Visual Materials

Photograph album of Veracruz, Mexico

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Description: An album of 39 photographic postcards of scenes of rural and city life in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, taken by unidentified photographers in the 1930s. The commercially-made images have captions in Spanish etched into the negative, and many have an MF mark for The Mexico Photographic Company. The images include street scenes, outdoor markets, city buildings and bridges, as well as automobile, bus, and train travel. Detailed scenes of rural life include women selling pots or washing clothes at the river, family groups posing in front of their homes, and men in labor activities such as loading lumber onto mules.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1930s.
Call number: photCL 668
Provenance: Purchased from Buckingham Books, January 2022.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Mexico travel photograph album

Visual Materials

A photograph album of tourists sightseeing in Mexico, including Mazatlan, Ruiz (Nayarit), Mexico City, Guadalupe, Xochimilco, Cuernevaca, and Tasco. Images show street scenes, markets, churches and monasteries, a bullfight, the pyramids at Teotihuacan, Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanoes, and the Desert of the Lions (Desierto de los Leones).

photCL 370

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Photograph and scrapbook album of women's trip to Mexico

Visual Materials

A travel album of photographs, ephemera and typescript narrative, documenting a car trip taken by four Texas women to Mexico and back in August and September 1938. Typed diary pages are pasted on several album pages detailing the people and places the women encountered and the experiences they had. The photographs include snapshots of residents, towns and villages, ancient temples, churches and convents, with some images of the four women who are only identified as Elizabeth, Juanita, "Sister," and M.S. They are seen with their guide, "Mr. Castillo," on a riverboat in Xochimilco in Mexico City, and also traveling by car in the mountains and countryside. Comments in the narrative discuss the use of travel conveniences such as Western Union and Wells Fargo, having to speak Spanish, the activities of indigenous peoples, and scenic wonders. The album is bound in wooden covers and has a carved illustration depicting a rural Mexican scene, most likely purchased on the trip. Also included in the album are photographic postcards, menus, brochures, and other ephemera collected from the trip.

photCL 661

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[Photograph album of scenes in Mexico]

Visual Materials

Photograph album with various snapshots chiefly documenting a trip to Mexico by Los Angeles, California, resident Charles A. Finlayson around 1930, including images of buildings and streets in Mexico City, a visit to a park with deer, buildings under construction, the canals of Xochimilco, and Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan, as well as images, presumably, of Finlayson. Throughout the album, there are also images of the derailment of a locomotive and train cars, presumably of the National Railroad of Mexico, which were carrying military cannons, with photographs of executed men who had been hanged from utility poles along the tracks.

photCL 371

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Photographs of rural Mexico

Visual Materials

A group of 13 photographs (small snapshots and photographic postcards) depicting life in rural Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s. The five small photographs (3 x 3.5 inches) are scenes from a parade in a small town on September 16, 1938, Mexican Independence Day. Children are seen carrying a Mexican flag, a decorated truck has a banner that reads "Viva Mexico," and boys and girls are dressed in traditional vaquero attire. They were taken by an unknown photographer and have identifications in Spanish on the back. The eight commercially-made photographic postcards include scenes in Guanajuato; packed burros on narrow cobblestone roads; rows of clay pots, plates and cups alongside buildings; a woman making tortillas; and vaqueros loading hay on a donkey. There are two portraits with captions reading "Tipos Mexicanos," most likely made for the tourist trade. One shows a young man and woman posed next to a large cactus, holding hands, and the other is of a barefoot man wearing a straw poncho around his shoulders.

photCL 713

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Photographs of rural Mexico

Visual Materials

photCL 713

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W. C. White photograph album of road trip through Mexico City

Visual Materials

Photographs of an early automobile tour of Mexico City and vicinity, taken in April, 1906, approximately four years before the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution. The traveler, most likely an American, photographed his automobile in many locations, often where burros or horse wagons are mostly seen on the road. A woman is seen in the passenger seat sometimes, and possibly another car is part of the touring group. Images include stops at historic buildings, landmarks, street scenes, and the "Noche Triste Tree" in Mexico City; old Spanish architecture in Lerma; and travel through the countryside to Toluca. Local residents appear throughout, including men gathering water at a cistern, a woman washing clothes outside her house, and people at a Mexican National Railway train station. There are three images identified as "General Gonzales, Governor of the State of Mexico," riding in a car with other officials. Handwriting inside the album's cover identifies it as "W. C. White's pictures - Mexican trip, April 1906," and there are detailed captions throughout.

photCL 671

Photograph album of Veracruz, Mexico

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