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Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies: Finding Aid
photLS 402  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Overview of the Collection
  • Access
  • Administrative Information
  • Biographical/Historical Note
  • Scope and Contents
  • Arrangement
  • Related Materials in the Huntington Library
  • Index Terms

  • Overview of the Collection

    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.

    Access

    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.  

    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], Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Lantern Slides and Transparencies, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Provenance

    Gift of Roy Dickson in 1999.

    Processing Information

    The collection was numbered and rehoused by Sue Luftschein in August 2006. This finding aid was created by Sue Luftschein in August 2006.

    Biographical/Historical Note

    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.

    Scope and Contents

    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.

    Arrangement

    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

    Index Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

    Places:

    Huntington Hotel (Pasadena, Calif.)--Photographs.
    Grand Canyon (Ariz.)--Photographs.
    Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs.
    Petrified Forest National Park (Ariz.)--Photographs.

    Subjects:

    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.

    Document Types:

    Autochromes.
    Color transparencies.
    Lantern slides.
    Photographs.