Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Historical Society of Southern California Collection -– Frank Rolfe Collection of Negatives and Photographs: Finding
Aid
photCL 400 volume 12
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Historical Society of Southern California Collection – Frank Rolfe Collection of Negatives and Photographs
Dates (inclusive): 1899-1959
Bulk dates: 1905-1907, 1925-1932
Collection Number: photCL 400 volume 12
Creator:
Rolfe, Frank, 1874-
Extent:
8 boxes
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 Rolfe collection consists of 325 photographs (the majority of which are housed in two photograph albums), 574 negatives,
one book, and ephemera, created and collected by
Los Angeles civil engineer and local history enthusiast Frank Rolfe between 1899 and 1959 that depict locations throughout
California and the Western United States. Many of these were locations where
Rolfe worked on various surveys, including the Los Angeles aqueduct survey. The collection comprised on portion of the Historical
Society of Southern California Collection, donated to the Huntington
Library in 1992.
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.
Historical Society of Southern California Collection – Frank Rolfe Collection of Negatives and Photographs. The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Donated to the Huntington Library by the Historical Society of Southern California, 1992.
The collection, identified by Huntington Library catalogers as "Volume 12," was received as part of the Historical Society
of Southern California Collection.
Prior to 2006, volunteers rehoused the negatives and the majority of the photographs. In March 2006, Sue Luftschein completed
the rehousing and created this finding aid. Some items have been photocopied for preservation purposes.
Related materials in the Huntington Library
The sub-collections of the Historical Society of Southern California Collection (photCL 400) are
individually cataloged in the
Huntington Online Catalog.
Biographical and Historical Notes
Biographical Note of Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe was born in Gold Hill, Nevada, in 1874, where his father was working as a miner on the Comstock Lode. In 1881,
the family settled on a ranch in the Temescal Valley in Riverside County, California,
near what is now Corona,
and in 1890, in order to further her children's education, Rolfe's mother moved herself and the children to Los Angeles; they
spent winters in the city and summers on the family ranch.
Rolfe graduated from Los Angeles High
School in 1894, and earned a degree in geology from Stanford University in 1898. He worked on the Los Angeles aqueduct survey,
and possibly on the construction of the Ludlow and
Southern Railway. He was a long-time member
of the Historical Society of Southern California, and authored articles on California history and geology that appeared in
Historical Society publications and the
Los Angeles Times
in the 1930s; he was also the author of
Commercial Geography of southern California, published by Biola Press, c.1915. Rolfe died in January 1967.
Founded in 1883, the Historical Society of Southern California (HSSC) is the oldest historical society in California. As part
of its mission to collect and preserve Southern California's history,
the HSSC amassed a photo archive over many decades. The HSSC shifted its emphasis to programs and publications in the 1980s
and, in 1992, the organization donated its photo archive to The Huntington Library.
The Historical Society of Southern California Collection contains approximately 15,000 photographs and negatives focused on
Southern California from approximately 1870 to 1980. As such, it is an
important visual record of the growth and history of the region. The collection represents a variety of donations made to
the Society over many years. It is organized into discrete sub-collections
(each with a unique "volume" number) within the overall collection, which is identified by call number photCL 400.
The Rolfe collection consists of 325 photographs (the majority of which are housed in two photograph albums), 574 negatives,
one book, and ephemera, created and collected by Los Angeles civil
engineer and local history enthusiast Frank Rolfe between 1899 and 1959 that depict locations throughout California and the
Western United States. Many of these were locations where Rolfe
worked on various surveys, including the Los Angeles aqueduct survey.
The majority of the photographs appear to have been taken by Rolfe, but there are a few, in the photograph album in Box 2,
credited to Charles J. Prudhomme.
The collection begins with Rolfe's photographs of the initial Los Angeles aqueduct survey, the majority of which are housed
in an album. These photographs depict Owens Valley and Black Rock Springs.
The collection also contains a published work on the aqueduct.
A second album contains photographs taken primarily by Rolfe; these are photographs of Los Angeles (central Los Angeles and
neighborhoods where Rolfe and his wife lived); the San Gabriel Valley and
other locations in Los Angeles County (Devil's Gate Dam, the San Gabriel Mountains, the St. Francis Dam and San Francisquito
Canyon); San Bernardino County (the San Bernardino Mountains, Big Bear Lake);
Riverside County (the Coachella Valley, Tahquitz Canyon, the Temescal Valley, Riverside, the San Jacinto Mountains); Kern
County; and commercially produced images of Yosemite.
Boxes 3 and 4 contain negatives depicting street scenes in central Los Angeles, including the wrecking of the Temple Block,
the Amestoy Block, the Hall of Records, and Bunker Hill. Also
included are views of the West Adams neighborhood; houses where Rolfe and his wife lived in the 1920s and 30s; the snowstorm
of 1932; and the 1920 Inglewood earthquake. The collection
also includes images of Hollywood and vicinity (including a number of photographs of the Mulholland Dam and images of Brentwood
and Bel Air); Santa Monica (including the Santa Monica
Mountains and Decker Canyon); Santa Catalina Island; north Los Angeles County (including the San Fernando and Santa Clarita
valleys, the ruins of the Saint Francis Dam and San Francisquito
Canyon, and the "golden spike" celebration at Lang); the San Gabriel Valley (including many views of the San Gabriel Mountains);
Orange County (including Modjeska's home, Santiago Canyon,
San Juan Capistrano, the Puente hills, and Santa Ana Canyon); San Diego County; San Bernardino County (including a number
of photographs of mining camps, including Ivanpah and Camp Roach;
construction of the Ludlow and Southern Railway; and mining operations, such as the Bagdad Chase Mine and the Bagdad Mining
and Milling Company); Riverside County (including the Temescal
Tin Mine, Temescal and the Temescal Valley, Hog Lake, the San Jacinto River, Mount San Jacinto, and Idyllwild); Ventura County;
Kern County (images of the Kern River); Inyo County; Yosemite;
northern California (including Stanford University and Susie Lake); Nevada (Truckee River dam projects); Oregon; Washington;
Utah; Glacier Park, Montana; people (Rolfe, his family and friends);
and miscellaneous photographs (a number of desert views, mostly Southern California).
The collection also contains commercial photographs of the Rolfe family, many in carte-de-visite format. These were produced
by California photographers Bradley and Rulofson, Ellis and Son,
Frank G. Schumacher, George Steckel, Carleton Watkins, Michael A. Wesner, and James D. Westervelt, as well as A.J. Beals and
Sutterly and Company (Nevada), A.F. Burnham (Faribault, Minnesota),
E. Balch (New York City), Charles C. Hartwell (Maine), and Hart's Arcade Photographic Gallery (Watertown, NY).
The ephemerial materials consist of a letter written in 1862 from Sutter Creek by Rolfe's father Ovid to his brother Alfred
in Dorchester, Massachusetts; biographical sketches of
members of the Rolfe family; clippings compiled by Rolfe; Rolfe's high school and college diplomas; card files on Rolfe family
history, covered wagons in Los Angeles, and Temescal
history; and negative books.
Some photographs exist in duplicate. The majority of the negatives are unprinted. Some negatives have deteriorated or are
damaged. Original negatives exist for 15 of the photographs
in the second album; 2 copy negatives exist of photographs in the first album.
The collection begins with the two photograph albums. These are followed by the negatives, which are arranged in geographic
order, beginning with Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
Rolfe family photographs and the ephemeral materials can be found at the end of the collection.
The negatives were originally housed in negative books; these contain itemized lists of Rolfe's original notations and can
be found in Box 8.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Balch, E., photographer.
Beals, A. J., b. ca. 1821
Burnham, A. F., photographer.
Hartwell, Charles C., photographer.
Prudhomme, Charles J., 1854-1934.
Schumacher, Frank G., b. 1861
Steckel, Geo. (George), b. 1864
Watkins, Carleton E., 1829-1916.
Wesner, Michael A., photographer.
Westervelt, James D., b. 1844
Bagdad Mining and Milling Co. (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Bradley and Rulofson.
Ellis and Son (Los Angeles, Calif.), photographer.
Hart's Arcade Photographic Gallery (Watertown, N.Y.), photographer.
Ludlow and Southern Railway -- Photographs.
Mission San Juan Capistrano -- Photographs.
Stanford University -- Photographs.
Sutterly and Co. (Virginia City, Nev.), photographers.
Bel Air (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Big Bear Lake (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Black Rock Springs (Humboldt County, Nev.) -- Photographs.
Brentwood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Bunker Hill (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Camp Roach (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Coachella Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Decker Canyon (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Devil's Gate Dam (Pasadena, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Glacier National Park (Mont.) -- Photographs.
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Idyllwild (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Inyo County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Ivanpah (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Kern County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Kern River (Calif.) -- Photographs.
La Puente (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles aqueduct (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Modjeska Ranch (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Mulholland Dam (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Orange County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Oregon -- Photographs.
Owens Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Riverside (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Riverside County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Saint Francis Dam (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Bernardino County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Bernardino Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Diego County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Fernando Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Francisquito Canyon (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel River Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Jacinto Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Jacinto Peak (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Jacinto River (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Ana Canyon (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Catalina Island (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Clarita Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Monica (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Monica Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santiago Canyon (Orange County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Susie Lake (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Tahquitz Canyon (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Temescal Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Truckee River Watershed (Calif. and Nev.) -- Photographs.
Utah -- Photographs.
Ventura County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Washington (State) -- Photographs.
West Adams (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Cityscapes -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Earthquakes -- California -- Photographs.
Inglewood Earthquake, Calif., 1920 -- Photographs.
Mines -- California -- Bagdad -- Photographs.
Surveying -- California -- Photographs.
Winter storms -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Portraits.
Cartes-de-visite.
Clippings.
Books.
Manuscripts.