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Bullock's Department Store Collection of Photographs: Finding Aid
photCL 401
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Title: Bullock's Department Store Collection of Photographs
Dates (inclusive): 1905-1971
Bulk dates: (bulk 1912-1945)
Collection Number: photCL 401
Creator:
Bullock's (Department store)
Extent:
709 photographs (including prints and glass plate negatives) and ephemera in 15 boxes (15.38 linear feet)
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: The Bullock's Department Store Collection consists of 680 photographs and 29 glass plate negatives related to the Los Angeles,
California-based department store
between 1905 and 1971 (bulk 1912-1945), as well as 2 boxes of ephemera pertaining to Bullock's publicity and events between
1915 and 1952. The collection focuses primarily on the
retail spaces, displays, departments, and employees at the downtown Los Angeles store once located at Broadway, 7th,
and Hill Streets. The photographs document the various
functions associated with the store including the full range of departments; window displays; store merchandising; employee
activities and gatherings; children's parties and
parades; advertising billboards; the August sales event and crowds; and construction scenes from 1912 and 1928. Photographers
include Warren Bowen Studios; Brown and Warrington;
duBois Photo Co.; Frank C. Elliott; Jim England; Graham Photo; Keystone Photo; J.C. Milligan; Ernest Pratt; Otto Rothschild;
Stagg Photography; Art Streib; "Dick" Whittington
Studio; Whitland Locke Commercial Photography; and Witzel Photo.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
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.
Bullock's Department Store Collection of Photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Ted Stiner, 1996.
The collection was rehoused and numbered, and a Container List prepared, by Jane
Apostol in 2005. The original finding aid was prepared by Jennifer Watts in August
2005.
Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements
Arrangements for viewing the glass plate negatives must be made with the Curator of
Photographs.
The original Bullock's Department Store was designed by the architectural firm of
Parkinson and Bergstrom and opened in March 1907 at 639-657 South Broadway in Los
Angeles, California. Bullock's flagship store proved so successful that it expanded quarters in
1912. The company purchased adjacent buildings in 1917 and 1919 for a total of
460,000 square feet. "By 1920," writes Richard Longstreth, "Bullock's and Robinson's
functioned as anchors to an elite shopping precinct that was unprecedented in Los
Angeles." Between 1923 and 1928, Bullock's added an additional 400,000 square feet
through the construction of three more additions while also purchasing two adjacent
buildings. Bullock's Inc. eventually opened a second store on Wilshire Boulevard
(1929) as well as additional stores in Westwood Village (1932), Pasadena (1947), and
Fashion Square in Orange County (1958).
The Bullock's Department Store Collection consists of 680 photographs and 29 glass plate negatives related to the Los Angeles,
California-based department store between 1905 and 1971 (bulk 1912-1945),
as well as 2 boxes of ephemera related to Bullock's publicity and events between 1915 and 1952. The materials focus primarily
on the retail spaces, displays, departments, and employees at
the downtown Los Angeles store once located at Broadway, 7th, and Hill Streets. The collection is the remnant of (what
seems to have been) a larger archive of albums assembled and
annotated in-house to document the various functions associated with the store. As such, the photographs depict every
aspect of the store's workings including: the full range of
departments, many shown with thematic decorations for holidays and special events; window displays; store merchandising;
employee activities and gatherings such as dances, holiday
parties, Easter worship services and group portraits; children's parties and parades; advertising billboards; the August
sales event and crowds; and construction scenes from 1912 and 1928.
The collection is particularly strong in its documentation of the store's window displays and merchandising efforts. There
are also many pictures of mannequins dressed in the latest
fashions for men, women, and children. The World War II home front effort is a theme that occurs throughout the collection
in various display motifs and in employee events. Many
photographs depict the store's workforce including female sales clerks, male cooks and security guards, and African American
employees in various capacities. Eight pictures at the
end of Volume 9 depict Bullock's branch locations including the famed Bullock's Wilshire store. Volume 11 contains promotional
and ephemeral materials from 1948 through 1952 associated
with the Bullock's Wilshire store.
Photographers represented in the collection include Warren Bowen Studios; Brown and Warrington; duBois Photo Co.; Frank C.
Elliott; Jim England; Graham Photo; Keystone Photo; J.C. Milligan;
Ernest Pratt; Otto Rothschild; Stagg Photography; Art Streib; "Dick" Whittington Studio; Whitland Locke Commercial Photography;
and Witzel Photo.
The collection is arranged by format: loose photographs (Box 1), photograph albums (Boxes 2-11), ephemera (Boxes 12-13),
and glass plate negatives (Boxes 14-15).
Related materials in the Huntington Library
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Elliott, Frank C.
England, Jim.
Milligan, J. C.
Pratt, Ernest Mitchell,
1876-1945.
Rothschild, Otto.
Streib, Art.
Bullock's Wilshire (Department
store)--Photographs.
Bullock's (Department
store)--Employees--Photographs.
Bullock's (Department
store)--Recreational use--Photographs.
Brown and Warrington.
Dick Whittington Studio.
Dubois Photo Company.
Graham Photo Co. (Los Angeles,
Calif.).
Keystone Photo Service.
Stagg Photographers (Los Angeles,
Calif.).
Warren Bowen Studios.
Whitland Locke Commercial
Photography.
Witzel Photo.
African-Americans--Employment--California--Los Angeles--Photographs.
Building construction--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Children--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Children's clothing--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Department stores--California--Los
Angeles County--Photographs.
Display of merchandise--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Fashion design--Photographs.
Furniture--Photographs.
Holiday decorations--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Indians of North
America--Clothing--Exhibitions--Photographs.
Indians of North
America--Photographs.
Indian pottery--North
America--Photographs.
Indian textile fabrics--North
America--Photographs.
Mannequins
(Figures)--Photographs.
Pageants--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Sales promotion--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Selling--Cosmetics--Photographs.
Show-windows--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
War work--California--Los
Angeles--1910-1920--Photographs.
War work--California--Los
Angeles--1940-1950--Photographs.
Women--Employment--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Women's clothing--California--Los
Angeles--Photographs.
Ephemera.
Negatives.
Photograph albums.
Photographs.