Visual Materials

Digital images

Description: The 70,000 digital images that comprise this series were made from negatives, photographs, and some photograph albums in Series 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of this collection. The images depict SCE (and its predecessor companies) operations, facilities, transmission and distribution systems, advertising, and other activities from approximately 1883-1980. The items were digitized as part of a three-year digitization project, 2006-2009, and are available to view in the Huntington Digital Library: Southern California Edison negative and photograph collection
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: approximately 1883-1989
Call number: Series 1
Creator: Southern California Edison Company(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Edison International, December 2005.

Photo cards

Visual Materials

Southern California Edison produced photo cards arranged by category for company use. Each photo card – consisting of a gelatin silver print or prints affixed to a board – has a negative number printed in the top right-hand corner. All images in this series – either as a negative or a photo card - were digitized and are available in the Huntington Digital Library. The photo cards depict major hydroelectric projects, such as Big Creek, Kaweah, Kern River, Lytle Creek, San Antonio Canyon, the Santa Ana River, and the Colorado River; Steam Plants; the transmission system, including substations and transmission lines; the distribution system, including Edison facilities such as local offices and the Alhambra facility; and photo cards arranged by departmental filing codes as indicated below.

Series 2

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Photograph albums

Visual Materials

The photograph albums are focused on project surveys, construction, operations, and facilities related to various hydroelectric projects dating from approximately 1904 through 1945. Many volumes depict the Big Creek project from inception through its numerous expansions. Volumes were compiled by Southern California Edison as well as engineering firms and consultants; employees; and various predecessor companies, including Pacific Light & Power, Edison Electric Company, Southern Sierras Power Company, Mount Whitney Power Company, Nevada Power, Mining and Milling Company, and Nevada-California Electric Corporation. Original Edison volume number is noted where known. Some "albums" are compilations of loose photographs by topic. A majority of the albums were scanned and are available in the Huntington Digital Library (see Series 1).

Series 3

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Loose photographs

Visual Materials

A collection of individual photographs arranged by Edison subseries and photograph number. Most of these images are an assemblage of duplicates found elsewhere in the collection, and are identified and arranged only by number, not by subject. There are 23 panoramic prints (Box 41) of employees in group portraits, meetings, conventions, banquets, picnics, and outings by photographers such as M.F. Weaver, Sessions, Petrie, and Prince. Many of the images were made at the beach and at The Huntington Hotel, Pasadena, approximately 1915–1944.

Series 4

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Overflow Images

Visual Materials

The Southern California Edison collection of negatives and photographs consists of approximately 80,000 images created and acquired by the company from approximately 1883-1989, with the bulk of the collection covering 1910-1960. Formats include glass and film negatives, photo cards, loose photographs, photograph albums, lantern slides, and related materials. Most of the images were produced by Edison staff and contract photographers to document Edison facilities, products, operations, activities, and employees and for the purposes of education, advertising, training, and liability. The SCE collection offers a range of subjects far broader than the company's original intent. In addition to infrastructural images of transmission lines, steam plants, substations, equipment, vehicles, and hydroelectric plants, the company captured the uses of light and electricity in its myriad capacities, including night lighting of streets, billboards, storefronts, and gas stations; electric kitchens and appliances in domestic and industrial settings such as restaurants and cafes; agricultural innovations in the dairy and poultry industries; lighting for recreational uses such as swimming pools, bathhouses, tennis courts; golf courses; office work; and accident scenes and disasters, particularly the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928.

photCL SCE

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7.10. Nevada Power, Mining, and Milling Company

Manuscripts

This subseries documents the Nevada Power, Mining, and Milling Company, the predecessor company of the Nevada-California Electric Corporation, and is comprised of annual reports.

mssSCE

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Photo log books, photo binders, and notes

Visual Materials

Photo log books, reference binders of photographic prints, and folders containing miscellaneous notes related to the organization of the photograph collection, approximately 1908-1960s. These materials were used by Edison archivists to title and date photographs in the collection.

Series 8

Digital images

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Photo cards

Photograph albums

Loose photographs

Overflow Images

7.10. Nevada Power, Mining, and Milling Company

Photo log books, photo binders, and notes