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Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies: Finding
Aid
photLS 402
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Title: Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1900-1930
Collection Number: photLS 402
Creator:
Parker, Harold A. (1878-1930)
Extent:
148 photographs in 4 boxes : lantern slides and color transparencies
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 Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies consists of 96 hand-colored lantern slides and
autochrome lantern slides, and 52 color transparencies, ca. 1904-1930,
depicting, for the most part, unidentified houses, landscapes, plants and gardens in and around Pasadena; the Huntington
Hotel in Pasadena; aerial views, presumably of Pasadena; mountain lakes and landscapes; desert
landscapes and flora; the Grand Canyon, Pueblo ruins, and the Petrified Forest; unidentified landscapes; and the aftermath
of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Language: English.
Advance arrangements for viewing the collection must be made with the Curator of Photographs. The collection is open to qualified
researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please visit the Huntington's website:
www.huntington.org.
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.
[Identification of item], Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies, The Huntington Library,
San Marino, California.
Gift of Roy Dickson in 1999.
The collection was numbered and rehoused by Sue Luftschein in August 2006. This finding aid was created by Sue Luftschein
in August 2006.
Harold A. Parker (1878-1930) was born in Iowa and immigrated to Pasadena, California, with his parents in 1892 at the age
of 14. He became interested in photography at an early age, and began working professionally
in 1900. He opened his Pasadena studio in 1904 and operated it until his death in 1930 at the age of 52. Parker also operated
a studio in the Tahoe Tavern at Lake Tahoe between 1908 and 1910, where he produced a
number of images of the Tavern, Lake Tahoe, and the surrounding areas. Parker was noted for his photographs of California,
especially his images of the California Missions and the Tournament of Roses parades; he
was also responsible for the earliest aerial images of Pasadena. A commercial photographer, Parker worked as a contract
photographer for the
Pasadena Star-News Tournament of Roses edition,
and took pictures of civic and social organizations, local retailers, and private individuals who commissioned him to record
their gatherings, buildings, and various rites of passage.
After Parker's death in 1930, the studio was operated by his wife, Marjorie. Sometime in the 1930s, Dickson and Thurber Studios
purchased the business and operated it until shortly after World War II when it was
subsequently purchased by Lee and Mac. J. Allen Hawkins, who had worked for Parker as a teenager, purchased approximately
35,000 glass plates and negatives from Lee and Mac and moved them to his studio on North Lake
Avenue, Pasadena. They were stored there until construction began for the 210 Freeway, when a large number were destroyed.
Hawkins sold the remainder to a movie photographer who later gave them to Donald Parker,
Harold Parker's son.
The Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies consists of 96 hand-colored lantern slides and
autochrome lantern slides and 52 2 x 2 in. color transparencies
(copies of earlier hand-colored photographs), ca. 1900-1930, depicting, for the most part, unidentified houses, landscapes,
plants and gardens in and around Pasadena; the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena;
aerial views, presumably of Pasadena; mountain lakes and landscapes; desert landscapes and flora; the Grand Canyon, Pueblo
ruins, and the Petrified Forest; unidentified landscapes; and the aftermath of
the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Many of the unidentified landscape images may depict Lake Tahoe and its environs.
The collection does not contain any of Parker's Tournament of Roses photographs.
It is not known whether Harold Parker traveled to San Francisco after the earthquake, and thus the attribution of the transparencies
is questionable.
The images are arranged first by format into two series:
- Lantern slides and autochromes
- Color transparencies
Within each series, items are arranged by subject beginning with identifiable images of Pasadena followed by images of mountain
landscapes, desert landscapes, sites outside of California, and unidentified and miscellaneous images.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
- Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives (PhotCL 402)
- J. Allen Hawkins Collection (photCL 330)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Huntington Hotel (Pasadena, Calif.)--Photographs.
Grand Canyon (Ariz.)--Photographs.
Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs.
Petrified Forest National Park (Ariz.)--Photographs.
Architecture, Domestic--California--Pasadena--Photographs.
Bird's-eye views.
Desert plants--California--Photographs.
Deserts--Arizona--Photographs.
Deserts--California--Photographs.
Gardens--California--Photographs.
Gardens--California--Pasadena--Photographs.
Indians of North America--Antiquities--Photographs.
Lakes--Photographs.
Landscape--California--Photographs.
Mountain plants--Photographs.
Mountains--Photographs.
San Francisco Earthquake, Calif., 1906--Photographs.
Autochromes.
Color transparencies.
Lantern slides.
Photographs.