Historical Society of Southern California Collection of Lantern Slides

Volume 27 consists of 278 (3 x 4 inch) lantern slides, comprising a variety of different images of Southern California and its residents.

The first section consists of images of central Los Angeles, primarily street scenes, including a number of images of La Fiesta de Los Angeles celebrations and World War I-era parades. Other landscapes and cityscapes in the collection include views of Hollywood and Santa Monica; locations in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, with an emphasis on Monrovia; communities in Orange, San Bernardino and Kern Counties; scenes in Yosemite and other central California locations; and Tijuana. Also included are a number of images of Santa Barbara in the late nineteenth century.

The collection is notable for a number of images of Los Angeles area high schools and universities. It is especially rich in images of Los Angeles High School students from the early years of the twentieth century.

Photographs by members of, and about, the Los Angeles Camera Club are included in the collection. These include photographs by C.C. Pierce, W.M. Frisbee, F.H. Maude, C.C. Valentine, and O. Granicher. Also included is a photograph of the Camera Club building in downtown Los Angeles and images of its logo.

Studio portraits and group photographs can be found in the collection, the majority of which are unidentified. Among the identifiable images are an 1888 photograph of the Los Angeles City Council; Mrs. O.W. Childs, wife of the early Los Angeles pioneer; Isidore Dockweiler, an influential Southern California Democrat; Max Meyberg, organizer of the first La Fiesta de Los Angeles celebration in 1894; and Caroline Severance, founder of the Friday Morning Club. The collection also contains images of Native Americans, and Chinese in Chinatown.

In addition to the Los Angeles Camera Club photographers, the collection contains images created by Penney and Bennett, James B. Blanchard, and Carleton Watkins.