Visual Materials

Hector Alliot and Charles F. Lummis portraits

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Description: Contents: Black-and-white portrait of Dr. Hector Alliot, a professor of Art History at USC, the first curator for the Southwest Society of the Archaeological Institute (1901), and the Director of the Soutwest Museum (1909) founded by Charles Lummis; Black-and-white photograph of Charles F. Lummis sitting at his desk writing (Copyright 1902. By C.F. Lummis.1337). C.F. Lummis portrait transferred from Samuel L. Kreider papers [mssKreider papers].
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1902.
Call number: photPF 3908-3909
Creator: Lummis, Charles Fletcher (1859-1928)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Acquired from various sources.

Charles Fletcher Lummis handmade holiday cards

Visual Materials

Two handmade photographic holiday card booklets for 1911 and 1924, as well as four additional greeting card postcards, from Charles Fletcher Lummis, dated 1921, 1926, and 1927, with handwritten inscriptions by Lummis and captioned photographs of Lummis, his family, and his home, El Alisal, in Los Angeles, California. The earliest card, a bound 1911 New Year booklet, inscribed to Clara and Robert Burdette, contains 18 cyanotypes including multiple images of Lummis's children, especially his son Jordan Lummis (known as Quimu), and El Alisal, as well as reproductions of portraits of Lummis as a boy and young man and a reproduction of a drawing of Francisco Amate. A similar bound holiday booklet, inscribed to "Ellarine" Ironside (Jeanne Ironside) in 1924 contains 6 photographs (4 cyanotypes and 2 photomechanical reprints). Four single cards, all with photomechanical reprints, are inscribed to Ellarine, depicting the following subjects: portrait of Lummis, ca. 1921; Lummis Caracol Tower at the Southwest Museum, 1926; portrait of Lummis, 1927; and Lummis in New Mexico with singer Tsianina and Santiago Naranjo of the Santa Clara Pueblo, undated (ca. 1926).

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[Charles Lummis with four of the Del Valle girls]

Visual Materials

Self portrait of Charles Lummis sitting in a chair with four young women of the Del Valle family around him: (1) Del Valle family member (2) Rimpau family member (3) Del Valle family member (4) Charles Lummis pulling the wire to take the photo (5) Possibly Susanita Del Valle.

photCL 504

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Charles F. Lummis photographs of El Alisal, family members, and other subjects

Visual Materials

This collection of photographs by Charles F. Lummis consists of 383 glass plate negatives and 5 autochromes (glass plate color photographs), dating from approximately 1888-1923. A large portion of the images document the construction of Lummis' stone residence, El Alisal, in what is now Highland Park, Los Angeles, which he began building in 1898 and finished in 1913. Exterior and interior progress views show details of construction, such as a window Lummis made of a collage of glass photographic plates. Lummis also photographed the land he bought for his house, which shows a largely untouched Arroyo Seco dotted with oak trees and a few other houses. The collection also contains numerous portraits of Lummis' four children with his second wife, Eve, seen at various ages: Turbesé (born 1892), Amado (born 1894), Jordan "Quimu" (born 1900), and Keith (born 1904). Other portraits include Eve Lummis and several notable Western writers and artists: John Muir, Charles M. Russell, Ed Borein, John T. Doyle, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Julia Bracken Wendt, and Thomas Moran. The five autochrome portraits of art collector and dealer Grace Nicholson show her in different poses, wearing a pink fancy dress and hat, and in a Chinese robe. Based on the different format and professional appearance of the Nicholson images, there is some doubt as to whether Lummis took them or they just came into his possession. Lummis is seen in several self-portraits, at various ages, 1877-1909, and in some family groupings. A few images are photographs of photographs or paintings. Lummis also appears in some scenes at Rancho Camulos, Ventura County, with members of the Del Valle family. Various other subjects include: Lummis' earlier home on Forester Avenue, Los Angeles (1890s); California missions; Eve Lummis and others at Isleta pueblo, New Mexico, where she taught school; Native Americans from Isleta at El Alisal with Lummis' family; and miscellaneous unidentified scenes. The bulk of glass plates are 5 x 7 inches, with some 8 x 10 inches, and many have names or dates written at the bottom in Lummis' hand, with his initials.

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Charles Lummis letters

Manuscripts

Sixteen of the seventeen letters are addressed to Charles Lummis. The authors include: Anthropologist Adolph Bandelier (written from Bolivia), writer Ella Higginson, historian and author J. Franklin Jameson (asking Lummis to write an article on Mexico), Lummis' second wife Eva, Henrietta Lungren (wife of Southwest artist Fernand Lungren), surgeon, ethnographer, and linguist Washington Matthews (about his book Navajo legends), author Grace Ellery Channing Stetson (and wife of artist Charles Stetson), Wells Fargo & Company president John J. Valentine (regarding U.S. politics), and stage actress Louise Wakelee Elliott. There is one letter by Charles Lummis to his wife Eve. This letter was written in 1896 while he was in Mexico.

mssHM 79080-79096

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Photograph Album from Charles F. Lummis to Susanita Del Valle

Visual Materials

The photograph album chronicles Charles F. Lummis's time with the Del Valle family at Rancho Camulos in Ventura County, California, from 1887 to 1888. There are many photographs of the Del Valle family, particularly the Del Valle daughters, with whom Lummis is shown playfully interacting. Family gatherings include a local Catholic priest, couples dancing, and young women playing instruments. Views of Rancho Camulos, the surrounding landscape, and architectural features such as the placita, the chapel, and the south veranda, are also prominently featured. The front cover of the photograph album bears the embossed title of "Susanita Del Valle," while the spine's title says, "Views of Camulos." An inscription on the third page reads: "Susanita Del Valle, with the best wishes of Chas. F. Lummis—Feb. 3, 1888." Some of the pictures appear in The Home of Ramona: Photographs of Camulos, the Fine Old Spanish Estate Described by Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, as the Home of "Ramona," by Charles F. Lummis, published in Los Angeles in 1888. The Huntington Library holds a copy of this book (RB 35644) as well as a second edition (RB 252770). Both copies are illustrated with original cyanotypes by Lummis, many of which are in The Home of Ramona.

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Charles Fletcher Lummis letters

Manuscripts

The collection consists of 148 items and includes letters concerning the work of Charles Fletcher Lummis as Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library. A significant portion of this collection is correspondence written to Lummis concerning his requests for autographs from various authors and other famous individuals; these autographs were displayed under glass in a special exhibit at the Los Angeles Public Library. The collection also contains a small amount of ephemera including notes, autograph cards, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and a printed advertisement.

mssHM 44807-44933

Hector Alliot and Charles F. Lummis portraits

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Charles Fletcher Lummis handmade holiday cards

[Charles Lummis with four of the Del Valle girls]

Charles F. Lummis photographs of El Alisal, family members, and other subjects

Charles Lummis letters

Photograph Album from Charles F. Lummis to Susanita Del Valle

Charles Fletcher Lummis letters