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Guide to the Santa Ana History Room Photograph Collection
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Title: Santa Ana History Room photograph collection,
Date (inclusive): 1863-2000
Date (bulk): (bulk ca. 1920-1970)
Collection number: Consult repository
Creator:
Santa Ana Public Library. Santa Ana History Room
Extent:
2,029 images
2,029 online items
Repository:
Santa Ana Public Library. Santa Ana History Room.
Santa Ana, California 92701
Abstract: The Santa Ana History Room photograph collection includes images of historical interest of the city of Santa Ana and other
areas of Orange County from the late 1800's to 2002. The images chronicle a wide variety of topics like agriculture, ethnic
heritage (notably Vietnamese Heritage in Little Saigon, and the Latino Heritage in Fourth Street), urban development, war
(such as the Company L photos, and world war I and II home front photos), industry (Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce collection),
as well as photos depicting historical architecture and art in Santa Ana. In addition to this there are photos of street
scenes in Santa Ana and Orange County, family life and leisure, the fire department, the schools and the public library.
Also included in the photograph collection are groups and family portraits of significant Orange County and Santa Ana residents
like politicians, artists, and pioneer families including the Ross family and the Spurgeon family; and annual events like
parades. Formats include aerial photographs. Of particular interest are a large group of photographs that are a part of
the Charles Swanner collection that depict earlier pioneer frontier life in 1870's Santa Ana, as well as photos that are part
of the W.P.A. collection that depict 1930's Depression era cultural and economic activities and artifacts in Orange County.
The collection contains a small number of cyanotypes from the turn of the century that are part of the Edna Dessery collection
as well as images scanned from slides that are part of the Elsa Edwards collection of historical buildings and more recent
images of 4th Street and Little Saigon that were taken using a digital camera.
Language:
English.
Collection open for research.
Copyright restrictions applying to use or reproduction of this image available from the Santa Ana Public Library.
Please use the following citation format for all items. Refer to a standard citation style, such as MLA, ALA, or Turabian,
when identifying the individual item: [Item]. [Item number]. Santa Ana Public Library, Santa Ana, California.
Digital images created by Santa Ana Public Library staff, 2001-2002. Original images donated from many sources.
Project Information: Santa Ana Digital Archive
The Santa Ana History Room digitization project was funded by a grant to the Santa Ana Public Library under the Library Systems
and Technology Act (LSTA), administered by the California State Library. The project commenced in October 2001 and ended
in September 2002. This project's intent was to create the foundation of a virtual collection of the photographs that are
part of the Santa Ana History Room's large photograph collection, the goal being to make it more accessible to the public,
while at the same time further conserving the photographs in the collection.
While originally planned as part of collaborative project with First American Title Insurance Company, this partnership was
not realized due to issues pertaining to the policies of First American Title. Hence, the project was solely undertaken by
staff of the Santa Ana History Room with the aid of a web consultant. The work of 2001-2002 resulted in conservation, photographic
documentation, digitization and cataloging of over 1,800 photographs in the Santa Ana History Room photo collection. Staff
from the History Room also took photographs of key ethnic communities in Santa Ana, namely the Latino community in Santa Ana
as seen on 4th Street, and the Vietnamese Community of Orange County in the area known as Little Saigon. These photographs
were taken using a digital camera.
A majority of the items had been stabilized and preserved by conservation staff in the Santa Ana Public Library in the 1980's,
therefore mostly description and digitization were carried out in the course of the project. Nevertheless, there was still
some conservation work done on items that were in the backlog, namely photographs that were part of the Chamber of Commerce
collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Santa Ana History Room photograph collection includes images of historical interest of the city of Santa Ana and other
areas of Orange County from the late 1800's to 2002. The images chronicle a wide variety of topics like agriculture, ethnic
heritage (notably Vietnamese Heritage in Little Saigon, and the Latino Heritage in Fourth Street), urban development, war
(such as the Company L photos, and world war I and II home front photos), industry (Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce collection),
as well as photos depicting historical architecture and art in Santa Ana. In addition to this there are photos of street
scenes in Santa Ana and Orange County, family life and leisure, the fire department, the schools and the public library.
Also included in the photograph collection are groups and family portraits of significant Orange County and Santa Ana residents
like politicians, artists, and pioneer families including the Ross family and the Spurgeon family; and annual events like
parades. Formats include aerial photographs. Of particular interest are a large group of photographs that are a part of
the Charles Swanner collection that depict earlier pioneer frontier life in 1870's Santa Ana, as well as photos that are part
of the W.P.A. collection that depict 1930's Depression era cultural and economic activities and artifacts in Orange County.
The collection contains a small number of cyanotypes from the turn of the century that are part of the Edna Dessery collection
as well as images scanned from slides that are part of the Elsa Edwards collection of historical buildings and more recent
images of 4th Street and Little Saigon that were taken using a digital camera.
Commercial photographers such as the Edward Cochems Photo Studio and the Baker Photo Studio took a majority of the photographs.
Most them include captions and dates. Items were selected form a wide range of photograph collections housed in the Santa
Ana History Room of the Santa Ana Public Library. Unpublished guides and card file indexes to individual photograph collections
from which items were selected are available at the Santa Ana History Room. All the photos that have been digitized are available
for viewing and are accessible via the Santa Ana Public Library online public access catalog. Consult the library for more
information.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Edwards, Elsa
Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce
Swanner, Charles Mrs.
Eley, Frederick, 1884-1979
Featherly, Cecil M.
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Santa Ana (Calif.)
Orange County (Calif.)
Adobe Houses--California--Santa Ana
Historic Buildings--California--Santa Ana
Banks--California--Santa Ana
City and town halls--California--Santa Ana
Courthouses--California--Santa Ana
Earthquakes--California
Parades & processions--California--Santa Ana
Schools--California--Santa Ana
Citrus fruit industry--California--Santa Ana
Postcards
Photographic postcards
Photographic prints
Aerial views
Slides
Santa Ana Digital Archive