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Avery E. Field photographs
MS 146
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Title: Avery E. Field photographs
Date (inclusive): circa 1880-1960, undated
Date (bulk): 1920-1940
Collection Number: MS 146
Creator:
Field, Gaylor
Creator:
Field, Avery E.
Extent:
29 linear feet
(50 boxes, 1 flat file folder)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: The Avery E. Field photographs contain several thousand images documenting the growth and development of Riverside, California
in the first half of the 20th century. A large portion of the collection is comprised of images featuring local residents
and their involvement in various events such as parades, celebrations, and weddings. The architectural history of the city
is also well documented as there are images of both residential and commercial buildings including approximately 1,000 images
of the Mission Inn. Portraits of local families, images of the region's geographic landscapes, and artwork are also contained
in this collection
Languages: English
.
This collection is open for research.
Copyright of these records has been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & University
Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of
Distinctive Collections.
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Avery E. Field photographs (MS 146). Special Collections & University Archives,
University of California, Riverside.
Purchased in 1980.
Processed by Julie Agnew, Special Collections Intern, 1993. Last updated by Eric Milenkiewicz, Manuscripts Curator, 2011.
Avery Edwin Field was the premier commercial photographer in Riverside for most of the first half of the twentieth century.
The name "Avery Field" was synonymous with photographic artistry and high technical quality for three generations of Riverside
residents. As the official photographer of the Mission Inn and a successful entrant in many prestigious salon exhibits, Field
also enjoyed a national and international reputation for photographic excellence.
Field was born in Sparta, Michigan, in 1883 and spent his childhood there. By 1900 he was an enthusiastic amateur photographer.
After graduating from the Illinois College of Photography in 1906 and serving a brief apprenticeship, Field opened his first
studio in Lowell, Michigan. He soon, however, became restless with small town business, sold his studio, and took a job in
Chicago. He also enrolled in Hillsdale College, where he took courses in drawing, composition, and art history.
Avery Field's first chance contact with Riverside came on Easter Sunday, 1909. He was taking a stroll in downtown Chicago
when he bumped into his California cousin, Gaylor Rouse, who had come back to Illinois for a family visit. Rouse lived in
Riverside, where he owned the little city's department store. Accompanying Rouse was a man named Frank Miller, builder and
"Master" of Riverside's famed Mission Inn. Miller had an infallible ability to spot exploitable talent. In the course of their
casual conversation, he urged Field to consider resettling in Riverside, where his hostelry was in need of a talented photographer.
One of Field's classmates at Hillsdale College was a painter named Charlotte Shephard, who became his wife in October, 1909.
The newlyweds embarked on an eight-month honeymoon trip, which included a stop in Riverside to visit the groom's cousin. Gaylor
Rouse arranged for the couple to meet with Frank Miller at the Mission Inn. Just as he had done some months before, Miller
urged Field to settle in Riverside and promised to provide studio space in a new addition he was soon to build to his Inn.
But the young couple was not yet ready for such a radical break with the past.
The Fields returned to their studies at Hillsdale and then opened a studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. However, Miller's blandishments,
and a persistent lung ailment made worse by Michigan's cold winters, soon won Avery Field over to the benefits of Riverside.
The Fields packed up their studio and moved to the naval orange capital during the latter half of 1909.
Unfortunately, by the time the Fields arrived, Miller was in no position to help them get established. The Master of the Inn
was heavily in debt. The Inn's Spanish Cloister Wing, then under construction, was proving to be a financial millstone. A
severe storm had struck while the Music Room was still unroofed, causing major structural damage and greatly delaying the
whole project.
So the Fields began life in Riverside very modestly. They were used to camping. During their lengthy honeymoon, they had tented
for a while in Northern Arizona, where they had learned to weave Indian blankets. They now set themselves up in a tent house
at the base of the Box Springs Mountains, near the springs. Charlotte Field painted while her husband took his camera equipment
into Riverside on a bicycle-built-for-two to do odd photographic jobs.
After several months, Miller was finally able to help the Fields obtain studio space on the third floor of the Loring Building,
across Main Street from the Mission Inn. They called their studio the Photocraft Shop. Even though he specialized in portraits,
Avery Field soon ran advertisements which offered a wide range of products and services. By 1917 he was providing not only
panoramic "Cirkut Camera" prints, but also lantern slides, "Autochrome" color transparencies, and photomural enlargements.
In addition, he was doing extensive micrographic photography for Riverside's Citrus Experiment Station. Charlotte Field, in
the meanwhile, advertised as an artist doing "portraits in oil and watercolors."
In 1920 the Fields sold their portrait business and moved their studio to a home in the 400 block of Lime Street. While at
that location they concentrated on etchings, pictorial views in black and white, and scientific and commercial camera work.
Finally, with the completion of the Rotunda Wing in 1933, Frank Miller was able to redeem his promise to provide Avery Field
with a studio at the Mission Inn. The space provided seemed well worth the wait. The large, elegant quarters on the third
floor of the Rotunda itself looked over the Oriental Court. This remained Field's studio until his retirement.
Avery Field was a full participant in the life of his adopted city. For many years he was involved with the Chamber of Commerce
and the Kiwanis Club and taught Sunday school at the First Congregational Church. But most of his "outside" activities involved
some aspect of photography. In the 1930s and 1940s he taught a class entitled "Photography and the Art of Seeing" at Poly
High School and at Riverside City College. He was active in a small local photography club called the Riverside Pictorialists
and served several terms on the board of directors of the Photographers' Association of America.
Field retired from business in 1952. His son, Gaylor, who had been assisting him since 1939, took over the studio and operated
it until 1978. By retirement, Field had become enamored with the desert and its photographic opportunities. He began spending
winters in the new community of Desert Hot Springs and also involved himself in the civic activities there. He died in Riverside
on October 31, 1955, a year after the death of his wife and artistic colleague, Charlotte Field.
{Biography from: Riverside City and County Public Library. (undated).
Panoramas From Our Past, 1914-1950: The "Cirkut" Camera Avery Edwin Field [Brochure]. Riverside, CA: Author unknown.}
| 1883: | Avery Edwin Field was born in Sparta, Michigan. |
| 1906: | Field graduated from the Illinois College of Photography. |
| 1909: | Field married Charlotte Shephard. |
| 1909: | Field, and his wife Charlotte, moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Riverside, California in October. |
| 1911: | Field opened the Photocraft Shop, a studio specializing in portraits, on Main Street in Riverside, California |
| 1920: | Field sold the Photocraft Shop and opened a studio on Lime Street in Riverside, California where he concentrated on etchings, pictorial views, and scientific/commercial camera work. |
| 1933: | Frank Miller provided Avery Field with a studio at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California. |
| 1952: | Field retired from business and his son Gaylor took over and operated the studio until 1978. |
| 1955: | Field died on October 31st in Riverside, California. |
The Avery E. Field photographs contain several thousand images documenting the growth and development of Riverside, California
in the first half of the 20th century. A large portion of the collection is comprised of images featuring local residents
and their involvement in various events such as parades, celebrations, and weddings. The architectural history of the city
is also well documented as there are images of both residential and commercial buildings including approximately 1,000 images
of the Mission Inn. Portraits of local families, images of the region's geographic landscapes, and artwork are also contained
in this collection.
A variety of media formats are contained in this collection including photographic prints/negatives, glass plate negatives,
lantern slides, and digital images.
The "Image Number" in Series 1 (Prints and negatives) is based on the original numbers assigned by the Avery E. Field Studios.
Gaps in the numbering are present.
Images denoted as "historical copy" refer to reprints of historical images from the personal collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gaylor
Field. These images are not the photographic work of Avery E. Field.
A select number of images from this collection have been digitized and are available online.
This collection is arranged into five series as follows:
- Series 1. Prints and negatives, circa 1880-1960, undated.
- Series 2. Glass plate negatives, circa 1880-1960, undated.
- Series 3. Lantern slides, circa 1880-1960, undated.
- Series 4. Panoramic prints and negatives, circa 1880-1960, undated.
- Series 5. Digital files and other material, circa 1880-1960, undated.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Mission Inn
Buildings
Persons
Riverside (Calif.)
Riverside County (Calif.)
Clichés-verre (negatives)
Lantern slides
Negatives (photographs)
Photographs