The Swanlund-Baker Collection depicts a wide variety of everyday northwest California scenes and activities from the early twentieth century. Lumber industry, tanbark industry, flower nurseries, city and village street scenes, schools, portraits, parks, ships, shipbuilding, shipwrecks, and rivers are the featured subjects of this collection. The primary photographer represented is Ray Jerome Baker who lived in Humboldt County from 1904-1910. Images from this collection can be found at: http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/ /infoservices/humco/holdings/swanlund.htm 

Ray Jerome Baker (1880 - 1972) worked as a self-employed photographer in Humboldt County from 1904 until sometime in 1910. In that year Baker and his family, wife, Edith Frost Baker, and son, Earl Frost Baker, made Hawaii their permanent home. Baker continued as a professional photographer and became renowned for his documentary and promotional images of Hawaii. He retired from active photography and public speaking in 1959. His life story is told in two books: Odyssey Of A Cameraman and Hawaiian Yesteryears: Historical Photographs. He is the author of several additional books, principally about Hawaii. The Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii (www.bishop.hawaii.org) has an extensive collection of Baker's images. This biographical sketch will focus on what is known of his time in Humboldt County. Odyssey Of A Cameraman, p.9. Letter from Ray Jerome Baker to Mrs. Dorothy Fleckner

Copyright has not been assigned to the Humboldt State University Library. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Special Collections Librarian.

Collection is open for research.