Visual Materials

Southwestern Shipbuilding Company photograph album

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Description: An album of progress photographs of shipbuilding projects by the Southwestern Shipbuilding Company in San Pedro, California. The images are dated April 16 to October 16, 1918, and include views of mold lofts for ship hulls; workers, including many African American workers; lumber, steel, and other building materials. The photographs are chiefly 7.5 x 9.5 inches, with several fold-out panoramas of the shipyard. Signs can be seen identifying the ships being built: the S.S. West Carnifax, S.S. West Caruth, and S.S. West Catance, which were all cargo ships built for the U.S. Navy.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1918.
Call number: photCL 741
Creator: Southwestern Shipbuilding Company(Opens in new tab)

Photograph album of a trip on S.S. Grenada : views of Cuba, Grenada, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Mexico

Visual Materials

A disbound photograph album with 85 commercial and family photographs documenting travel aboard the S.S. Grenada to locations including Havana, Cuba; Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Chihuahua, Mexico; Venezuela; Grenada; and Port of Spain, Trinidad. There are several port scenes in various locations, showing ships, local vendors, and coal being loaded onto ships. Photographs taken in Havana show the harbor, including the sunken remains of the USS Maine; the cathedral; and Castillo del Morro. Photographs of Venezuela show indigenous dwellings and the Orinoco River. Photographs of Mexico show views of Mexico City including interiors of the Castillo de Chapultepec, an aqueduct in Chihuahua, and the city of Orizaba.

photCL 119

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Photograph album of a British expatriate in China

Visual Materials

An album of 210 photographs of China taken sometime after the end of World War I, by an unidentified British expatriate likely working in Shanghai, China. Subjects include Shanghai, Hong Kong, Huangpu River, local residents, Westerners, naval and civil ships, coastal villages, Chinese architecture, and historical landmarks. There is no writing in the album, though one photograph of buildings along a waterfront has "my office" in pencil, with an arrow to a building. Many of the snapshots are of local people: children, fishermen, weavers, a shoe cobbler, workers with building materials, and others.

photCL 691

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Photograph albums of Pacific Electric Railway Company employees and advertising

Visual Materials

Two photograph albums compiled by the Pacific Electric Railway Company featuring employees, offices and publicity scenes of Southern California tourist destinations. Views include individual and group portraits of employees (some named); offices, workers and ticket office at the downtown Los Angeles headquarters; substations; streetcars and working equipment. There are numerous views of Mount Lowe and Echo Mountain showing people in the tavern and bungalows reached by the Mount Lowe Railway; crowds on the beaches and piers of Venice, Santa Monica and Ocean Park; the Redondo Beach Bath House; street scenes in Balboa at a crowded ceremony, and the Mission Inn, Riverside. Other views include posed scenes with models or "bathing beauties"; company exhibits at citrus fairs; a group of clowning men in "drag" (possibly employees), and a group portrait of Mexican American children and company nurses at one of Pacific Electric's section camps for Mexican American employees.

photCL 209

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Samson Tire and Rubber Company photographs and ephemera

Visual Materials

This collection contains 46 photographs and several advertising clips, business letters, and brochures related to the Samson Tire & Rubber Company in Los Angeles, dating from approximately 1917 to 1935. Fifteen photographs are construction views, 1929, of the massive manufacturing facility built 1929 to 1930 in what is now the City of Commerce. The 8 x 10-inch photographs are stamped in the corner with the company's name, followed by "Los Angeles Plant / Morgan, Walls & Clements, architects / J. V. McNeil Company Contractors Inc., builders." The images show the building site in a huge open field, with workers, horses, and lumber framing, as well as two interior factory views. Additional photographs show factory workers, possibly at an earlier location, using industrial machinery and working with rubber; Samson company executives in a group portrait; and a promotional image of actress Jean Carmen posing on a tire with Leiland Irish of McClaren Tire Company. The ephemera includes a pamphlet touting the new plant, advertising clips, and several copies of letters from satisfied customers, most likely used for promotional purposes. The letterheads are mostly California companies, such as Progress Features (film producers), automotive service stations, bus lines, and taxi companies. There is also a letter from J. A. Forthmann of the Los Angeles Soap Company confirming his purchase of stock and to act as a director for Samson Tire in 1917, and a company Christmas card from Walter P. Chrysler.

photCL 628

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Photograph album of New York City buildings

Visual Materials

Album chiefly containing photographic postcards showing street-level exterior views of multi-story named apartment buildings and hotels on the Upper West Side of New York City, as well as some educational and commercial buildings. All postcards are identified with a title and address of the structure and photograph stock number written on the image. The album also contains three larger images (16 x 21 cm) of St. Luke's Hospital, the New York Public Library main branch, and the Plaza Hotel.

photCL 537

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F. C. Thompson photograph album

Visual Materials

An album of photographs taken by American businessman F. C. Thompson, documenting his time living in Yokohama, Japan, from 1920 to 1921. Thompson managed the Dollar Steamship Lines office in Yokohama, and is seen experiencing some local customs and socializing mostly with other Western men and women, who are identified in handwritten captions. They are seen at various locations including the Grand Hotel, the Oriental Palace Hotel, the Yacht and Rowing Club, and visiting nearby rural areas. Many images depict street scenes, architecture and people in Japan, including scenes of female laborers, agricultural crops and workers, and "elite" women traveling in hand-carried slings. Thompson is seen joining a Japanese motorcycle club, at a rugby match, and on vacation in the countryside in a traditional Japanese house. Some images depict the ships and crews of the Dollar Steamship Lines and Pacific Mail Steamship Company (which would eventually merge into one company). The photographs are accompanied by detailed captions identifying locations.

photCL 645

Southwestern Shipbuilding Company photograph album

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Photograph album of a trip on S.S. Grenada : views of Cuba, Grenada, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Mexico

Photograph album of a British expatriate in China

Photograph albums of Pacific Electric Railway Company employees and advertising

Samson Tire and Rubber Company photographs and ephemera

Photograph album of New York City buildings

F. C. Thompson photograph album