Huntington Library, Photo Archives Collections

Collection of 53 late 19th century photographs depicting scenes of popular Southern California destinations including the Andrew McNally residence and grounds on Mariposa Drive, Altadena. Views include Pasadena (streets and Raymond Hotel); Los Angeles (Chinatown, Courthouse, Plaza Church, street railway); San Diego (Hotel del Coronado); Ostrich farm. This was an amateur album possibly taken by a relative of the McNally family.

The Banning Family Collection of Photographs, Part I, contains photographs, glass plate negatives, and one scrapbook collected by the Banning Family of Southern California and depicting various family members, friends, and family properties (both residential and commercial), with an emphasis on Wilmington and Santa Catalina Island, California. Items date from 1855 to 1979 (bulk 1880s-1910s) and consist of 996 black-and-white photographs, 82 glass-plate negatives (5 x 7 inches and 5 x 8 inches), and 1 scrapbook. Of special significance are the Catalina photographs documenting the development of the island from a natural enclave with a few inhabitants to a thriving tourist resort. Photographers represented in the collection include G.O. Ayer; Joseph Brent Banning; Boye; Bradley and Rulofson; E.M. Brickey; Henry H. Buehman; Detroit Photographic Company; George N. Dewey; Ida M. Essery; Hervey Friend; William H. Godfrey; A.C. Golsh; Lola L. Huddleston; Truman W. Ingersoll; Charles Ironmonger; Keystone Photo Service; Theodore Marceau; Frank L. Park; J.R. Putnam; Putnam and Valentine; P.V. Reyes; Frank G. Schumacher; Silas Selleck; Stagg Photography; George Steckel; Noren F. Swenson; Isaiah W. Taber; Louis Thors; C.B. Waite; James D. Westervelt; and Charles A. Zimmerman.

The Banning Family Collection of Photographs, Part II, contains 1204 photographs and 23 photograph albums collected by the Banning family of Southern California from 1814 to 1979 (bulk 1880-1920). The three most substantial categories of images in this collection are views of Santa Catalina Island; Banning family properties and residences in southern California; and portraits of family members and relatives. Of special significance are the Catalina photographs documenting the development of the island from a natural enclave with a few inhabitants to a thriving tourist resort. Volume 7 in the Photograph Album section contains images of the devastating effects of the Catalina fire of 1915. Also of particular interest are photographs of the George S. Patton family. Photographers represented in the collection include Joseph Brent Banning; Bertrand and Co.; Bradley and Rulofson; C.T. Colliers; B.F. Conaway; Dewey Bros.; Hervé Friend; William M. Godfrey; Jarvis Studios; A.L. Mojonier; Payne, Stanton, and Co.; Putnam Studios; Reyes; F.G. Schumacher; Stanton and Burdick; Steckel Studios; Steckel and Lamson; and I.W. Taber.

The collection contains photographs by historian Ralph P. Bieber (1894-1891) documenting the central overland route to California as it appeared in the 1950s. The images show the route through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and California that was used by pioneers and gold seekers beginning in the mid-19th century. Bieber also created categories such as "Donner Party sites," "Gold Discovery Sites," and "Sites associated with John C. Fremont."

This collection contains 73 studio portraits of Native Americans from southwestern Arizona, and were probably taken between 1880 and 1883 in E.A. Bonine's photography tent in Yuma, Arizona.

This collection contains 54 photographs by photographer Isaac H. Bonsall (1833-1909) chiefly depicting the landscape and Union Army operations during the American Civil War in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the surrounding regions, from approximately 1862 to 1865. The prints primarily document encampments, buildings, artillery, steamships, railroad bridges, and soldiers. Two images were not taken by Bonsall and include copyright information for photographer N. Brown.

The Bullock's Department Store Collection consists of 680 photographs and 29 glass plate negatives related to the Los Angeles, California-based department store between 1905 and 1971 (bulk 1912-1945), as well as 2 boxes of ephemera pertaining to Bullock's publicity and events between 1915 and 1952. The collection focuses primarily on the retail spaces, displays, departments, and employees at the downtown Los Angeles store once located at Broadway, 7th, and Hill Streets. The photographs document the various functions associated with the store including the full range of departments; window displays; store merchandising; employee activities and gatherings; children's parties and parades; advertising billboards; the August sales event and crowds; and construction scenes from 1912 and 1928. Photographers include Warren Bowen Studios; Brown and Warrington; duBois Photo Co.; Frank C. Elliott; Jim England; Graham Photo; Keystone Photo; J.C. Milligan; Ernest Pratt; Otto Rothschild; Stagg Photography; Art Streib; "Dick" Whittington Studio; Whitland Locke Commercial Photography; and Witzel Photo.

This finding aid brings together information about the Huntington's collections of panoramic negatives. These 436 negatives are located in three separate collections: the Verner Collection of Panoramic Negatives, the Harold A. Parker Collection of Photographs and Negatives, and the "'Dick"' Whittington Studio Collection of Photographs and Negatives. They depict Los Angeles and surrounding areas, and group portraits, 1889-1958. The collection is an important resource for the visual history of Los Angeles, and contains photographs by some of the better-known photographers and photographic firms of the first part of the twentieth century.

A collection of 66 miscellaneous photographs of railroad-related subjects, with many steam locomotives and several scenes of train wrecks, late-19th to early-20th centuries.