Visual Materials

Photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson and her ministry

Image not available

Description: Consists of head-and-shoulder vignette portraits of Los-Angeles based evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and her husband David Hutton (photPF 24910); two photographic postcards of her residence in Lake Elsinore, California (photPF 24911-24912); a group portrait of church members standing in front of the San Pedro Four Square Lighthouse Church in 1929 (photPF 24913); an exterior view of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, with a sign "The Open Book Munhall Revival Campaign" on the building (photpF 24914); a photographic postcard of "Brother Arthur" (Joseph W. Arthur, co-pastor of the Angelus Temple) (photPF 24915); and a printed "Season's Greetings" card from McPherson (photPF 24916).
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: approximately 1920s-1930s
Call number: photPF 24910-24916
Provenance: Purchased, 1999.

McPherson, Aimee Semple

Manuscripts

Approx. 20 items: LAT, 5/19/1926, report of evalgelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappearing off Venice Beach, headline "...M'Pherson believed bathing victim," and her later reappearance and evidence that she may have been in a love tryst with an unemployed radio station operator, Kenneth Ormiston. After McPherson resurfaced, 6/23/1926, claiming abduction (a ransom letter had been delivered to Angeles Temple, Aimee's headquarters), she and her mother are subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury. In 9/1926. complaints including corruption of public morals, obstruction of justice and conspiracy were brought against McPherson, her alleged paramour, and others. The convoluted case moves through the legal system, but in 1/1927, it is dismissed as it was believed it would be impossible to convict. Also notable: excerpts from a 1959 book, The Vanishing Evangelist, by Robert Steele and Lately Thomas ; complete issue of Journal of the West , 4/1988, incl. "West of Eden...Pioneer media evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in Los Angeles," pp. 50-59.

mssLAT

Image not available

Healing Service at Balboa Park. [Aimee Semple] McPherson Revival

Visual Materials

The Huntington Library's Collection of Panoramic Photographs, 1851 to 2014, depicts a wide variety of subjects and provides an important resource for the visual history of the United States, with a particular emphasis on California and the American West. Subjects include landscapes, group portraits, and miscellaneous views. The collection also contains photographs by some of the better known photographers and photographic firms of the first part of the twentieth century. Photographers and publishers represented in the collection include Charles Z. Bailey; Bailey and Ramsey; Bryant Studio; Bunnell Photo Shop; California Panorama Company; Bell Clements; Fay Foto Service; R.J. Gallagher; George. R. Lawrence Company; J.D. Givens; Gordon Panoramic Photo Company; Griffith Photo; Harris Photographic Company; Karen Halverson; George W. Hazard; L.M. Hermance; Hiller; Hughes Photos; William Henry Jackson; I.L. Maduro; Mayhart Studio; C.R. Nock; Panorama Publishing Company; Pettit's Studio; Photo News Service; C.C. Pierce; A.C. Pillsbury; Pillsbury Picture Company; Prince Photo; G.H. Rice; H.H. Rideout; Sanford and Black Photo News Service; Thompson; O.A. Tunnell; H.A. Varble; Miles F. Weaver; and West Coast Art Company. Notable in the collection is a contemporary four-plate ambrotype in a frame; it is a panoramic view of the Los Angeles River, 2014, by Michael Kolster (photPAN 147).

photPAN

Image not available

Photographic views of California

Visual Materials

Consists of 33 copy prints with some duplicates. The back of each photograph has a title and a number to a corresponding lantern slide. photPF 190-193 are photographs of prospecting in California, depicting Yreka, Chinese prospectors, and a prospecting party, and appear to be copies of photographs by Eadweard Muybridge. photPF 194-196 photos are views of Ellwood Cooper's Ranch in Santa Barbara County. photPF 197-199 depict scenes of workers and lodgings in Yosemite Valley as well as the studio of artist Albert Bierstadt. photPF 200 depicts the construction of the Bear River Crossing C.P.R.R. photPF 201 depicts trout fishing in Sonoma County. photPF 202-209 focuses on early Los Angeles County, with snapshots of ranches, orchards, vineyards, Los Angeles High School, and the homes of Maria Sepulveda, F. D. Bacon, and F. P. F. Temple. photPF 210-217 depict various locations in early San Francisco, including Telegraph Hill, Alcatraz Island, Goat Island, Woodward's Gardens, and the Mercantile Library. photPF 218-219 feature the Keystone quartz mill and the first quartz mill in Amador City.

photPF 190-219

Image not available

Scenic Points in Southern California: Tanner Motor Tours photograph album

Visual Materials

A promotional photograph album for Tanner Motor Tours with an embossed title on the cover, a first page listing tours and prices, and 41 gelatin silver 8 x 10-inch photographs adhered to paper pages. The photographs have imbedded titles and document places of interest, approximately 1930s, in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Riverside, Ontario, San Diego, and Agua Caliente, Mexico. Three images show people riding in the Tanner Motor Tours motor coaches, or small buses. There are several images of motion picture studios: Hal Roach, R.K.O.-Pathe, and M.G.M. studios in Culver City; Fox Movietone City, Westwood; United Artists, Hollywood; and Universal Pictures in Universal City. Other images of note are: oil wells in Huntington Beach; the Angelus Temple, bearing signs for Aimee Semple McPherson; Casa Figueroa, the home of Ramon Figueroa; and the home of Pio Pico in Whittier. Photographs are credited to Dingman & Dreessen?, Long Beach, California. Some pages are missing photographs.

photCL 627

Image not available

Photographs of Los Angeles, Mojave mining, and Santa Catalina Island

Visual Materials

Consists of twelve photographs and postcards. photPF 350-353 depict the aftermath of the 1912 fire in Ocean Park, California. photPF 354 shows a couple in a vacation tent on a hill above Hotel Metropole in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. photPF 355-356 shows mine buildings of the Mojave mining district in Kern County. And photPF 357-359 depicts areas of early downtown Los Angeles, including a view of the city from Brooklyn Heights by Francis Parker, Iglesia Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, also known as La Placita Church or the Church of our Lady of Los Angeles on Olvera Street, and a view of Bunker Hill from 3rd and Hill Streets.

photPF 350-359

Image not available

Photographs of central and southern California

Visual Materials

Consists of six photographs. photPF 910, depicting a scene in San Luis Obispo, is a copy print from corresponding lantern slide number 113 in phoCL 352. photPF 911 shows the Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel against the mountains. photPF 912, 914, 915 show various locations across Pasadena and includes one stereograph. photPF 917 presents a view of San Pedro Harbor.

photPF 910-919

Photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson and her ministry

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

McPherson, Aimee Semple

Healing Service at Balboa Park. [Aimee Semple] McPherson Revival

Photographic views of California

Scenic Points in Southern California: Tanner Motor Tours photograph album

Photographs of Los Angeles, Mojave mining, and Santa Catalina Island

Photographs of central and southern California