Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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Photographs from the archives of Pictorial California magazine (later renamed Pictorial California and the Pacific). Bound and loose issues of the magazine (1926-1970) are available (however there are issue gaps). The magazine heavily promoted Los Angeles and Southern California but also featured other places of interest throughout California and the Western United States. Motion picture personalities and prominent individuals were also featured. Part of the collection is arranged by date and issue number of the magazine (that is, where a photograph appeared in an issue); the balance is arranged by subject or motion picture personalities.
- Biographical / historical:
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Pictorial California debuted in December 1925 by founder Eugene Swarzwald. The magazine was self-described as the first rotogravure magazine with a 24-page picture book format. Volume 5, number 1, January 1930, appeared with a name change to Pictorial California and the Pacific. The expanded geographic coverage included a new directory of hotels, resorts and other travel information The magazine was later operated by Vivian Smith Swarzwald as Publisher and Editor through the issue of Volume 43, number 1 Winter 1968. A new incoming owner, William L. Lemons, published the next issue for the Spring of 1968 without introduction, but the following issue, Volume 43, number 3, introduced the publication in color. For an additional biographical and historical note, see a related collection at the Huntington Library, the Eugene Swarzwald "Pictorial California and the Pacific" Collection of Photographs.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Research is by appointment only
- Terms of access:
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Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder
- Preferred citation:
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Pictorial California Collection, ca. 1926-1970. Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
- Location of this collection:
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900 Exposition BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007-4057, US
- Contact:
- (213) 763-3359