Photographs of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire from the Charles Derleth Papers.

Summary

Creators:

Charles Derleth , T. E. Hecht , A. Blumberg , R. J. Waters & Co. , C. P. Magagnos , the Pillsbury Picture Co. , A. L. Murat , and Stewart Rogers.

Extent:

4 albums (ca. 825 photographic prints); albums are 32 x 26 cm. 557 digital objects

Language:

English

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of four albums of views collected by Charles Derleth of fires and ruins immediately following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The albums have been divided by Derleth into 28 subject groupings that include seismographic records, geological views (before and after the earthquake), and views of various types of structures and the effects of the earthquake upon them. The focus of the collection is upon structural damage to buildings and the infrastructure of the city, such as water supply pipelines. Also included are photographs of sites in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, including Stanford University, Santa Rosa, Point Reyes and Berkeley. Volume one also includes a small section of copy photographs from the earthquake of 1868.

Many of the photographs have handwritten captions, presumably by Derleth. Some of the photographs were taken by Derleth. Other photographers' work featured in the albums include T. E. Hecht, A. Blumberg, R. J. Waters & Co., C. P. Magagnos, the Pillsbury Picture Co., A. L. Murat, and Stewart and Rogers.

Biographical / historical:

Charles Derleth, Jr. (1874-1956) received his B.S. degree at the City College of New York in 1894 and his degree in Civil Engineering at Columbia University in 1896. After serving as an instructor at Columbia and Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado, he became Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 1903. In 1907 he became Dean of the College of Civil Engineering. He held this position until 1942.

Derleth was the chief engineer for the Carquinez Bridge, and consulting engineer for both the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, as well as for the Posey Tube in Alameda, the Campanile on the Berkeley campus, and the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. Derleth was also the Director of the Testing Laboratory in the Civil Engineering Department at UC Berkeley, and a member of the Technical Society of the Pacific Coast.

Acquisition information:

Transferred from the Charles Derleth papers (BANC MSS C-B 717). The papers were a gift of Paul Keim in 1957.

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

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