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Exhibits

William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection

Item set

Title
William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection
Description
Capturing the rich history of the early twentieth century, the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection (Identification #96-07-08) highlights well-known landmarks, historic events, and scenic vistas from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, from the Deep South to Canada, and from Mexico to Cuba. Scenes across the Golden State are captured in stunning shots from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite and the Central Coast to Southern California cities. The collection features nearly 3,000 photographs taken by native Californians William M. and Grace McCarthy from approximately 1905 to 1938. The McCarthys traveled extensively during the early years of automobile travel, as newly constructed highways connected people and places throughout the United States and beyond, providing pictorial documentation of a pivotal period in our nation's history.

William M. McCarthy (1876 – 1956) and Grace C. Kane (1878 – 1957) wed in the early 1900s and lived in San Francisco for most of their lives where William was stationed as an armament expert for the U.S. War Department. The collection features photographs of the McCarthys' travels, as well as the many family members and friends they encountered along the way. Always ready with his camera, William McCarthy also captured remarkable images of significant events, including shots of San Francisco before and after the 1906 earthquake, the fire that destroyed that city's iconic Cliff House in 1907, the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and their 1938 journey into Mexico along the newly constructed Pan American Highway. The original black and white photographs, mounted in eleven albums, make up one of the few private collections preserved by the California State Archives. The entire collection was digitized by the State Archives' curatorial staff.

To request a high-resolution scan of one or more of these images, contact the California State Archives at ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov or (916) 653-2246. Please include the Title or Identifier for each photograph in which you are interested, as well as the desired format (tiff, jpg, pdf) and resolution (DPI) for the requested scan. Duplication fees will apply.

DISCLAIMER
The views, opinions, and positions expressed by the creators of the materials presented (William and Grace McCarthy) are theirs alone. As noted in image descriptions, certain photographs are restricted or have been cropped due to sensitive content deemed unsuitable for online distribution.
Date
1905-1938
Contributor
Audrey Fullerton-Samora of Sacramento, great niece of William and Grace McCarthy, donated the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection to the California State Archives in 1996.
Creator
William M. McCarthy
Publisher
California State Archives, a division of the California Secretary of State's Office
Rights
The California State Archives, a division of the California Secretary of State’s Office, owns the copyright to the William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection. The images and content may be used for personal use, research, or educational purposes. For any use of these materials, please credit the “California State Archives, William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection, Identification #96-07-08.” Commercial use or distribution of the images or content is not permitted without prior written permission from the California State Archives. Please note that the materials contained in this collection may include copyrighted material (such as postcards) not held by the California State Archives. Additionally, other limitations, such as the right of publicity, may limit use of the materials in this collection.

For more information about the copyrights related to this collection or to request permission to use the digital images or content, please contact the California State Archives at ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov or (916) 653-2246.
Identifier
Collection ID#96-07-08

Items

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  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 325
    Caption: "8" Gun," c. 1909. Shows the barrel and carriage of an 8" heavy artillery gun, likely used in coastal defense.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 324
    No caption, c. 1909. Grace McCarthy (far right, with parasol) sitting with a group of unidentified adults and children on a bench in a park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 323
    No caption, c. 1909. William McCarthy (second from the left) and a group of unidentified family and friends boating on a river or lake.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 322
    Caption: "Fort Winfield Scott Target Practice." This postcard shows a plume of seawater thrown up by a mortar shell during target practice at Fort Point. Fort Point was part of an effort by the U.S. government to protect the Golden Gate, entrance to the San Francisco Bay. Built between 1853-1861, the fort included emplacements for 141 guns but never fired a weapon in defense of the Bay. Its name was officially changed in 1882 to Fort Winfield Scott. This only lasted four years, however, for in 1886 the fort was officially downgraded to a sub-post of the San Francisco Presidio and the name discontinued. It was resurrected in 1912, with the establishment of a coastal artillery fortification at the Presidio, called, once again, Fort Winfield Scott. See also 96-07-08-alb08-029.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 321
    Caption: "#2 -- Record Oct 25, 09." This postcard shows plume of seawater thrown up by a mortar shell during target practice at Fort Point. The facilities at Fort Point were part of an effort by the U.S. government to protect the Golden Gate, entrance to the San Francisco Bay. Built between 1853-1861, the fort included emplacements for 141 guns but never fired a weapon in defense of the Bay. Its name was officially changed in 1882 to Fort Winfield Scott. This only lasted four years, however, for in 1886 the fort was officially downgraded to a sub-post of the San Francisco Presidio and the name discontinued. It was resurrected in 1912, however, with the establishment of a coastal artillery fortification at the Presidio, called, once again, Fort Winfield Scott.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 320
    Caption: "Damaged German Submarine.," c. 1917. Shows the above-water portions of a German U-boat, or submarine, likely docked in either Petaluma or San Francisco, given the presence of a Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railway ferry in the background.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 319
    Caption: "Aeroplane -- Monte Rio,, Calif.," c. 1915. Biplane parked in a field, with an unidentified man on crutches nearby.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 318
    Caption: "A Tank from the Liberty Bond Train." Shows a Renault FT Tank, a small French tank with caterpillar-style propulsion used during World War I. This tank was displayed as part of the fifth Liberty Bond Drive, held in 1919. During World War I, the U.S. government raised funds for the war by issuing "liberty bonds." Liberty Bond Trains crisscrossed the country to encourage purchase of the bonds. Citizens who purchased the bonds could later redeem them for the purchase price plus interest.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 317
    Caption: "Decorated Locomotive. Fifth Liberty Bond Drive -- Benicia, Calif." During World War I, the U.S. government raised funds for the war by issuing "liberty bonds." Citizens who purchased the bonds could later redeem them for the purchase price plus interest. Liberty Bond Drives were held to encourage people to purchase the bonds. This photograph shows a locomotive employed in the fifth Liberty Bond Drive, held in 1919. Decorated with bunting and flags to inspire patriotic feeling, Liberty Bond Trains crisscrossed the U.S. to round up funding.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 316
    No caption, c. 1915. Two unidentified people sitting on a bench overlooking a garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 315
    No caption, c. 1915. Two unidentified adults and one unidentified child posing in front of a hedge. All three are holding rabbits of varying sizes.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 314
    No caption, c. 1915. Two unidentified people posing on a porch.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 313
    Caption: "Motoring in Solano Co. Calif.," c. 1915. William (driver's seat) and Grace (rear seat, at right) McCarthy posing in an automobile with an unidentified woman.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 312
    No caption, c. 1915. William (driver's seat) and Grace (front passenger seat) McCarthy posing in an automobile with a group of unidentified friends and/or family members.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 311
    No caption: "Concord Calif.," c. 1915. Group of unidentified people posing in front of a residence in Concord, California.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 310
    No caption, c. 1915. Several unidentified people posing in two automobiles in front of a residence in Concord, California.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 309
    Caption: "Blue Rock Springs -- Solano Co.," c. 1915. Grace McCarthy (far left) and two unidentified friends or relatives at what is now known as Blue Rock Springs. In the 1860s, White Sulphur Springs (in the vicinity of Vallejo) was developed for use as a mineral springs resort, featuring a hotel, several cottages, and an "amusement" building with a dance floor, bar, and billiard room. Manuel Madrid obtained the property around the turn of the twentieth century, and changed the name to Blue Rock Springs. The area is now managed by the Greater Vallejo Recreation District as Blue Rock Springs Park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 308
    No caption, c. 1915. William (far right) and Grace (second from left) standing with unidentified friends or family in a garden or yard, possibly in the vicinity of Blue Rock Springs, Solano County.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 307
    Caption: "Causeway -- Sacramento Highway." William and Grace McCarthy driving over the newly-constructed Yolo Causeway, an elevated stretch of I-80 that connects what is now West Sacramento with Davis by traveling across the Yolo Bypass. The Yolo Causeway's official name is Blecher-Freeman Memorial Causeway.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 306
    Caption: "Race Track -- S.F. Exposition." Race track at San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in 1915. A horse race is in progress, with several spectators out of their seats in anticipation of the finish.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 305
    No caption, undated. Depicts a temporary memorial of some kind, possibly a funeral arrangement, with a cloth canopy over a podium upon which sits a covered table or small casket, with a cross and decorative flowers and palm fronds. Stairs leading to the podium are bracketed by small pedestals topped by vases holding American flags.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 304
    Caption: "Casa Del Rey -- Santa Cruz.," c. 1911. View of the resort hotel known as Casa del Rey, built in 1911 in Santa Cruz. The hotel operated until sustaining significant damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The building was subsequently demolished.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 303
    Caption: "Chino Calif.," c. 1915. Unidentified child pulling another unidentified, smaller child in a wagon in front of a Craftsman-style residence.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 302
    No caption, c. 1915. Unidentified child pulling another unidentified, smaller child in a wagon.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 301
    Caption: "San Diego Fair Grounds." and "39-9, U.S. Naval Training Station, Balboa Park, San Diego," c. 1917. With the advent of World War I, the U.S. Navy needed additional training grounds for sailors. In 1917, the City of San Diego offered to lease the Navy a portion of Balboa Park as a temporary training site until a new, more permanent facility could be constructed. This postcard shows groups of sailors drilling in formation while a small crowd watches.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 300
    Caption: "San Diego Fair Grounds." and "39-6, 3,400 Men, Naval Training Station, Balboa Park, San Diego Cal.," c. 1917. With the advent of World War I, the U.S. Navy needed additional training grounds for sailors. In 1917, the City of San Diego offered to lease the Navy a portion of Balboa Park as a temporary training site until a new, more permanent facility could be constructed. This postcard shows 3,400 sailors lined up to form a Navy flag while at the temporary training ground.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 299
    Caption: "Street Scene -- San Diego.," c. 1910. Street-level view of street in San Diego. The U.S. Grant Hotel rises above the surrounding buildings in the center of the photograph.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 298
    Caption: "Grant Hotel -- San Diego," c. 1910. View of the U.S. Grant Hotel, built by the son of Ulysses S. Grant (Union General and 18th President of the U.S.), who named the hotel for his father. The building, designed by Harrison Albright, opened for business in October 1910.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 297
    Caption: "Forbidden Garden -- Santa Barbara Mission," c. 1910. View of the gardens associated with Santa Barbara Mission. The gardens initially served as the location for instructing neophytes (Native American converts living at the mission) in trades and skills deemed necessary to life in European civilization. Later, the garden was used for meditation. The garden was often dubbed "forbidden" because it was closed to female visitors, as were many enclosures in active missions.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 296
    Caption: "Santa Barbara Mission," c. 1910. View of Mission Santa Barbara, established by Spanish Franciscan monks in 1786.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 295
    No caption, c. 1910. Unidentified man leaning against tree.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 294
    No caption, c. 1910. Unidentified woman holding a baby while standing in a park or garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 293
    Caption: "Echo Park [sic] -- Los Angeles," c. 1910. Grace McCarthy standing on a bridge in Los Angeles' Echo Lake Park. The park opened in 1895. The lake was originally created in 1868 to support the operations of a mill. The mill, however, closed seven years later. The site was later selected for conversion to a city park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 292
    Caption: "Echo Park [sic] Los Angeles," c. 1910. William McCarthy standing on a bridge in Los Angeles' Echo Lake Park. The park opened in 1895. The lake was originally created in 1868 to support the operations of a mill. The mill, however, closed seven years later. The site was later selected for conversion to a city park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 291
    Caption: "Echo Park [sic] Los Angeles," c. 1910. View across Echo Lake at lush vegetation along the far lake edge. Echo Lake Park opened in 1895. The lake was originally created in 1868 to support the operations of a mill. The mill, however, closed seven years later. The site was later selected for conversion to a city park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 290
    Caption: "East Lake [sic] Park," c. 1910. Eastlake Park in Los Angeles was originally created by the city in 1881 under the name "East Los Angeles Park." Renamed Eastlake Park in 1901, it gained its current name, Lincoln Park, in 1917. In this photograph, Grace McCarthy, seen from across East Lake, stands at the lake's edge on the right, surrounded by lush vegetation and park benches.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 289
    Caption: "High School -- San Diego," c. 1910. By 1902 San Diego's schools had become overcrowded enough to warrant the construction of a new high school building. Completed in 1907 and designed by F.S. Allen, the new building was quickly nicknamed the "Grey Castle on the Hill" in reference to its castle-like parapets and towers. The Grey Castle was torn down in 1975 to make way for a facility in compliance with new earthquake safety laws.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 288
    Caption: "Court House -- San Diego," c. 1910. View of the second courthouse built by San Diego County, completed in 1889. Designed by architectural firm Cornstock & Trotsche of San Francisco, this elaborate building featured a bell and clock tower, statues of four presidents, and 42 stained-glass windows honoring each state in the Union at the time of installation. The tower was removed in 1939. Twenty years later, the entire building was demolished in favor of a newer facility.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 287
    No caption, c. 1910. View of the California State Capitol Building. Trees obscure much of the building.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 286
    Caption: "A Holdup," c. 1910. Grace McCarthy standing in a yard or garden aiming a rifle at an unseen target.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 285
    No caption, undated. Image of unidentified lake and surrounding park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 284
    Caption: "East Lake [sic] Park, Los Angeles," c. 1906. Eastlake Park in Los Angeles was originally created by the city in 1881 under the name "East Los Angeles Park." Renamed Eastlake Park in 1901, it gained its current name, Lincoln Park, in 1917. This photograph shows the park's elaborate bandstand and portions of the lake for which the park is named.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 283
    Caption: "Street Scene -- Los Angeles," c. 1910. Street-level view of an unidentified busy street in Los Angeles.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 282
    Caption: "Street Scene -- Los Angeles," c. 1910. Rooftop view of an unidentified street in Los Angeles.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 281
    Caption: "Ocean Park," c. 1910. Night view of amusement zone at what became Venice, California. In 1905, Abbot Kinney built a series of canals as part of a development project along Santa Monica Beach, hoping to recreate the look and feel of Italy's iconic "Floating City" in southern California. Called Ocean Park at first, in 1911, the name officially changed to Venice. By 1929, however, many of the canals had been filled in to create roadways, and those that remained fell into disrepair. A revitalization movement in the early 1990s has restored some of the canals, and made the area a desirable residential neighborhood.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 280
    Caption: "Venice," c. 1911. View of canal and bridge in Venice, California, with amusement "zone" in the distance. In 1905, Abbot Kinney built a series of canals as part of a development project along Santa Monica Beach, hoping to recreate the look and feel of Italy's iconic "Floating City" in southern California. Called Ocean Park at first, in 1911, the name officially changed to Venice. By 1929, however, many of the canals had been filled in to create roadways, and those that remained fell into disrepair. A revitalization movement in the early 1990s has restored some of the canals, and made the area a desirable residential neighborhood.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 279
    Caption: "A Wooded Garden -- Pasadena, Calif.," c. 1910. William and Grace McCarthy seated in chairs beneath a tree in a garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 278
    Caption: "Hollywood.," c. 1915. Street scene in Hollywood, California. The Hotel Hollywood is visible at the left side of the photograph. The hotel, originally built in 1902 and expanded in 1905, served as a social venue for many of Hollywood's early film stars. It was torn down in 1956 to make way for an office building.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 277
    No Photograph 277 exists in Album 05, the number having apparently been skipped when the photographs were labeled.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 276
    Caption: "Long Beach," c. 1910. Bathers enjoying the surf at Long Beach. Long Beach pier runs through the center of the photograph.