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Finding aid to Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California, 1890
BANC PIC 1976.033--fALB  
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Collection Details
 
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  • Collection Summary
  • Information for Researchers
  • Administrative Information
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content

  • Collection Summary

    Collection Title: Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California
    Date: 1890
    Collection Number: BANC PIC 1976.033--fALB
    Photographer: Désiré Fricot
    Extent: 43 photographic albumen prints, 20 x 25 cm.; mounted and bound in album, 26 x 31 cm. 43 digital objects
    Repository: The Bancroft Library.
    University of California, Berkeley
    Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
    Phone: (510) 642-6481
    Fax: (510) 642-7589
    Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
    URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
    Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English

    Information for Researchers

    Access

    Collection stored off-site. Advance notice required for use.

    Publication Rights

    Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
    All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California, BANC PIC 1976.033--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

    Digital Representations Available

    Digital representations of selected original pictorial materials are available in the list of materials below. Digital image files were prepared from selected Library originals by the Library Photographic Service. Library originals were copied onto 35mm color transparency film; the film was scanned and transferred to Kodak Photo CD (by Custom Process); and the Photo CD files were color-corrected and saved in JFIF (JPEG) format for use as viewing files.

    Related Collections

    Title: Grass Valley and Vicinity, Taken by D. Fricot
    Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1976.034 -- PIC
    Title: Album of Photographs of Hawaii
    Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1976.032 -- fALB
    Title: Berton & Co. Records, 1904-1934
    Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 70/7 c

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
    California Heritage Project. CU-BANC
    Online Archive of California.
    Calaveras Big Trees State Park (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Calaveras County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Giant sequoia -- Photographs.
    Gold mines and mining -- California -- Calaveras County -- Photographs.
    Mariposa County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Mariposa Grove (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Mines and mineral resources -- California -- Photographs.
    Mining districts -- California -- Photographs.
    Murphys (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    San Andreas (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Sheep Ranch (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.
    Yosemite Valley (Calif.) -- Pictorial works.

    Administrative Information

    Acquisition Information

    The Views of Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California album was purchased in 1976.

    Biography

    Désiré Fricot (1868-1940) was the son of Jules Nicolas Fricot, a french émigré who became a California mining pioneer. Part of a larger community of French prospectors, the Fricot family owned and operated a number of mines in the Grass Valley and Nevada City areas of Nevada County, as well as in Calaveras County. They also owned real estate in San Francisco, and were apparently active in French diplomatic and consular activities in California and Hawaii.
    In addition to mining, Désiré Fricot was also a translator of French language documents into English. In 1940, the California Historical Society published his translation of and introduction to André Chavanne's The Burning of the Golden Gate in July 1862. The Impressions of a Survivor, André Chavanne (in California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 19, no.1, pp. 27-42), an account of the steamship Golden Gate. In 1944, the same organization published his California Unveiled: A Translation of Treny's La Californie Dévoilée (reprinted from The California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 4, December 1943, and vol. 23, no. 1, March 1944).

    Scope and Content

    The Views of Calaveras and Mairposa Counties, Calif. album contains 43 albumn prints taken in 1890 by Désiré Fricot. The album features many scenic views of the forest land of the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, as well as various other subjects, some of which are related to the Fricot family's mining interests. Calaveras County points of interest pictured in the album include the San Antonio Creek, Colwell Creek, and Hobe Ide's Ditch areas of Sheepranch (written as "Sheep Ranch" in the captions); Murphy's; San Andreas; the timber land of W.H. Clary; the Sheep Ranch Mine of J.B. Haggin; the residence and hoisting works of André Chavanne; the Columbus Mine of Jules Fricot (Désiré's father); and the Big Trees area of the county, including photographs of the "Mother of the Forest" and "Pioneer's Cabin" trees, and a dancing hall constructed atop the stump of a giant tree. Mariposa County points of interest include views of the Yosemite Valley; the town of Wawona; and the "Wawona" and "Grizzly Giant" big trees.
    Individuals identified in the collection include Peter Davis, resident of Sheepranch, and Judge C.V. Gottschalk of San Andreas. Also pictured is an unidentified Native American. Appearing in several prints is a man likely to be Désiré Fricot.
    The prints, most of them numbered, are mounted to the numbered album leaves. One leaf --between prints No. 8 and No. 11 --appears to be lacking. Manuscript captions appear on the mounts beneath the prints and, occasionally, adjacent to the leaf numbers. Affixed to both the spine and front cover of the album are labels reading, "Calaveras Co. & Yosemite Valley." The inside front cover bears the inscription, "Taken 1890 by D. Fricot." A title page bears the inscription, "A monsieur le juge C.V. Gottschalk, Souvenir respectueux et amical, San Francisco 13 Octobre 1890. D. Fricot."