Historical Society of Southern California Collection -– Frank Rolfe Collection of Negatives and Photographs: Finding
Aid
Finding aid prepared by Sue Luftschein.
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
© April 2006
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Overview of the Collection
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.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
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
Historical Society of Southern California Collection – Frank Rolfe Collection of Negatives and Photographs. The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
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.
Processing Information
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.
Historical Note of HSSC
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.
Scope and Content
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.
Arrangement
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.
Index Terms
Persons:
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
Organizations:
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.
Places:
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.
Subjects:
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.
Document Types:
Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Portraits.
Cartes-de-visite.
Clippings.
Books.
Manuscripts.
Photographs and Photograph Albums
Box 1, Item 1-116
Los Angeles aqueduct survey photographs,
1906-1907
Physical Description: [1 photograph album and loose photographs.]
Note
[Includes fragment of an envelope addressed to Rolfe.]
Box 2, Item 117
"Pictorial History of the Aqueduct," text by Allen Kelly; photos by Bledsoe; compiled and produced by Times-Mirror Printing
and Binding House,
1913
Box 2, Item 118-271
Photograph album containing landscape views of Los Angeles and surrounding counties, and city views of Los Angeles,
1926-1928
Note
[Central Los Angeles; San Gabriel Valley; San Bernardino County; Riverside County; Kern County; and Yosemite.]
Negatives
Access
Advance arrangements for viewing the negatives must be made with the Curator of Photographs.
Box 3, Item 272-338
Los Angeles. Central Los Angeles and vicinity,
miscellaneous buildings,
1920-1932, undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[The wrecking of the Temple Block, the Amestoy Block, the Hall of Records, and Bunker Hill; West Adams; Houses where Rolfe
and his wife lived in the 1920s and 30s; Snowstorm of 1932; 1920 Inglewood earthquake.]
Box 3, Item 339-352
Hollywood and vicinity,
1926-1927
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[The Mulholland Dam and images of Brentwood and Bel Air.]
Box 3, Item 353-368
Santa Monica,
1903, 1926
Note
[The Santa Monica Mountains and Decker Canyon.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 3, Item 369-377
South Los Angeles County,
1926
Note
[Long Beach harbor; San Pedro; Palos Verdes.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 3, Item 378-400
Santa Catalina Island,
1901-1903
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 3, Item 401-436
North Los Angeles County,
1925-1926
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Pacoima Canyon; Tujunga; Big Tujunga Canyon; Placentia Canyon; the Saint Francis Dam and San Francisquito Canyon; Santa Clara
River; Antelope Valley; "Golden Spike" celebration at Lang.]
Box 3, Item 437-455
San Gabriel Valley,
1926
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[The San Gabriel Mountains; Devil's Gate Lake; San Gabriel River.]
Box 3, Item 456-495
Orange County,
1925-1926, 1930
Note
[Huntington Beach; Balboa Beach; Corona del Mar; Newport; Lake Arden; Santiago Canyon; Modjeska's home; San Juan Capistrano;
Trabuco Canyon; Puente hills; Santa Ana River; Santa Ana Canyon.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 3, Item 496-507
San Diego County,
1925-1926
Note
[San Luis Rey Mission; San Luis Rey Canyon; Henshaw Lake; Santa Margarita River; Santa Margarita Ranch.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 3, Item 508-594
San Bernardino County,
ca. 1903, 1925-1926, 1930-1931
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Mining camps, including Ivanpah and Camp Roach; Stateline Pass; Construction of the Ludlow and Southern Railway; Bagdad Chase
Mine and the Bagdad Mining and Milling Company.]
Box 3, Item 595-658
Riverside County,
1899, 1918, 1925-1927, 1931-1932
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Coldwater Canyon; Temescal Tin Mine, Temescal and the Temescal Valley; Ruins of the Rolfe house; Lake Elsinore; Hog Lake;
San Jacinto River; Mount San Jacinto; Idyllwild; Coachella Valley; Eagle Mountain.]
Box 4, Item 659-670
Ventura County,
1926, 1931
Note
[Mission San Buenaventura; Ojai; Creeks and canyons.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 671-683
Kern County,
1926, 1929-1930
Note
[The Kern River.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 684-689
Inyo County,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Lila C Mine; Ash Meadow; Devil's Hole.]
Box 4, Item 690-693
Yosemite,
1925
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 694-707
Northern California,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Stanford University; Susie Lake; Fallen Leaf Lake; Crescent City.]
Box 4, Item 708-713
Nevada,
c. 1903
Note
[Truckee River dam projects.]
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 714-718
Oregon,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 719-723
Washington,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 724-729
Utah,
1931
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 730-750
Glacier Park,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Box 4, Item 751-786
People,
[Negatives.]
undated
Note
[Frank Rolfe and his family and friends.]
Box 4, Item 787-832
Miscellaneous,
undated
Physical Description: [Negatives.]
Note
[Southeastern California desert views; Desert mining camps; Camp Stump Springs and ITR; Kenwood Heights tract; unidentified
images.]
Box 5, Item 833-859
Rolfe family portraits,
1949, 1959, undated
Ovid Rolfe photographs and ephemera
Box 5, Item 860, eph 1-2
Ovid Rolfe photo and ephemera, undated
Clippings and publications
Box 5, eph 3-7
Biographical sketches, undated
Box 5, eph 8-11
Clippings, undated
Physical Description: [Photocopies and originals.]
Box 6, eph 12-15
Diplomas,
1891, 1894, 1898, 1924
Box 8, eph 17-20
Negative books, 1905-1932
