Oblong Quarto album (ca. 18,4x26,8 cm). 10 card stock leaves. With 39 mounted original gelatin silver photographs; six large ones ca. 15,1x20,4 cm (6x8 in), and the rest from ca. 9x12,3 cm (4 ¾ x 3 ½ in) to 8,4x4,1 cm (3 ¼ x 1 ½ in). All photos with period captions (in pencil) on the mounts. Period suede album with hand-painted collage of a flower on the front cover. A photograph on the second page cut out with majority of the photo removed, some photos age-toned, but overall a very good album with strong, interesting photos.

An attractive collection of early, lively vernacular photographs of the Los Angeles County and Santa Fe, New Mexico, apparently taken during a road trip by an LA female resident in 1902-1903.

According to the photos, the compiler and her friends (among identified companions are “Francis Saunders” and “W. A. Baldwin”) left Los Angeles for New Mexico in late December 1902. They spent several days in Santa Fe, then quickly made their way back through Arizona, stopping in Pasadena to celebrate the New Year. The group went on to explore the rest of the Los Angeles County, visiting Long Beach, Arcadia, Altadena, Santa Monica, and Avalon, concluding their journey in July 1903.

The album contains thirty-nine original gelatin silver photos from the trip, including thirty-two stunning views of Los Angeles and its environs. The collection opens with a photo of the compiler’s home (exterior) at 61 Euclide Ave in LA, followed by four well-executed close-up portraits of her, her family members, and friends meditating, reading, etc. About ten lively, candid urban scenes capture the Rose Parade in Pasadena, showing Navajo Indians in traditional attire with deer hides, riding horseback along Colorado Boulevard, and posing by a float of Indian blankets. Six excellent, large-size photos showcase the famous Baldwin’s Ranch in Arcadia, “Echo Mountain,” “neighbors on Euclide Street” in LA, the travelers’ relaxing on the beach on Catalina Island, and the compiler posing in a dress with a hat and umbrella. Other images mostly portray the traveling party by Rubio Canyon, on the beach at Santa Monica, etc.

The collection also includes about seven well-executed rare photos of Santa Fe, showing a Mexican woman and girl doing laundry, a peasant guiding donkeys laden with wood, children playing on Burro Alley, and the Old Governor’s Palace. 

Overall, a historically interesting album with early original gelatin silver photographs of Los Angeles County and Santa Fe.