B.D. Jackson collection of negatives and photographs, 1903-1950s, bulk 1920s-1930s

Summary

Creators:

Jackson, B. D., 1850 or 1851-1937

Abstract:

The B.D. Jackson Collection of Negatives and Photographs consists of more than 4,800 photographs, glass plate negatives, and film negatives, as well related manuscript and ephemeral materials, created by Southern California photographer B.D. Jackson (ca. 1850-1937). The collection dates from 1903 to the 1950s (bulk 1920s-1930s) and provides a visual history of the growth of the San Gabriel Valley and Southern California's suburban communities, a survey of California and the West's notable landscapes, and an overview of Jackson's career as a landscape and scenic view photographer.

Extent:

35 Linear Feet (62 boxes)

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

B.D. Jackson collection of negatives and photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The B.D. Jackson Collection of Negatives and Photographs consists of 804 4 x 5 in. and 8 x 10 in. glass plate negatives, 1782 film negatives (including stereo negatives), 2302 black and white photographs (including stereos, postcards, and photograph albums), and related manuscript and ephemeral materials, 1903-1950s (bulk 1920s-1930s). The collection provides a visual history of the growth of the San Gabriel Valley and Southern California's suburban communities, a survey of notable landscapes of California and the American West, and an overview of Jackson's career as a landscape and scenic view photographer. The collection is complemented and supplemented by the Glendora Historical Society Collection of B.D. Jackson Photographs and Negatives (photCL 448), also in the Huntington's Photo Archives. Many of the negatives in the Jackson Collection exist in print form in the Glendora Collection, and many of the images in the Glendora Collection round out series in the Jackson Collection.

The first part of the collection concentrates on many of the San Gabriel Valley's growing communities and scenic landscapes. The photographs of Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Pasadena, South Pasadena, Altadena, Monrovia, Glendora, and San Dimas include views of public buildings, businesses, churches, residences, and schools. The Glendale images include many photographs of Glendale's business district and the Rossmoyne development. The La Canada images include photographs of the Jacob Lanterman House (Homewood), the Roy and Emily Lanterman House (El Retiro), El Nido (the residence of Lieutenant Governor A.J. Wallace), and Dryborough Hall. The Pasadena images include numerous photographs of Busch Gardens, the Colorado Street Bridge, and Tournament of Roses parades from the mid-1920s and 1935. The photographs of Glendora include numerous views of streets in downtown Glendora as well as photographs of Judge Charles Silent's home. Images of Mount Wilson and Mount Lowe include the Observatory, the incline railway, and the Mount Lowe Railway. Images of the San Gabriel Mountains depict Orchard Camp, Camp Oak Wilde, Camp Coldbrook, Angeles Crest Highway, Switzer's Camp, Ice House and Wolfskill Canyons, and Mint Canyon.

Other Southern California landscapes and scenic views include San Juan Capistrano and other missions; Avalon Harbor and the Hotel St. Catherine on Catalina Island; Hollywoodland, Bernheimer Gardens, Lake Hollywood, Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Dam, and Easter Services at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood; Sunset Canyon, Sylvan Crest Trail, oil wells, Echo Park, Griffith Park, and the Greek Theater in Los Angeles; Point Fermin in San Pedro; beaches and surf at Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Redondo Beach and Laguna Beach; Pacoima Canyon, Big Tujunga Canyon, Encino Country Club grounds, and the Santa Susanna Pass in the San Fernando Valley area; Palm Canyon in Riverside County; Ramona's Marriage Place, Mission Cliff Gardens, La Jolla, and Torrey Pines in San Diego County; Agua Dulce Canyon and Vasquez Rocks in Los Angeles County; and sunsets and sunrises taken from southern California beaches and mountains.

Jackson also ventured beyond the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County for landscape views, and these make up the bulk of the latter part of the collection. The collection contains numerous images of the San Bernardino Mountains including Big Bear Lake, Seven Oaks Camp, and Lake Arrowhead; Mount Baldy and the surrounding area, including Kelly's Camp, Camp Baldy, Mirror Lake, San Antonio Canyon, and San Antonio Falls; Yosemite National Park; scenic canyons, including Red Rock Canyon in Kern County and Painted Canyon in Riverside County; Lake Tahoe, Mount Whitney, Temple Crag, Mount Tallac, and the Devil's Postpile in the Sierra Nevada Mountains; Mount Shasta; redwoods in Sequoia National Park; Yellowsone; Crater Lake and Mount Hood in Oregon; and Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah.

Other scenic views depict images of ships, including the U.S.S. California, the steamer "Ruth Alexander," and a wrecked warship off Point Honda; the aftermath of the 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake, including many views of the Hotel Californian and the Santa Barbara Mission; dams, including the ruins of the St. Francis Dam, and the Boulder Dam; the 1918 San Jacinto Earthquake; the Montrose-La Crescenta flood of 1934; and the construction and completion of the Angeles Crest Highway.

Other images portray parade scenes (in Glendale, Burbank, and Azusa?); the 1925 National Orange Show in San Bernardino; rural and mountain roads (including views of the Ridge Route); unidentified individuals; Malibu Lake Mountain Drive; surf and beach scenes; residential interiors; and personal snapshots of B.D. and Cora Jackson on various trips, at home, and in front of Jackson's shop in Glendora.

The collections also contains sample stereo cards, used by Jackson to advertise this aspect of his business, and photograph albums that display many of his postcards and scenic photographs. Ephemeral materials include brochures and leaflets about Jackson's stereo views and the Angeles Crest Highway, and type blocks for two of his stereographs. Manuscript materials include correspondence regarding the printing of a client's stereo negatives. The collection also contains family photographs taken after Jackson's death, presumably by his stepdaughter, Ruth Green, and postcards of Gold Rush Country scenes, presumably collected by Cora Jackson or Ruth Green.

Biographical / historical:

Bradford "Dan" Jackson (ca. 1850/51-1937) was born in Sullivan, Ohio, around 1850. He began his career as a portrait photographer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1901, in search of a better climate, he moved with his wife, Cora, and his stepdaughter, Ruth, to Pomona, California, where he purchased a portrait studio. In addition to portrait work, he began photographing the surrounding towns, mountains, and beaches of Southern California. Jackson lived and worked at various times in Pomona, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Hollywood, La Canada, Glendora, La Crescenta, and Glendale, all of which figure in his work. Eventually he gave up the portrait aspect of the business and concentrated on landscape views for the production of stereographs and postcards. As he said, "Views don't talk back."

Jackson was one of the first photographers to document the construction and completion of the Angeles Crest Highway, and his images of the Montrose-La Crescenta flood of 1934 were used by Los Angeles County officials to document the drainage patterns of the mountains in that area.

Acquisition information:

Donated by Mrs. Ruth L. Green, 1966.

Processing information:

The collection was partially rehoused, arranged and numbered, and a preliminary Container List created, by Jane Apostol in the 1980s. In October-November 2006, Sue Luftschein completed the rehousing and arranging, and created this finding aid based, in part, on the original Container List.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged primarily by subject, and each subject has been assigned a "folder" number. The same folder number can span several physical folders. Copy and original prints, photograph albums, postcards and lantern slides are in boxes 1-16, manuscript material is in box 17, boxes 18-51 house glass plate negatives, and boxes 52-62 contain film negatives (and are housed in cold storage).

Physical / technical requirements:

RESTRICTED: Boxes 54-62: housed in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time required.

The majority of photographs are copy prints, unless otherwise noted. Most of the copy prints were made from glass plate negatives, unless otherwise noted. Film negatives are housed in cold storage. The majority of the film negatives are unprinted.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

The Huntington's Photograph Archives contains additional photographs that complement and supplement this collection. These additional photographs, created and collected by B.D. Jackson, his wife, Cora, and his stepdaughter, Ruth Green, form the Glendora Historical Society Collection of B.D. Jackson Photographs and Negatives, and contains similar and related subjects, photographic prints of many of the Jackson Collection's unprinted negatives, and photographs of Jackson and his extended family.

See also: Glendora Historical Society Collection of B.D. Jackson Photographs and Negatives (photCL 448)

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Animals -- California -- Photographs
Beaches -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Photographs
Beaches -- California -- Orange County -- Photographs
Business districts -- California -- Burbank -- Photographs
Business districts -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Business districts -- California -- Glendora -- Photographs
Business districts -- California -- Monrovia -- Photographs
Business districts -- California -- San Dimas -- Photographs
Cactus -- California -- Photographs
Campers (Persons)--California -- San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs
Canyons -- California -- San Gabriel Mountains (Calif.) -- Photographs
Canyons -- California -- Riverside County (Calif.) -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- Glendora -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- La Canada Flintridge -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- Monrovia -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Churches -- California -- San Dimas -- Photographs
Dams -- California -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Eagle Rock -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Glendora -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Hollywood -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- La Canada Flintridge -- Photographs
Dwellings -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Earthquakes -- California -- San Jacinto -- 1918 -- Photographs
Earthquakes -- California -- Santa Barbara -- 1925 -- Photographs
Floods -- California -- La Crescenta -- 1934 -- Photographs
Floods -- California -- Montrose -- 1934 -- Photographs
Flowers -- Photographs
Historic bridges -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Interiors -- California -- Eagle Rock -- Photographs
Library buildings -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Library buildings -- California -- Monrovia -- Photographs
Library buildings -- California -- South Pasadena -- Photographs
Mountain Roads -- California -- San Bernardino Mountains -- Photographs
Mountain Roads -- California -- San Gabriel Mountains -- Photographs
Oil wells -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs
Palms -- California -- Photographs
Parades -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Photographs
Parade floats -- California -- Los Angeles County -- Photographs
Parade floats -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Parks -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs
Public buildings -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Rural roads -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs
Rural roads -- California -- San Fernando Valley -- Photographs
Rural roads -- California -- San Gabriel Valley -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- Burbank -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- Eagle Rock -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- La Canada Flintridge -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- Monrovia -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- San Dimas -- Photographs
Schools -- California -- South Pasadena -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- Altadena -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- Burbank -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- Glendale -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- Hollywood -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- La Canada Flintridge -- Photographs
Streets -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs
Sun -- Rising and setting -- Photographs
Warships -- Photographs
Waterfalls -- California -- Photographs
Autochromes.
Black-and-white negatives
Lantern slides.
Leaflets.
Positives.
Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Postcards.
Stereographs.
Type (composition equipment)

Names:

Bernheimer Gardens (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs
Catalina Casino -- Photographs
Greek Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs
Lowe observatory (Calif.) -- Photographs
Mission Inn -- Photographs
Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Carmel, Calif.) -- Photographs
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel (San Gabriel, Calif.) -- Photographs
Mission San Juan Capistrano -- Photographs
Mount Lowe Railway -- Photographs
National Orange Show (1925 : San Bernardino, Calif.)
Pottenger Sanatorium for Diseases of the Lungs and Throat -- Photographs
Ramona's Marriage Place (San Diego, Calif.) -- Photographs
San Diego Mission -- Photographs
San Fernando, Rey de Espana (Mission : San Fernando, Calif.) -- Photographs
San Luis Rey Mission (Calif.) -- Photographs
Santa Barbara Mission -- Photographs
Santa Ines Mission (Solvang, Calif.) -- Photographs
Tournament of Roses -- Photographs
Jackson, Cora.
Lanterman, Jacob -- Homes and haunts -- Photographs
Lanterman, Roy -- Homes and haunts -- Photographs
Silent, Charles, Judge -- Homes and haunts -- Photographs
Wallace, Albert Joseph -- Homes and haunts -- Photographs
Wattles, Gurdon H.--Homes and haunts -- Photographs

Places:

Agua Dulce Region (Calif.)--Photographs
Altadena -- Photographs
American River (Calif.)--Photographs
Angeles Crest Highway (Calif.)--Photographs
Arroyo Seco (Calif.)--Photographs
Avalon (Calif.)--Photographs
Big Bear Lake (Calif.)--Photographs
Big Pines Camp (Calif.)--Photographs
Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)--Photographs
Burbank (Los Angeles County, Calif.)--Photographs
Busch Gardens (Pasadena, Calif.)--Photographs
Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico)--Photographs
Crater Lake National Park (Or.)--Photographs
Devil's Gate Dam (Los Angeles County)--Photographs
Devils Postpile National Monument (Calif.) --Photographs
Eagle Rock (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Echo Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Encino (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Glacier Point (Calif.)--Photographs
Glendale (Calif.)--Photographs
Glendora (Calif.)--Photographs
Griffith Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Hollenbeck Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Hood, Mount (Or.)--Photographs
Hoover Dam (Ariz. and Nev.)--Photographs
Ice House Canyon (Calif.)--Photographs
La Canada Flintridge (Calif.)--Photographs
La Crescenta (Calif.) --Photographs
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.)--Photographs
Laguna Beach (Calif.)--Photographs
Lake Arrowhead (Calif.)--Photographs
Lassen County (Calif.)--Photographs
Lincoln Highway -- Photographs
Little Bear Lake (Calif.)--Photographs
Los Angeles (Calif.)--Photographs
Lowe, Mount (Los Angeles County, Calif.)--Photographs
Mecca Hills Wilderness (Calif.)--Photographs
Merced River (Calif.)--Photographs
Mint Canyon (Calif.)--Photographs
Mission Cliff Gardens (San Diego, Calif.)--Photographs
Monrovia (Calif.)--Photographs
Montrose (Calif.)--Photographs
Mount Baldy (Calif.)--Photographs
Mount Rainier National Park (Wash.)--Photographs
Mount Rubidoux (Calif.)--Photographs
Mulholland Dam (Hollywood, Calif.)--Photographs
Ocean Park (Calif.)--Photographs
Oregon -- Photographs
Palisade Glacier (Calif.)--Photographs
Palm Canyon (Palm Springs, Calif.)--Photographs
Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs
Point Fermin (Calif.)--Photographs
Pomona (Calif.)--Photographs
Red Rock Canyon State Park (Calif.)--Photographs
Redlands (Calif.)--Photographs
Redondo Beach (Calif.)--Photographs
Ridge Route (Calif.)--Photographs
Riverside County (Calif.)--Photographs
Saint Francis Dam (Calif.)--Photographs
San Bernardino Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs
San Diego County (Calif.)--Photographs
San Dimas (Calif.)--Photographs
San Fernando Valley (Calif.)--Photographs
San Gabriel Canyon (Calif.)--Photographs
Santa Barbara (Calif.)--Photographs
Santa Catalina Island (Calif.)--Photographs
Santa Monica (Calif.)--Photographs
Santa Monica Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs
Sequoia National Park (Calif.)--Photographs
Shasta, Mount (Calif. : Mountain)--Photographs
Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.)--Photographs
South Pasadena (Calif.)--Photographs
Sun Valley (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Sunland (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Tahoe, Lake (Calif. and Nev.)--Photographs
Topanga (Calif.)--Photographs
Torrey Pines State Reserve (Calif.)--Photographs
Tujunga (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Utah -- Photographs
Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park (Calif.)--Photographs
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Photographs
Verdugo Mountains (Calif.)--Photographs
Whitney, Mount (Calif.)--Photographs
Wildwood Canyon (Calif.)--Photographs
Wilson, Mount (Calif.)--Photographs
Wolfskill Canyon (Calif.)--Photographs
Yellowstone National Park -- Photographs
Yosemite National Park (Calif.)--Photographs
Zion National Park (Utah)--Photographs

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

B.D. Jackson collection of negatives and photographs. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Photo Archives Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2129

reference@huntington.org

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