Visual Materials

W. R. Densmore photograph album of early automobile touring

Description: An early automobile photograph album and scrapbook compiled by W. R. Densmore of the Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit. The album contains over 100 professionally-made photographs, with 19 approximately 8 x 10 inches, and also contains newspaper clippings about Densmore, early automobiles, and races. The album primarily chronicles Densmore's driving tours, although it also contains material dealing with other aspects of his life. Many images chronicle the famous Los Angeles to San Francisco drive of 1904, with Densmore and three companions seen in a Packard touring car. The other men were: H. B. Larzelere of Pacific Motor Car Company, San Francisco; Wallace W. Everett, guide; and H. A. French, correspondent for The Automobile magazine. Other images record similar overland auto journeys, in the White Mountains (1905); Long Island, New York (1905); the Wilkes-Barre Mountains, Pennsylvania (1905); and a grand tour of Italy (1913). Most of the automobiles featured are early Packard models, with riders in open-air cars, often wearing goggles and duster coats.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1904-1915.
Call number: photCL 231
Provenance: Purchased from Alta California Bookstore, 1979.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights: 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 permission rests with the researcher.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

W. R. Densmore photograph album of early automobile touring

Visual Materials

An early automobile photograph album and scrapbook compiled by W. R. Densmore of the Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit. The album contains over 100 professionally-made photographs, with 19 approximately 8 x 10 inches, and also contains newspaper clippings about Densmore, early automobiles, and races. The album primarily chronicles Densmore's driving tours, although it also contains material dealing with other aspects of his life. Many images chronicle the famous Los Angeles to San Francisco drive of 1904, with Densmore and three companions seen in a Packard touring car. The other men were: H. B. Larzelere of Pacific Motor Car Company, San Francisco; Wallace W. Everett, guide; and H. A. French, correspondent for The Automobile magazine. Other images record similar overland auto journeys, in the White Mountains (1905); Long Island, New York (1905); the Wilkes-Barre Mountains, Pennsylvania (1905); and a grand tour of Italy (1913). Most of the automobiles featured are early Packard models, with riders in open-air cars, often wearing goggles and duster coats.

photCL 231

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Automobile travel and mountain climbing photograph album

Manuscripts

The photographs in the album document four different expeditions undertaken in Oregon by four young men who traveled together between 1908 and 1912. The excursions include an ascent of Mount Hood in 1908 (including a stay at the Cloud Cap Inn), a fishing trip on the Nehalem River in 1909, deer hunting near West Fork in 1912, and an undated automobile trip through central Oregon. The album contains 182 black-and-white photographs, several of which were produced by Oregon commercial photographer George M. Weister. The photographs for the first three excursions are captioned; those for the car trip are not.

mssHM 83836

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Photograph album of an automobile road trip titled "Trip West 1928,", (bulk 1928)

Visual Materials

A photograph album documenting an automobile trip taken by friends across the western United States (with excursions into Canada and Tijuana, Mexico), during the summer of 1928. The first page is titled "Trip West 1928" and includes an image of an automobile covered with travel decals captioned: "Home after 10,000 miles." Photographs show the travelers visited many national parks, including Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite, as well as other tourist attractions such as Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Catalina Island, Hollywood, the Redwood Highway, Vancouver, and Canada's Waterton National Park. Some images show the unidentified young men dealing with automobile trouble, hiking in the mountains, camping, and posing with an "old" and "new" car. The majority of the snapshots were taken in the West, but there are some images of tourist attractions in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, all identified in handwritten captions. The album has three pages titled "My Pals" for autographs; several men and women signed their names and home towns, dated between 1929 and 1933.

photCL 657

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Photograph album of motor sports in Southern California

Visual Materials

A photograph album of people with their motorcycles and automobiles, on outdoor excursions in Southern California in the early-20th century. Most images have writing on the back and feature a group of two men and two women named Eleanor, Hazel, Otto, and Russell (surnames unknown). In one photograph, they stand next to their motorcycles, wearing goggles, with pennants reading: "1915 San Francisco," "Riverside," and "Redlands," presumably in the midst of a road trip. Otto is also seen standing in front of a "New Era Motor Cycle" store in Redlands, California, and pushing his motorcycle with a spare tire strapped to the front. Other images include riders in an automobile in Tijuana, Mexico, 1915; visiting Big Bear Lake and dam; and a caravan of automobiles driving up a mountain road. Three photographs at Lake Arrowhead feature an Essex Motor Company automobile painted with advertising reading: "The N-Durance Essex, driven by Charles H. Holdson," 1923.

photCL 633

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Photograph album of automobile trips through the West and Mexico

Visual Materials

A photograph album containing 128 photographs documenting two separate excursions by automobile, one undertaken in 1937 and the other in 1939. The first trip appears to have been taken by a family group of five who may have lived in Iowa or Missouri. Their trip photographs are all captioned, and include images of their group and the car, the roads, the sights they visited, and sometimes motels or cabins. They traveled through Texas, New Mexico (including Laguna Pueblo), Arizona, and California, where they visited numerous locations. They are seen at stops in and between Los Angeles and San Francisco, including missions, Hollywood, and three snapshots taken at the Huntington Library. A typed record of the miles traveled, gas used, and cabins they stayed in is pasted to the back of the album. The 1939 trip features mostly photographs of Texas, including parks, landmarks, and visits to friends' houses. They also visited Mexico, including a bullfighting ring, and New Orleans, Louisiana. One photograph of a wooden shack in Arkansas is captioned indicating it is an African American dwelling.

photCL 640

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Photograph album of an automobile road trip from Chicago to Arizona

Visual Materials

An album of 116 photographs with handwritten captions documenting a 1935 automobile excursion from Chicago, Illinois, to Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) in Arizona. The unidentified young, male photographer and his companions crossed the Great Plains to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, then proceeded to southern Utah and northern Arizona to visit other national parks including Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Grand Canyon. Photographs depict scenery and natural wonders such as geysers and mud pots in Yellowstone, as well as corn fields in Iowa and wheat fields in Nebraska. The travelers are also seen fishing, camping and hiking along the way. The album also includes scenes in Chicago and seven images of their wrecked automobile after a crash in Wyoming.

photCL 682

W. R. Densmore photograph album of early automobile touring

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