Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives, 1889-1958, bulk bulk 1913-1949

Summary

Creators:: Parker, Harold A. (1878-1930).
Abstract:: The Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives consists of 5157 glass plate negatives, film negatives, and panoramic negatives, 1889-1949, that depict commercial, residential and landscape sites in and around Pasadena and Southern California. The images provide a look at the commercial, residential and social development of Pasadena and surrounding areas during the early years of the twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in images of residential architecture in Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino; images of Lake Tahoe; depictions of, and activities at, the Raymond, Maryland, and Huntington Hotels in Pasadena; and the commercial, social and cultural landscapes of Pasadena. The collection also provides, through its breadth and depth of subject matter, an example of the career activities of a commercial photographer in Southern California in the early years of the twentieth century.
Extent:: 5157 photographs in 60 boxes and 4 binders (44.47 linear feet)
Language:: English.

Background

Scope and content:

The Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives consists of 5157 glass plate negatives, film negatives, and panoramic negatives, 1889-1949, that depict commercial, residential and landscape sites in and around Pasadena and Southern California. The images provide a look at the commercial, residential and social development of Pasadena and surrounding areas during the early years of the twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in images of residential architecture in Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino; images of Lake Tahoe; depictions of, and activities at, the Raymond, Maryland, and Huntington Hotels in Pasadena; and the commercial, social and cultural landscapes of Pasadena. The collection also provides, through its breadth and depth of subject matter, an example of the career activities of a commercial photographer in Southern California in the early years of the twentieth century.

The collection's 599 glass plate negatives (which are primarily 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches), 4429 film negatives (which are primarily 8 x 10 inches but also include 5 x 7 and 4 x 6 inch negatives), and 127 panoramic negatives depict a wide variety of subjects. These include, but are not limited to, aerial views of Pasadena taken on Roy Knabenshue's 1913 dirigible flight over Pasadena, which can be found at the beginning of the collection, and aerial views taken in 1949, which can be found at the end of the film negatives section; Yosemite; many of the California Missions; Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Tavern; images of Catalina Island; the Raymond, Maryland and Huntington Hotels in Pasadena, including the aftermath of the fire at the Maryland Hotel; Pasadena schools, consisting of construction photographs, interiors, exteriors, school children in and out of classrooms; businesses, primarily window and floor displays, views of interiors and exteriors, employees on the job, and construction photographs of new business buildings (of especial note are the many photographs of markets and grocery stores, and laundries); churches, hospitals, libraries, theaters, and civic buildings, consisting of construction photographs and views of interiors and exteriors (of especial note are the images of hospitals in Pasadena during the 1919 influenza epidemic); residences in Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino, consisting of street scenes, exteriors, interiors, furniture, architectural details, and architectural renderings by architects such as Wallace Neff, Marston, Van Pelt and Maybury, and Myron Hunt; prefabricated houses and tract homes in the Pasadena area; gardens, both public and private; the Colorado Street bridge; the Rose Bowl; airplanes, including the Vin-Fiz Flyer, the airplane piloted by Calbraith Perry Rodgers that completed the first United States transcontinental flight from Long Island to Pasadena; automobiles, automobile dealerships, and service stations and garages; notable individuals including Albert Einstein, Herbert Hoover, and Ernestine Schumann Heink; and residences, commercial buildings, and landscape views in other locations within Southern California including Alhambra, Antelope Valley, Arcadia, Arvin, Bakersfield, Flintridge, Los Angeles, Monrovia, Palm Springs, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena, Tehachapi, and Whittier. Also present are portraits (many unidentified). Most subjects can be found scattered throughout the collection, and in all formats.

The collection also contains a copy of The Planter, a novel by Herman Whitaker. Parker shot stills for the film version of the novel, starring Tyrone Power, and the book is annotated with clippings and Parker's photographs.

The collection may contain photographs taken by J. Allen Hawkins.

Biographical / historical:

Harold A. Parker (1878-1930) was born in Iowa and immigrated to Pasadena with his parents in 1892 at the age of 14. He became interested in photography at an early age, and began working professionally in 1900. Parker opened his Pasadena studio in 1904 and operated it until his death in 1930 at the age of 52. Parker also operated a studio in the Tahoe Tavern at Lake Tahoe between 1908 and 1910, where he produced a number of images of the Tavern, Lake Tahoe, and the surrounding areas. Parker was noted for his photographs of California, especially his images of the California Missions and the Tournament of Roses parades; he was also responsible for the earliest aerial images of Pasadena. A commercial photographer, Parker worked as a contract photographer for the Pasadena Star-News Tournament of Roses edition, and took pictures of civic and social organizations, local retailers, and private individuals who commissioned him to record their gatherings, buildings, and various rites of passage.

After Parker's death in 1930, operation of the studio fell to his wife, Marjorie. Sometime in the 1930s, Dickson and Thurber Studios purchased the business and operated it until shortly after World War II when it was subsequently purchased by the firm of Lee and Mac. J. Allen Hawkins, who had worked for Parker as a teenager, purchased approximately 35,000 glass plates and negatives from Lee and Mac and moved them to his studio on North Lake Avenue, Pasadena. The Parker negatives were stored at Hawkins' studio until construction of the 210 Freeway in the 1970s forced a relocation. Hawkins destroyed many of the negatives prior to the move, selling the remainder to a movie photographer who subsequently gave them to Donald Parker, Harold Parker's son.

Acquisition information:

The panoramic and glass plate negatives were donated by Donald Parker in 1996; the film negatives were Donated by Donald Parker in 1999.

Arrangement:

The negatives are arranged by format and serial number, which also corresponds generally to chronology: glass plate negatives are listed first, and are the oldest images in the collection, followed by smaller format (8 x 10, 5 x 7, and 4 x 6 inches) film negatives, and panoramic negatives. This arrangement is not strictly chronological; for example, the panoramic negatives span the 1910s and 1920s, but are identified with serial numbers that place them at the end of the collection.

The collection is described at the item level. The item numbers are, for the most part, Harold Parker's serial numbers. Where serial numbers are unreadable, numbers were assigned based on subject matter. Titles come from two sources: the original negative envelope, or the photographer's son and collection donor, Donald Parker. They consist of, generally, city, building, street and general description.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Indexes:

Box Index

The contents of each box is as follows:

Box 1:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 37-204B
Box 2:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 204C-728
Box 3:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 739-1005
Box 4:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1011-1263
Box 5:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1264-1276A
Box 6:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1277-1293
Box 7:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1294-1307
Box 8:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1320-1505
Box 9:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1507-1522
Box 10:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1532-1548
Box 11:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1555-1567
Box 12:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1570-1652
Box 13:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1659-1725
Box 14:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 1740-2239
Box 15:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 2241-2957
Box 16:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 2962-3013
Box 17:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 3014-3096
Box 18:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 3097-3293
Box 19:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 3296-3754
Box 20:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 3773-6255
Box 21:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 6299-6577
Box 22:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 6590-7061
Box 23:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 7090-7446
Box 24:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 7495-7869
Box 25:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 8109-8543
Box 26:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 8573-8731
Box 27:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 8736-9211
Box 28:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 9212-10595
Box 29:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 10679-11303
Box 30:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 11304-11413
Box 31:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 11414-11887
Box 32:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 11888-13748
Box 33:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 13820-14155
Box 34:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 14156-14461
Box 35:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 14462-15164
Box 36:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 15252-16633
Box 37:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 17199-30126
Box 38:	Glass plate negatives, numbers 30127-35209
Box 39:	Film negatives, numbers 1-7014
Box 40:	Film negatives, numbers 25024-26528
Box 41:	Film negatives, numbers 26576-28230
Box 42:	Film negatives, numbers 28231-28892
Box 43:	Film negatives, numbers 28893-29388
Box 44:	Film negatives, numbers 29390-29882
Box 45:	Film negatives, numbers 29883-30873
Box 46:	Film negatives, numbers 30876-31889
Box 47:	Film negatives, numbers 31890-32382
Box 48:	Film negatives, numbers 32383-33135
Box 49:	Film negatives, numbers 33137-34024
Box 50:	Film negatives, numbers 34033-35396A
Box 51:	Film negatives, numbers 35420-35855
Box 52:	Film negatives, numbers 35856-37161
Box 53:	Panoramic negatives, numbers 40001-40040
Box 54:	Panoramic negatives, numbers 40046-40079
Box 55:	Panoramic negatives, numbers 40080-40108
Box 56:	Panoramic negatives, numbers 40109-40129
Box 57:	Ephemera
Box 58:	Copy prints, numbers 1-26663
Box 59:	Copy prints, numbers 26666-36027
Box 60:	Mounted panoramic copy prints

Access and use

Restrictions:: Advance arrangements for viewing the collection must be made with the Curator of Photographs. The collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please visit the Huntington's website: www.huntington.org.

Location of this collection:: Huntington Library, Photo Archives Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:: (626) 405-2129

reference@huntington.org

Website

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