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Photograph collection depicting California industries and points of interest

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    Photographs of Adobes of Northern and Southern California

    Visual Materials

    This collection consists of a disbound album compiled by Lucius "Paul" Soberanes (1882-1959) of primarily amateur snapshots of 19th century California adobes taken during the 1930s and 1940s, with typewritten captions added by Soberanes in the 1950s. Soberanes, a descendant of early Spanish landholders in California, put much of his energy into personally photographing adobes in Northern California for his album; not only did he travel through Monterey County, but also Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Solano, and Ventura Counties. He also added a small number of professional photographs by L.A. Sanchez and E.R. Jackson and a photograph of a drawing by E.A. Burbank into the album. Some of the adobes are shown to be in disrepair while others had been restored by the then adobes' owners, state agencies, historical societies, or service organizations. Of the Monterey adobes featured, the best known include Casa Soberanes (House of the Blue Gate), the Cooper-Molera Adobe, Alvarado Adobe, Casa Gutierrez, Casa de la Torre, and Casa Amesti. Various adobes in Monterey County were held by the Soberanes family, including the Alta Vista Adobe, and the Rancho El Alisal and Rancho Ex-Mission Soledad properties. Other prominent adobes in Northern California are the Vicente Martinez Adobe, Petaluma Adobe, Castro Adobe, and Dana Adobe. There are some photographs of Southern California adobes, especially in Santa Barbara and San Diego; adobes from these areas include the Gonzalez House, Casa de Bandini, Casa de Estudillo, and Rancho Camulos. Soberanes, his wife, and his children appear posing on the adobe grounds in some of the photographs. Photograph captions in the list of photographs are transcribed exactly as they appear in the album. The dates mentioned most often refer to an adobe's construction date; photographs are printed later. Photographs from pages 119, 121, and 144 are missing from the album. In addition to the prints, there are 2 postcards (Items 155-156), a photomechanical print (page 151), and one cyanotype (page 137).

    photCL 528

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    Historical Society of Southern California Collection - Historic Los Angeles photograph album

    Visual Materials

    The album is composed of 19 black-and-white photographs of historic sites in Los Angeles, California, in 1945 including La Golondrina Restaurant (formerly the Pelanconi Winery); the Avila Adobe; Olvera Street; the Plaza; the Lugo Adobe; Pico House; the Plaza Church (Nuestra Senora La Reyna de Los Angeles); the Abbot Block and the Merced Theater; the Amestoy Block; the Baker Block; the United States Post Office Terminal Annex; views from Fort Hill; the Plaza de la Justicia and the Hall of Records; Union Station; the tomb of Los Angeles pioneer Robert Carlisle; and the remains of the Protestant cemetery.

    photCL 400 volume 18

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    Historical Society of Southern California Collection: Leuschner Collection of Photographs

    Visual Materials

    Collection of 83 loose card photographs primarily depicting Los Angeles, California, from circa 1893 to 1905. The photographs were originally donated to the Historical Society of Southern California by Herbert Leuschner. The images consist of 22 (9-1/2 x 6-3/4 inch) mounted photographs and 61 (5 x 8 inch and smaller) mounted photographs. The collection includes a number of photographs by the Garden City Foto Company and F. H. Maude and Company depicting Los Angeles parks, homes and buildings; California missions; the Fiesta de los Flores of 1901; Mount Lowe attractions; and Catalina Island. Number 1-48 are almost exclusively by the Garden City Foto Company and F. H. Maude and Company. They depict Los Angeles parks, homes and buildings; California missions; the Fiesta de los Flores of 1901; Mount Lowe attractions; and Catalina Island. Number 49-68 are predominantly images of the Fiesta de los Flores of 1901 taken by the Garden City Foto Company. Photographs show participants in the Fiesta parade, including children, as well as flower decorated carriages, wagons, floats, automobiles, and bicycles. Unidentified marching bands, military and civilian groups, and spectators are also depicted. There are also unidentified floral parade photographs which may be depictions of participants in the same event. The Fiesta de los Flores was a later embodiment of the Fiesta de Los Angeles which had been cancelled for three years due to insecurities about its Spanish character during the Spanish-American War. Like the Fiesta de Los Angeles, the celebration was meant to attract tourists and stimulate commerce for the city of Los Angeles and the surrounding communities, but its themes focused less on California's Spanish Colonial past and highlighted its more contemporary and patriotic attributes. The first Fiesta de los Flores coincided with President William McKinley's visit to Los Angeles in 1901. Number 69-78 are miscellaneous images. This group includes photographs by the Garden City Foto Company, one portrait by the Dewey Company, and one stereo image published by Underwood and Underwood.

    photCL 400 Volume 29

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    Historical Society of Southern California Collection--Krueger Collection of Photographs

    Visual Materials

    The Krueger Collection consists of 103 black-and-white photographs and 103 negatives depicting sites and locations within the greater Los Angeles, California, area. Images of Los Angeles include the Lugo Adobe; Olvera Street; Ord Street in Chinatown; Union Station; the United States Post Office Terminal Annex; City Hall; the Hall of Justice; the Old Hall of Records; the Post Office and Federal Building; the California State Building; the Los Angeles Times Building; Pershing Square; streets in downtown Los Angeles decorated with Christmas decorations; and the Ambassador Hotel. Images of Hollywood include views of Hollywood Boulevard (some showing Christmas decorations); Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian Theaters; the Florentine Gardens nightclub; CBS facilities, including KNX/CBS Radio Playhouse with the Lux Radio Theater; NBC facilities; the Earl Carroll Theatre; the Hollywood Scenic Gardens (Bernheimer Gardens); the Brown Derby Restaurant (the Hollywood and Wilshire Boulevard locations); and Griffith Observatory. Other sites in greater Los Angeles include Exposition Park; Westlake (MacArthur) Park; and the Bernheimer Gardens in Pacific Palisades. Also included are views of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California; views of Long Beach, including the Pike, City Hall, the Public Library, and the Municipal Auditorium; and views in and around Lake Arrowhead.

    photCL 400 volume 32

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    Historical Society of Southern California Collection -- Ana Bégué de Packman Collection of Photographs and Papers

    Visual Materials

    This collection contains 209 photographs and negatives related to Southern California history that were collected by Ana Bégué de Packman, a descendant of early Spanish-Mexican landowners in the region and the Secretary of the Historical Society of Southern California from the 1930s to 1950s. The collection dates from 1820 to 1955 (bulk 1930s) and includes photographs, as well as correspondence, maps, ephemera, and newspaper clippings related to Southern California ranchos, the Spanish-Mexican families who owned them, and Los Angeles during the late 1800s. The majority of the collection consists of portraits of rancho families and their descendants, as well as photographs of the town of San Juan Capistrano and its environs, including Mission San Juan Capistrano and the adobe houses surrounding the mission. The photographs include a variety of formats and sizes, and photographers include: Charles C. Pierce, Charles J. Prudhomme, Charles C. Puck, and Edward Vischer. The collection includes a small number of the California rancho families are pictured in both professional and amateur portraits, with a focus on the Dominguez, Machado, Sepulveda, and Yorba families. Other portraits include those of Los Angeles mayors and pioneers, such as Matthew Keller, Cameron Erskine Thom, and Elijah H. Workman. Photographs of Mission San Juan Capistrano show the mission complex in ruins, with views of the church, courtyard, bell tower, and outside workspaces. The interior of the restored Serra Chapel are also shown, with an emphasis on the altarpiece and its statuary. Other missions that are shown in the collection are Missions Santa Barbara, San Antonio de Padua, and San Gabriel Arcangel. Another emphasized portion of the collection concerns adobe houses, specifically ones that are or had been located in the western and southern parts of San Juan Capistrano. Among these adobes are the Blas Aguilar Adobe, Casa de Los Rios, the Burruel Adobe, the Manuel Garcia Adobe, and the Domingo Yorba Adobe. Other Southern California adobes that are also included are the Yorba-Slaughter Adobe, the Dana Adobe, and the Workman-Temple Homestead. Oversized photographs show La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles (Plaza Church) and the statue of Felipe de Neve in Los Angeles Plaza. Notable photographs include an interesting photograph of Plaza Church shows Don Antonio F. Coronel surveying the church exterior. Another photograph relating to the Los Angeles area is one of the Beverly Hills Centennial Parade with Eugene W. Biscailuz, Leo Carrillo, and William Boyd on horseback. Of particular interest are two tintypes related to photographer Charles J. Prudhomme. The first is of his mother, Maria Merced Tapia de Prudhomme, and the other is of Prudhomme's daughter. The rest of the collection contains correspondence, maps, notes, ephemera, and negatives. Noteworthy items from these materials include: a manuscript letter written by Manuel Dominguez; postcards from Bruce Condé (Alfonso de Bourbon Condé) to Ana Bégué de Packman; death notices for Isaac Williams and Henry Mellus; a glass plate negative of Horton House in San Diego; a film negative of Juan Bandini and his daughter Ysidora; and an index book with the names of rancho families written in Packman's hand. Photographs with corresponding film negatives are: (12), (26), and (29).

    photCL 400 volume 33

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    Industrial activity (mining?)

    Visual Materials

    A collection of glass plate and film negatives by amateur photographer and Los Angeles real estate broker George P. Thresher focusing on the American Southwest and Native Americans of the region, particularly of Arizona, and the Gila River crossing area, from ca. 1898 to 1910. The majority of the Thresher Collection contains images of towns and sites in Arizona, including Phoenix, Mission San Xavier del Bac, Montezuma Castle, Peach Springs, and adobe ruins. Photographs of Texas are well represented in the collection, including many views of Missions San Concepcion, San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), San Francisco de la Espada, and Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo. There are also images of Colorado (Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, and Castle Rock), New Mexico (Santa Fe, Tesuque, and possibly Laguna), and unidentified pueblos. Notable portraits from California are of Victoriano, chief of the Soboba Indians, and his unnamed third wife. There is a separate and very interesting sequence of images depicting the Mount Beauty Mine and its operations in San Diego County, California. A small assortment of lantern slides is at the end of the collection showing Indians of Arizona, California, and New Mexico.

    photCL 449