Title:

Alfred Henry Jacobs San Francisco Zoo Photograph Albums, 1941-1942

Creator/Contributor:

Jacobs, Alfred Henry, 1882-1954, creator

The two bound volumes contain 251 gelatin silver prints of animals and exhibits at the San Francisco Zoological Gardens in 1941 and 1942. The zoo was built as part of a Works Progress Administration project in the 1930s and called the Herbert Fleishhaker Zoo until the name was changed on February 27, 1941, at the suggestion of Mr. Fleishhaker himself. These photographs were taken shortly thereafter. Both albums contain handwritten silver captions for many of the photos, often with humorous or informative notes about the subject or circumstances. Album 1: contains 146 photographs, with opening caption "This Book Is 'The Cats.'" Most of the photos are of tigers, lions, and leopards, and there are several photos of the baby leopards born on December 7, 1941, who are named Mac and Arthur. Other animals in the photographs include (per the captions) an ocelot and the "Malayan 'Sun Bear' presumably the only one born in captivity 4/22/42." 13 photographs depict zookeepers or handlers with the animals. Album 2: contains 105 photographs. These include elephants, polar and grizzly bears, pelicans, zebras, peacocks, kangaroos (with a baby kangaroo in the maternal pouch), and giraffes, including Zoobelle the giraffe. Nine photographs depict zookeepers or handlers with the animals.

Date:

1941 (issued)

Subject:

San Francisco Zoo (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works

San Francisco Zoo (San Francisco, Calif.) -- History -- Pictorial works

Zoos -- California -- San Francisco -- History -- Pictorial Works

Lions -- Pictorial works

Tigers -- Pictorial works

Kangaroos -- Pictorial works

Architects -- California -- San Francisco

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.

Alfred Henry Jacobs was born in San Francisco on January 29, 1882. He studied at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute and the University of California at Berkeley, earned a Master of Science degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1905, and then studied in Paris at Ecole des Beaux Arts. He moved back to San Francisco and in 1908, co-designed the Berkeley Tennis Club and married Lillian Wollenberg. He opened his own architecture practice in 1909 and over the next two decades designed several theaters and a variety of commercial and residential buildings in San Francisco, including his own family's home in San Francisco's Richmond District and the still-standing Curran Theater. Jacobs documented the construction of at least one of the projects, the Granada Theater, from groundbreaking to its opening. Although Jacobs was Jewish, he did not take on many projects related to the faith. He designed the religious school house for Congregation Emanu-El in 1910 and drew architectural sketches for the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum Memorial at the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma, California. His photography pursuits and architectural career converged when he designed a San Francisco house for famed American photographer Ansel Adams in 1929. In addition, Jacobs was also known for watercolor painting. His career continued on an upward trajectory until the mid-1930s when he stopped working, perhaps because of a heart condition. Except for during his schooling at MIT and in Paris, Jacobs lived his entire life in San Francisco and died on December 14, 1954. He is inurned in the Home of Peace Mausoleum in Colma. In 2004, Jacobs was the subject of an exhibit at the Western Jewish History Center at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley in 2004.

Alfred Henry Jacobs San Francisco Zoo Photograph Albums, 1941-1942 (SFP 70), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

The collection is in English.

All requests for permission to publish from the album must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Purchase.

Researchers are encouraged to see also the Alfred Henry Jacobs papers and photographs collection at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Type:

Photograph albums.

2 albums

English

Origin:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.

All requests for permission to publish from the album must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.