Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Carlisle Mine, Forbestown, California
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Visual Materials
Three cabinet photographs of early Los Angeles, California, most likely taken in the1880s. The first is an elevated view of Calle de Los Negros in Old Chinatown by photographer F. G. Schumacher, showing a dirt road, adobe buildings, horse-drawn wagons, and a few people. The second photograph is marked in ink "First St. Bridge," and shows a partially washed-out wooden bridge over the flooded Los Angeles River. A man on horseback and a photographer with a large box camera are on the shore. The third cabinet photograph is of an unidentified railroad trestle bridge spanning a canyon or river.
photPF 26024
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Visual Materials
Contents: Mount Corey Mine (Nevada); View of hill and mine tailings (California); Bloomfield Dam and Elevator (North Bloomfield, formerly Humbug, California, 1896); City view of 1894 flood (Portland, Oregon); Panorama of Portland with Mt. St. Helens in background (Oregon); Cañon Diablo railroad bridge (Arizona); Interior of photograph studio (Virginia City, Nevada). Annotations on sepia-toned photographs also note "Hardy 1945."
photPF 3830-3839
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Rare Books
A collection of 50 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, the New Almaden Mine, and Mendocino, California by photographer Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916). The prints were in a two-volume set, now disbound, containing a title page dated 1863 and a dedication page reading: "To Ernest Frignet / His California Friends / April 1864." The photographs are landscape views of Yosemite and the Mariposa giant sequoias, taken by Watkins in 1861, followed by 1863 views of New Almaden Quicksilver Mine and Mendocino, both in Northern California. The mining series includes views of workers and the miners' community of small houses and wooden shacks. One view shows young boys with wheelbarrows of rock. The Mendocino Coast images focus on lumber mills near the mouths of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, with one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, in front of wood plank dwellings, and a group of soldiers at Fort Bragg.
379010
Visual Materials
View of Downey Bridge over the San Gabriel River on the San Antonio Rancho (present day Bell Gardens, California), with wooden supports.
photCL_555_06_210
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Rare Books
In 1863, Watkins was commissioned to photograph the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine near San Jose, California, by William Eustace Barron, a founding partner and San Francisco merchant. This group of 8 mammoth plate photographs depict the structures and works of the quicksilver (i.e. mercury) mine set among hillsides, including smelting furnaces, metal sheds, and paths leading to mine entrances. One view depicts about 40 workers at a quarry, including several adolescent boys posed with wheelbarrows. The miners’ community of small houses and wooden shacks is also seen in views titled "Hacienda" and “The Town on the Hill.” The Mendocino Coast Views Watkins made in the fall of 1863, most likely on a commission from Jerome B. Ford, a major mill owner in Mendocino, California. Views show lumber mills along the banks of Big River, Albion River, and Noyo River, near where they meet the Pacific Ocean. The coastal city of Mendocino is seen on top of a high beach cliff, and there are scenic views of ocean waves crashing against boulders. One river view shows men guiding a small ferry by holding a cable mounted across the river, and a log flume is seen suspended in the background. There is one view of Native Americans, possibly Pomo, seated in front of dwellings made from wooden planks. The house of “Mr. Chalfant” in the town, with a fenced yard, is the focus of another photograph, and there is one view of the Fort Bragg army post.
RB 379010 : Vol. 2
Visual Materials
View down a railroad track of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad running under a wooden bridge at Columbia Street in Pasadena, California. The bridge spans a wide trench dug into the ground for the tracks. Another similar bridge is ahead in the distance.
photPF 559