Big Basin Park Photograph Album, 1890-1920
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Big Basin Park Photograph Album
- Dates:
- 1890-1920
- Creators:
- Hill, Andrew Putnam
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- .5 linear feet
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Big Basin Park Photograph Album. History San Jose Research Library
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The album contains 96 black and white, sepia, and hand-colored photographs taken by Andrew Putnam Hill in the Big Basin Park area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, featuring redwoods, mountains, wildlife, and group portraits of the Sempervirens Club activities. Photographs have been removed from the album.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Andrew Putnam Hill was a San Jose artist and photographer who is credited with saving the old growth redwoods of Big Basin, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of the California central coast area. Hill first saw the big trees of the redwood forest in 1899 when he was hired to photograph them for a magazine story. When he learned that they were to be logged he was inspired to work to prevent their destruction. From then on, much of his life was devoted to the cause of preserving the redwoods and to the creation of a public park at Big Basin. In 1900 Hill gathered together a group of influential persons from San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Cruz for a camping trip in Big Basin and it was then that the Sempervirens Club was founded. The Sempervirens were to become pioneers in the conservation movement. The club motto was “Save the Redwoods.” The first officers were Charles W. Reed, president; Carrie Stevens Walter, secretary; J. Q. Packard, treasurer; W. W. Richards, sporting secretary; and Andrew P. Hill, official artist. Their first order of business was the passage of state legislation that would provide for the purchase of Big Basin for a state park. They were able to enlist the support of many prominent people in politics, journalism, and education. Local papers, such as the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Jose Mercury Herald, supplied favorable publicity for their cause. In 1901 California governor Henry T. Gage signed the appropriations bill providing for the purchase of 2,500 acres at the price of $250,000. In 1904 the California Redwood Park was officially opened to campers, becoming the first state park in California. The name was later changed to Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
- Acquisition information:
- Part of the History San Jose Photographic Collection.
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- 1890-1920
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on April 17, 2025, 11:28 a.m.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The photographs are available to researchers by appointment with the Curator of Library and Archives.
- Preferred citation:
-
Big Basin Park Photograph Album. History San Jose Research Library
- Location of this collection:
-
1661 Senter RoadSan Jose, CA 95112, US
- Contact:
- (408) 287-2290