The Boyle Photograph Collection consists of photographic negatives taken by Katie and William Boyle of the Trinidad, Moonstone, Crannell and Westhaven areas of Humboldt County, California from 1966 through the early 1990s. As a school teacher in Trinidad, Katie photographed local historical photo collections covering the area's history, including local Indians, whaling, lighthouse keepers, schools, lumbering and transportation. In addition, she photographed contemporary local events such as the Trinidad bicentennial celebration and the Clam Beach Run. Her husband Bill worked for Hammond Lumber Company in Crannell, later Georgia Pacific, and took many photos documenting logging operations and practices as they existed in the 1960s and 1970s. A unique feature of the collection is the multiple re-photographing of views previously recorded by other photographers since Katie was particularly interested in documenting landscape change over time. More information about this collection, including the full finding aid, can be found at http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/holdings/boyle.htm 

Katie Boyle taught school in the lumber company town of Crannell the last year the school was open, 1948-49, and from then until her retirement in 1983 in Trinidad. One of her objectives as a teacher was to bring history alive for her students and instill in them an awareness of the local history of the Trinidad area. During the 1960s she and her husband Bill, who worked for Hammond Lumber Company and its successors in Crannell, took classes in photography and became accomplished amateur photographers. Their interests led them to document both the contemporary history of the area for over 20 years as well as to copy historical photograph collections belonging to many Trinidad area residents. She created many historical displays using these photographs for every imaginable event in the Trinidad area from the late 1960s through the 1980s.

Approximately 3000 photographic negatives 1795 online images

Copyright has not been assigned to the Humboldt State University Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Special Collections Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Humboldt State University Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

1,795 of the photographic negatives have been scanned and are available online. Copy prints of a majority of the collection are available at the Trinidad Museum Society.