiffany Schulz on June 15, 2019, in memory of Betty Guy. Guy was a watercolorist for the San Francisco
Opera and likely friends with Koenig.
See also:
Preliminary Note on the Seismographic Observations of the San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906 by Fusakichi Omori, and 1906 earthquake Letters and Personal Accounts in the San Francisco Ephemera Collection.
Processed by Tami J. Suzuki in 2019.
Louise Helene "Ila" Koenig was born Oct. 5, 1893 in California to Henry T. (Heinrich) and Sophie Koenig. Her father was a
refractionist, originally from Germany. He was in partnership with Dr. Kaspar Pischel for a time. Pischel's name is written
on Dr. Fusakichi Omori's seismograph report that is included in this collection. The Koenigs lived on Waller Street. Ila remained
single. She had a younger sister, Martha, whose married surname was Schaller. Schaller had a daughter named Dorothea. Ila
died on Nov. 25, 1979, at the age of 86.
Contains photographs mainly shot by Arno Richter immediately following the 1906 earthquake. A number of Richter's photos are
hand-colored. A copy of Ila's typewritten earthquake recollections to Dotty [likely her niece, Dorothea Schaller] is included.
Other documents include a 1906 postcard packet with accordian-style images of the conflagration; a 1906 earthquake report
published in Japan by noted Japanese seismologist Fusakichi Omori,
Note on the San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906; two photographs of Omori and Henry Koenig who met on the Sausalito ferry en route to study the earthquake damage in Olema
and Pt. Reyes; and scraps of newspapers blown west and south from Chinatown to the Koenigs' home just east of Golden Gate
Park. Ila annotated the materials. Also includes a few [19th-century?] souvenir images of San Francisco.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Earthquake and fire, 1906.
San Francisco (Calif.) -- Earthquake and fire, 1906 -- Personal narratives.
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906 -- Pictorial works.
Koenig, Louise -- Archives.