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Finding Aid to the Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Photographs, circa
1850-circa 1990
BANC PIC
1999.001--PIC
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family photographs
Date (inclusive): circa 1850-circa 1990
Collection Number: BANC PIC
1999.001--PIC
Collector:
Brower, Robert Weldon
Extent:
Number of containers: 8 boxes (11 albums, circa 2,800 photographic prints),
4 albums (circa 500 photographic prints), 8 oversize folders, 1 box (62
negatives), 60 negatives, and 1 box (3 ambrotypes) : chiefly b&w ;
various sizes.
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Photographs collection
contains approximately 3,500 items, mostly photographs, dating from ca. 1850-ca.
1990. The collection pictures several generations of the Bolton, Wilder, and Brower
families, who settled in various regions of the San Francisco Bay Area from the
mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored
offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the
location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.
RESTRICTED NEGATIVES. Use of negatives only by permission of the appropriate
curator. Inquiries regarding these materials should be directed, in writing, to
the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
RESTRICTED AMBROTYPES. Use of ambrotypes only by permission of the appropriate
curator. Inquiries regarding these materials should be directed, in writing, to
the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
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 .
[Identification of item], Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Photographs, BANC PIC
1999.001--PIC, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Papers (BANC MSS 2003/104 cz)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Bolton, Herbert Eugene,
1870-1953--Family--Pictorial works
Brower,
Marcus--Family--Pictorial works
Wilder, Alphonso
Eli--Family--Pictorial works
Wilder family--Pictorial
works
Pioneers--California--Los
Gatos--Photographs
Dams--California--Amador
County--Photographs
San Jose
(Calif.)--Pictorial works
Los Gatos
(Calif.)--Pictorial works
San Joaquin River
(Calif.)--Pictorial works
Jackson
(Calif.)--Pictorial works
Amador County
(Calif.)--Pictorial works
Bear River (Amador
County, Calif.)--Pictorial works
Photograph albums
The Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Photographs were received as a gift from Robert
Weldon Brower in 1998.
Additions to the collection, received in 2000, were transferred from the Bolton
family papers (BANC MSS C-B 841).
The albums are arranged chronologically by families — Wilder-Brower,
then Bolton. The additional non-album material is arranged separately in the
same manner and placed in folders.
Some of the albums originally contained loose items. To prevent their loss or
misplacement, these items have been separated from the albums, foldered, and
shelved among the albums in the PIC boxes.
Additions are arranged in general family and subject groupings as received.
Processed by Chris McDonald in 1999 and 2010.
Herbert Eugene Bolton was born on the family farm in Wilton Township, Monroe
County, Wisconsin on July 20, 1870. The family later moved to nearby Tomah.
After teaching at various local rural schools, Bolton attended the State
University of Wisconsin where he studied under historian Frederick Jackson
Turner and received a Bachelor of Letters degree in 1895. He then attended the
University of Pennsylvania, where - under the guidance of John Bach MacMaster -
he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in history in 1899. In 1901, Bolton
became an instructor at the University of Texas and soon developed an interest
in the history of the Spanish Southwest, an era which until then was
little-studied by American historians. In 1909, Bolton accepted a position at
Stanford University, but was soon lured to the University of California,
Berkeley and its recently acquired library of Hubert Howe Bancroft. In 1911,
Bolton began his professorship at Berkeley, where he would teach for the
remainder of his career. Specializing in the history of Spanish colonial North
America, Bolton became one of the most pioneering and distinguished American
historians of his time. A prolific writer and field researcher, Bolton was also
a devoted mentor to countless students, many of whom became prominent historians
themselves. During his tenure at U.C. Berkeley, Bolton was Director of The
Bancroft Library (1916-1940), Chairman of the Department of History (1919-1940),
and Sather Professor of History (1931-1940). Bolton retired in 1944.
Bolton married Gertrude Janes in 1895. The Boltons had six daughters - Frances,
Helen, Laura, Eugenie, Gertrude, and Jane - and a son, Herbert, Jr. Herbert E.
Bolton died in Berkeley on January 30, 1953.
Marcus Theodore Brower was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1871. His family
later moved to San Jose, California, where his father, Theodore Marcus Brower,
established a print shop. After learning the print trade from his father, Marcus
opened his own printing firm, Marcus Brower & Co., in San Francisco in
1912.
In 1898, Marcus married Gertrude Wilder, daughter of Alphonso Eli Wilder, one of
the early founders of Los Gatos, California. Marcus and Gertrude had one child,
Theodore Wilder Brower, born in 1900. Moving to Berkeley shortly before World
War I, Marcus Brower lived there until his death on November 22, 1959.
Robert Weldon ("Bob") Brower was born in Berkeley, California in 1921. The son of
Laura Bolton Brower and Theodore Wilder Brower, Bob graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley in 1943 and worked for the California Ink
Company. He is now retired.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Bolton-Wilder-Brower Family Photographs collection contains approximately 3,500
items, mostly photographs, dating from ca. 1850-ca. 1990. The collection pictures
several generations of the Bolton, Wilder, and Brower families, who settled in
various regions of the San Francisco Bay Area from the mid-nineteenth to the early
twentieth century. Especially prominent in the collection are the immediate families
of Herbert E. and Gertrude Janes Bolton, and Marcus and Gertrude Wilder Brower, as
well as that of their grandson Robert Weldon Brower, who compiled the collection.
Among the locations featured in the collection are various areas of Berkeley -
including many Bolton and Brower residences, and the University of California - as
well as family homes in San Jose and Los Gatos. The majority of the photographs are
snapshots taken by various relatives or friends of those pictured. Many of the
captions provided throughout the collection were supplied by Robert Weldon Brower.
The bulk of the material is contained in 15 albums. The collection also contains
postcards, negatives, and various ephemera. Manuscripts and other non-pictorial
material form a separate related collection, BANC MSS 2003/104 cz.
Many albums which were in a fragile, deteriorating, or otherwise at-risk condition
were disassembled and rehoused in order to ensure the preservation of their
contents. These are all shelved in boxes in the --PIC location. Four albums are
stored in phase boxes and shelved in the --ALB location.
Some of the albums in the collection originally contained self-adhesive note slips
affixed throughout their pages to identify various individuals and locations
pictured in the albums. Because the adhesive of such products is potentially
damaging to photographic material, these note slips were removed. In order to retain
the information contained in the notes, the album pages were photocopied prior to
the removal of the slips. The photocopies are foldered and shelved among the albums
in PIC Box 4.
Numerous unidentified individuals pictured in the collection are not included in the
following listing. All locations listed are in California unless otherwise stated.
Contents descriptions include references to related material – such as
negatives, photocopies, or loose items – located elsewhere in the
collection.
All individuals are, wherever possible, referred to by their proper names as opposed
to their common names or nicknames. "Ted" Brower, for example, will be listed as
"Theodore Wilder Brower." Middle names are often inserted to distinguish between
individuals who had the same first and last names. Wherever possible, women are
referred to by their maiden and, if applicable, married names (e.g. "Laura Bolton
Brower"), regardless of when they were photographed.