Visual Materials
Howard W. Wright Family Collection of Photographs
You might also be interested in
Image not available
Series II. Photograph albums
Visual Materials
This collection contains approximately 1520 photographs in 11 volumes, comprising four journal accounts written by Walter Savage Wright from 1899-1901 and 7 photograph albums compiled by Walter S. Wright and his son, Howard Walter Wright. The journal accounts contain approximately 210 photographs and the photograph albums approximately 1310 photographs, dating from approximately 1878-1930, chiefly 1896-1917. The photographers are chiefly unidentified, though it is assumed that most were taken by members of the Wright family, chiefly Walter S. Wright and Howard Walter Wright; some photographs were taken by commercial photographers. The journal accounts concern the Wrights' family life in Pasadena; Walter S. Wright's journeys to Sonora, Mexico, with business partners to secure a railroad concession for the Los Pintos Mines; and a cruise taken by the Wright family to the Channel Islands in 1899, so that son Howard W. Wright could engage in bird collecting and photography. The photograph albums depict the Wrights' life and residence in Pasadena; the family's travels to Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Catalina Island, and other areas of California; trips to the Channel Islands, Mexico, and other destinations; Howard W. Wright's years as a student at Stanford University (1911-1915) and his tours in Japan, China, and the Philippines during his service in the Navy during World War I.
photCL 222
Image not available
Series I. Journals
Visual Materials
This collection contains approximately 1520 photographs in 11 volumes, comprising four journal accounts written by Walter Savage Wright from 1899-1901 and 7 photograph albums compiled by Walter S. Wright and his son, Howard Walter Wright. The journal accounts contain approximately 210 photographs and the photograph albums approximately 1310 photographs, dating from approximately 1878-1930, chiefly 1896-1917. The photographers are chiefly unidentified, though it is assumed that most were taken by members of the Wright family, chiefly Walter S. Wright and Howard Walter Wright; some photographs were taken by commercial photographers. The journal accounts concern the Wrights' family life in Pasadena; Walter S. Wright's journeys to Sonora, Mexico, with business partners to secure a railroad concession for the Los Pintos Mines; and a cruise taken by the Wright family to the Channel Islands in 1899, so that son Howard W. Wright could engage in bird collecting and photography. The photograph albums depict the Wrights' life and residence in Pasadena; the family's travels to Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Catalina Island, and other areas of California; trips to the Channel Islands, Mexico, and other destinations; Howard W. Wright's years as a student at Stanford University (1911-1915) and his tours in Japan, China, and the Philippines during his service in the Navy during World War I.
photCL 222
Image not available
Subseries A. The Wrights in 1899
Visual Materials
This volume describes a vacation taken by the Wright family and friends on Santa Catalina Island, where they stayed at a friend's cottage. Photographs depict the steamer on which the family traveled, the S. S. Hermosa; birds-eye views of Avalon Bay; interior and exterior views of the cottage; beach scenes and fishing trips; people including Walter S., Bernice, Howard, Catherine, and Adaline Wright and friends; Sugar Loaf; camping excursions, including a trip by Howard W. Wright with a group to Eagles' Nest Canyon; and Howard and Adaline Wright in a cave. The volume also includes a photograph of Walter S. Wright at work in his study and a few photographs of family trips to Santa Anita Canyon and Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains; some of the photographs were taken by commercial photographers. Additionally, at the end of the volume is a two-page letter from a young Howard to Walter S. Wright describing a trip collecting birds' eggs and a children's drawing by an unidentified person.
photCL 222
Image not available
Subseries G. Miscellaneous photographs
Visual Materials
Photographs depict a fire in Avalon in November, 1915, including views of destruction in the city and of the Hotel Metropole before and after its chimneys were destroyed; images of destruction of the Lincoln Kindergarten and of Howard W. Wright's garage from a storm described by the caption as the "Pasadena Cyclone of 1917"; a portrait of Throop High School's class of 1910, with a listing of the students, including Howard W. Wright; and reproductions of images of Avalon from September 1888 and between 1894-1896 and of San Pedro from approximately 1878, taken by J. B. Banning, Senior. Some of the prints are reproductions of photographs owned by Hancock Banning, Junior, who wrote extensive captions on versos detailing the history of the areas depicted and describing the contents of the images.
photCL 222
Image not available
Subseries A. The Wright Family: Home and Travels
Visual Materials
Photographs depict the Wright family home on North Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena; winter and summer views of Mount Wilson, including images of members of the Wright family and of Charles Dewey, Mrs. William R. Staats, James H. Holmes, W. L. Wotkynes, members of the Bart Club, and others; trips to Avalon Bay and the city of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, with images of fish drying on racks, children dressing up as Indians, and people on boats, including the Seabird and other yachts; a pack trip on Santa Catalina Island in 1900; birds and bird collecting, including during the Wright family's trip to the Channel Islands in 1909; the Tournament of Roses in 1906; a tour of Mexico in 1907 including Puebla, Oaxaca, Ocatlan, and Mitla, with images of markets and street scenes; journeys on the Seabird to San Clemente Island in 1908 and to the Coronados Islands in Mexico in 1908 and 1910, with images of birds, boats, and seascapes; the Catalina Island race in 1910; and a pack trip to the High Sierras. Photographs also include depictions of Haley's Comet, taken with a telephoto lens; Andrew Carnegie and Dr. George Ellery Hale on Mount Wilson in 1910; and a nighttime view from Mount Wilson of Pasadena, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, and Santa Catalina Island.
photCL 222
Image not available
Subseries B. How Thompson Shows His Mines
Visual Materials
This volume recounts events from the summer of 1898, in which Walter S. Wright and associates including James H. Holmes, described as someone who "runs a tavern in Pasadena"; H. C. Steele of San Bernardino; C. P. Morehouse; and William R. Staats journeyed to Mexico in order to work with J. D. Thompson to build a railroad from San Jorges Bay in the Gulf of California in Sonora to the Los Pintos Mines. In a handwritten note to wife Bernice dated June, 1899, Wright states that "our Mexican trip was a hurried one," and that the volume "was arranged to illustrate the haste and some other features of the trip"; in the body of the account, he describes himself as someone who "runs a law office in the same town" as Holmes. The photographs depict portions of the journey to Mexico via Arizona, with images of Ajo, Arizona including a woman who is shown baring her breast and a saloon in a tent house; exterior and interior views of a silver mine and pumping station at an unidentified location in the state and of a Tohono O'odham feast house; a mill in Quitovac in Sonora, Mexico; and mines and Mexican miners at the Los Pintos mines, with mention of mines named "Dolores" and "Bonanza." Photographs also include portraits of various business partners and images of them engaged in various activities, such as cooking and preparing for visits to mines.
photCL 222