Oblong Quarto album ca. 18,5x29 cm (7 ¼ x 11 ¼ in). 53 black card stock leaves. With over 270 mounted gelatin silver photos, including over twenty large ones, from ca. 16,5x21,5 cm (6 ½ x 8 ½ in) to ca. 11,5x16,5 cm (4 ½ x 6 ½ in) and over sixty medium-sized images (several printed as real photo postcards) from ca. 10x15 cm (3 ¾ x 6 in) to ca. 8,5x14 cm (31/4 x 5 ¼ in); the rest are from ca. 8x10,5 cm (3 ¼ x 4 ¼ in) to ca. 5,5x8 cm (2 ¼ x 3 in). With over 110 period white or blue ink captions on the mounts or the images (many captions relate to several photos); several photos and real photo postcards are captioned in negative.

With ca. 87 mounted studio gelatin silver photos with the scenes and views from the Western Front of WW1, photos from ca. 8x11 cm (3 x 4 ¼ in) to ca. 5,5x7,5 cm (2 ¼ x 3 in); most are captioned in negative. With four loosely inserted gelatin silver photo portraits of E. Hinchman: a large photo ca. 17,5x23 cm (7x9 in), a group portrait ca. 12,5x18 cm (5x7 in, mounted on the original card, ink caption and date “1912” on the lower margin), and two smaller portraits, both with period pencil or pen captions and dates on verso.

Period brown sheep album fastened with a string; gilt-lettered title “Photographs” on the front cover;” paper label of “Ideal Specialty Co., Chicago” on the inner side of the rear cover. Owner’s pencil inscription on the inner side of the front cover. Covers rubbed, one image possibly previously removed, a couple of photos mildly faded or with mild silvering, but overall a very good album of interesting photos.

Historically significant extensive collection of original snapshot photos and real photo postcards, documenting the service of Company F of the 5th Infantry Regiment of the National Guard of California in 1916-1917, shortly before the regiment was redesignated into 159th Infantry Regiment of the US Army (September 1917) and sent to the Western Front of WW1 in Europe as a part of the American Expeditionary Forces.

Company F, formerly Oakland Light Cavalry, was organized in 1878 and redesignated to the 5th Infantry Regiment, National Guard of California, in 1886. It participated in the regimental encampments, parades and mimic warfare and was first called for active duty during a railroad strike in 1894. Company F was mustered into federal service during the Spanish-American War (1898) and in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. “On June 28, 1916, Company F, as part of the Fifth Infantry Regiment, was mustered into Federal service during the trouble along the Mexican border. After serving at Nogales, Arizona, until October 7, 1916, Company F was once more mustered out of Federal Service. About six months later, March 26, 1917, Company F, as part of the Fifth Infantry Regiment, was again called into the Federal Service for duty during the World War. The Fifth Regiment became a part of the 159th Infantry Regiment, 80th Brigade, 40th Division. Many members of the old Company F, Fifth Infantry Regiment were either killed or wounded on the battlefields of France” (History of the Company F (Oakland Light Cavalry), 5th Infantry Regiment, National Guard of California, 1885-1917; see more).

As follows from the caption to one of the loosely inserted photos, Edward Hinchman served in the National Guard of California as early as 1912. In 1916-1917, he served in Company F, 5th Regiment in the rank of Captain (Bay Cities militia is ready: 500 reserves await call// Oakland Enquirer, June 19, 1916, p. 1; Militia recruits find recreations// The San Francisco Examiner, July 16, 1917, p. 3). In September 1917, Hinchman went to the Western Front of WW1 with his regiment and safely returned in 1919. Later he worked in the mechanical department of the Southern Pacific Railway Co., retiring in 1959 as the superintendent of its southern district with headquarters in Los Angeles (Promoted by SP// Santa Barbara News-Press, June 4, 1959, p. 23).

The album opens with a series of Hinchman’s portraits in military uniform and a signed photo of David P. Barrows (1873-1954), “Colonel 159th Infantry 1922-1925, President University Calif.-Berkeley.”

Over a hundred snapshot photos show Company F’s training camp, held in 1917 near Keddie (Plumas Co., northern California): general views, tents of officers and recruits, the interior of a communication tent, individual and group portraits of officers and soldiers posing next to their tents (there are photos with a visible sign “F. Co., 5th Inf.”), with caught fish, on railway tracks, swimming, doing tug-of-war, throwing a company member in the air, making a gymnastic pyramid, &c. Several company members are identified in the captions (“E.E.H. and 1st Lt. E.A. de Hormida – 1916,” “1st Lt. E. Hutson,” “Crittenden - 1917” “Perry – 1917,” “Allen – 1917,” “McBride,” “Davis,” “Parrot” and others). There are also images of a soldier’s kit prepared for inspection, “Quincy detachment,” views of nearby Lake Almanor, the trestle bridge of Western Pacific Railroad, a train, &c. Several real photo postcards show the town of Keddie, Feather River Inn and Feather River Canyon, where the camp was located, Company F’s members marching along the railway track, posing on the shore of Lake Almanor, &c.

Eight images depict reviews and training of Company F in 1915, including portraits of “Capt. Pritchard & Lt. Hinchman.” At least seventeen photos show the 5th Infantry Regiment’s camps in Nogales, Arizona, in 1916 (general views of the first and second camps, closer views of the camp service buildings); there are also several photos of the regiment’s camps in Sacramento (1916), Fort Mason, San Francisco (1917), and Camp Kearney, San Diego (1917), trenches and scenes with the company’s soldiers practicing shooting, &c.

Over eighty small studio photos are scenes and portraits from the Western Front of WW1, where Hinchman was from 1917-1918. The images show the front lines, trenches, combat scenes, artillery at work, tank attacks, dead soldiers, destroyed cities and infrastructure in France (Marne, Oise, Somme, Meuse Rivers), U.S. naval ships, “American ambulance service with French Army,” Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces General J.J. Pershing, French military planes, German prisoners of war, U.S. military cemetery, &c. The album also contains over forty gelatin silver photos, dating back to 1920-1927 and showing Hinchman’s hikes and camping trips with his friends (von Boden, Kurlfinke) in the Sierra Nevada mountains, views of Los Angeles, track and equipment of the Southern Pacific Railway where he worked, &c. Overall an important, well-annotated visual source on the history of the California National Guard shortly before and during WW1.