Visual Materials

O'Shaughnessy Dam construction photographs and dedication program

Description: A collection of 160 photographs (69 prints in an album and 91 loose prints) and ephemera related to the building of O'Shaughnessy Dam, which formed the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The photographs are black-and-white snapshots that appear to have been taken by a worker on the dam, which was completed in 1923. The album contains images of the dam being constructed, showing equipment, a railroad, scaffolding and cranes, concrete, and workers. The loose photographs depict the unidentified worker and family members, the workers' cabins, fish caught in rivers, scenery in Yosemite Valley, and additional views of the dam. Also included are clippings from 1934 about the Hetch Hetchy project and the program for the "Dedication of O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Project, built by the city and county of San Francisco, July 7th, 1923."
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1920-1934 (bulk 1920-1923)
Call number: photCL 236
Provenance: Purchased from Mrs. Carla S. Lansdowne, 1981.
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); View in the Online Archive of California(Opens in new tab)

O'Shaughnessy Dam construction photographs and dedication program

Visual Materials

A collection of 160 photographs (69 prints in an album and 91 loose prints) and ephemera related to the building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam, which formed the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. The photographs are black-and-white snapshots that appear to have been taken by a worker on the dam, which was completed in 1923. The album contains images of the dam being constructed, showing equipment, a railroad, scaffolding and cranes, concrete, and workers. The loose photographs depict the worker and family members, mountain cabins, fish caught in rivers, scenery in Yosemite Valley, and additional views of the dam. Also included are clippings about the Hetch Hetchy project and the program for the "Dedication of O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Project, built by the city and county of San Francisco, July 7th, 1923."

photCL 236

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Marquette County (Wis.). Board of Supervisors, "Maker Dedication Program Muir Memorial Park:" [program]. 1 item

Manuscripts

The collection is made up of 59 ephemera items related to John Muir including pamphlets, brochures, newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, programs, poetry, and copies of Muir's writings and sketches. The material was collected by J. Marshall Watkins while he was researching John Muir. Authors include Ed Ainsworth, William Frederic Badé, Francis M. Fultz, Herbert W. Gleason, Bailey Millard, John Muir, and J. Marshall Watkins. Other subjects include Muir's conservation work in California including his involvement with the Hetch Hetchy Valley, Kings Canyon National Park, and Yosemite National Park. There is one pamphlet entitled "Redwood Mountain," published by the John Muir Association as well as a leaflet printed by the California Conservation Council regarding the life of John Muir. Many of the brochures are for events related to John Muir such as "John Muir Day" in San Francisco in 1939, a dedication of a Muir memorial park in Wisconsin, and a lecture entitled "John Muir Trails." Also included are offprints and flyers concerning the proposed John Muir-Kings Canyon National Park, and nine color reproductions of scenes in Yosemite National Park.

mssHM 66491

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Survey and construction photographs of Boulder (Hoover) Dam

Visual Materials

Survey and construction photographs documenting Boulder (Hoover) Dam. The album holds 94 pages with prints. A small number of newspaper articles, project brochures and an additional 80 loose prints of various sizes are included in the box containing the album.

photCL SCE

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New England hydroelectric dam construction photograph album

Visual Materials

A photograph album documenting the large-scale construction of New England hydroelectric dams in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maine, including several photographs of the Wyman Dam construction in Bingham, Maine, dated 1929-1930, and Ayer's Island Dam in Bristol, New Hampshire. The images include both commercial and amateur photographs depicting progress on the dams, construction sites, and power facilities, with many group portraits of workers. Some of the photographs have dates and captions written on the negatives.

photCL 513

Big Creek Huntington Lake Dams

Visual Materials

Big Creek Huntington Lake Dams - Dam [Workers excavating in back of dam during construction to extend Huntington Lake dams. Worker cottages are in the background near the dam site.]

photCL SCE 02 - 04767

Image not available

[Dam construction dedication ceremony.]

Visual Materials

The Aswan Dam Photographs collection contains 28 albums containing more than 1750 black-and-white photographs (most approximately 8 x 10 in. format), documenting the construction of the first Aswan Dam and Asyut Barrage from 1899 to 1902, the first dam heightening from 1907 to 1912, the Isna Barrage from 1907 to 1909, and the second heightening from 1930 to 1933. The images chiefly chronicle progress at the construction sites and depict laborers, masonry work, excavating, the transportation of materials and equipment, and the building of the locks, buttresses, gates, canals, and bridges, with many views of the Nile River. In addition there are images of repairs to the temple at Philae (in Albums 1, 3b, 4, and 12), and some photographs of ceremonies including the H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught laying the foundation stone on February 29, 1908 (Album 10, pages 8-9), and the laying of the final stone with Abbas II Hilmi, the Khedive of Egypt, on February 9, 1909 (Album 5, page 24).The collection consists of both nondescript albums with affixed photographs accompanied by typed or handwritten captions, as well as more formal presentation albums, which include inscriptions of W. L. Lowe Brown, resident engineer at the Asyut Barrage (Album 1); John Aird, whose company constructed the dam (Albums 2, 6, and 8) Murdoch MacDonald, chief engineer beginning in 1902 (Album 3); While most of the albums are limited to photographs and captions, Album 1 and 2 have an eight-page printed preface by William E. Garstin and Albums 5 and 6 have two introductory pages of printed explanatory notes by Murdoch MacDonald. Photographers engaged in documenting the construction and heightening projects were D.S. George (construction of the Aswan Dam and first heightening), F. Fiorillo (first heightening), A. Gianny (viewing of Aswan Dam), A. Marques (first heightening), and other unidentified photographers. Within the materials, there are variant spellings of Aswan including Assuan and Asswan.

photCL Burndy 1

O'Shaughnessy Dam construction photographs and dedication program

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O'Shaughnessy Dam construction photographs and dedication program

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Survey and construction photographs of Boulder (Hoover) Dam

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Big Creek Huntington Lake Dams

[Dam construction dedication ceremony.]