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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 174
    Caption: "Fort Casey Washington," c. 1909. Overview of several buildings at Fort Casey, located on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. Construction began on the fort in 1897. Fort Casey was part of the "triangle of fire," three coastal defense fortifications (Fort Casey, Fort Worden, and Fort Flagler) guarding the entrance to Puget Sound. The area is now a state park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 173
    Caption: "Fort Casey Lighthouse.," c. 1909. Located on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, the Admiralty Head Lighthouse was built overlooking Admiralty Inlet in 1903. It replaced an earlier structure that had to be moved in 1890 to accommodate the construction of Fort Casey. The second lighthouse, shown here, was built with thick walls in order to withstand earthquakes and the concussion of guns at Fort Casey. Deactivated in 1922, the lighthouse has since been restored by Washington State Parks, and is part of the Fort Casey State Park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 172
    Caption: "Retracting 6 inch Gun.," c. 1909. View of crew installing coastal defense weaponry. Retracting or disappearing guns were a form of artillery developed in the nineteenth century in which heavy artillery guns were placed on rotating carriages that allowed retraction of the weapon after firing, to enable reloading while under enemy fire.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 171
    Caption: "Scene at Fort Canby, Wash.," c. 1909. Overview of jetty and wharf facilities jutting out from the shoreline near Fort Canby in the state of Washington. See also 96-07-08-alb05-231.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 170
    Caption: "Fort Worden Wash.," c. 1909. Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington, on Admiralty Inlet of Puget Sound. Construction began on the fort in 1898. By 1902 it was serving as an active U.S. Army base. Fort Worden was part of the "triangle of fire," three coastal defense fortifications (Fort Casey, Fort Worden, and Fort Flagler) guarding the entrance to Puget Sound. The U.S. sold the property to the State of Washington in 1957. In 1973, the fort and surrounding area opened as Fort Worden State Park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 169
    Caption: "Second Ave. Seattle.," c. 1915. Street scene, showing Seattle's Second Avenue. An electric streetcar and the Smith Tower can be seen in the distance, as well as the Hotel Savoy, the Vienna Café, and other businesses.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 168
    Caption, c. 1905. Sixteen camels pull the Ringling Brothers Egyptian Circus Wagon down a street in Santa Rosa in this photograph. The Ringling Brothers Circus first came to Santa Rosa in 1903. The traveling circus became an annual event in the town for the next two decades.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 167
    Caption: "Circus Parade -- Santa Rosa, Calif.," c. 1905. This image shows several elephants walking down a street in Santa Rosa, part of the Ringling Brothers Circus, which first came to Santa Rosa in 1903. The traveling circus became an annual event in the town for the next two decades.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 166
    Caption: "Tea Garden -- Golden Gate Park," c. 1910. View of the five-acre Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Established in 1894 by George Turner Marsh for the Midwinter Exposition of that year, it is the oldest public Japanese Tea Garden in the U.S.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 165
    Caption: "Stow Lake. Golden Gate Park.," c. 1910. Created in 1893 as part of Golden Gate Park, this man-made lake surrounds Strawberry Hill Island. Several pleasure rowboats appear in this photograph.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 164
    Caption: "On Strawberry Hill. Golden Gate Park.," c. 1910. Image of small waterfall and pond on Strawberry Hill. This hill rises above Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, surrounded by the man-made Stow Lake.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 163
    Caption: "Golden Gate Park -- Portals of the Past," c. 1910. A monument in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, on the shores of Lloyd Lake, consisting of a white marble archway and columns. The archway was originally part of the Nob Hill mansion belonging to railroad tycoon Alban Towne. The mansion was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, but the entryway still stood. It was moved to the shore of Lloyd Lake in 1909, as a memorial to the pre-1906 city.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 162
    No caption, c. 1906. William McCarthy in a swim suit on a beach, with surf and waves in the background.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 161
    No caption, c. 1910. Grace McCarthy posing with parasol in garden. See also 96-07-08-alb08-236.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 160
    Caption: "Golden Gate Park," c. 1906. Grace McCarthy with two unidentified people in an automobile, in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 159
    Caption: "Veu-Deleu [sic] Santa Cruz," c. 1910. Ocean shore scene with waves and high spray, with various structures on a promontory in the distance. The Vue de L'eau (View of the Water) was a station on the Santa Cruz, Garfield Park and Capitola Electric Railway electric streetcar line. The station, built in 1891, was located at the very end of the line, on a promontory overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It featured an observatory on the top story. The same company also built a casino, ballroom, and restaurant nearby. The station burned down in 1925. See also 96-07-08-alb08-193.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 158
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified woman in dark-colored dress with fur muff and stole, standing on grassy hill with ocean or lake in background.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 157
    No caption, c. 1906. Grace McCarthy with feather-plumed hat and parasol posing in front of a palm tree. A horse and buggy, and a street scene can be seen in the background.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 156
    No caption, c. 1906. Grace McCarthy in swim suit on beach, with surf around her feet and waves in the background.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 155
    No caption, c. 1910. William McCarthy in suit and bowler hat, posing in a garden or park. See also 96-07-08-alb08-235.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 154
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified baby in stroller, located in a park or garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 153
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified girl sitting on rocking horse or hobby horse, in a park or garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 152
    No caption, c. 1906. Grace McCarthy posing in a feather-plumed hat, fur muff, and fur cape or stole.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 151
    Caption, c. 1906. Unidentified baby in stroller, located in a park or garden.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 150
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified man in suit posing in front of trees.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 149
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified baby in high chair.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 148
    Caption: "Big Trees. Sana [sic] Cruz," c. 1905. View of the base of "Gen. Grant," located in the Big Tree Grove near Santa Cruz. See also 96-07-08-alb03-078.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 147
    No caption, c. 1906. View of the McCarthy residence in Watsonville.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 146
    No Photograph 146 exists in Album 05, the number having apparently been skipped when the photographs were labeled.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 145
    Caption: "Honolulu," c. 1906. Unidentified toddler posed on the back of a horse.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 144
    No caption, c. 1906. Two women posing with four small children, none of whom are identified.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 143
    Caption: "Monte Rio.," c. 1906. Grace McCarthy standing on beach at Monte Rio, with parasol. Monte Rio, north of San Francisco in Sonoma County, became a resort area in the early twentieth century, after the sawmills providing the area's primary industry closed down.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 142
    Caption: "Buriel [sic] of the U.S.S. Bennington Victims. -- Fort Rosecrans." Shows a grave site with dozens of caskets ready for burial. A priest and two altar boys stand at one side of the caskets, while a large group of U.S. Navy sailors looks on from the other side. While sailing from port in San Diego on the morning of July 21, 1905, the boiler of the USS Bennington exploded, killing sixty-six of her crew. The victims were laid to rest in the cemetery at Fort Rosecrans. See also 96-07-08-alb08-217.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 141
    Caption: "Bakers [sic] Beach Presidio," c. 1906. Breaking ocean wave at Baker Beach. The beach is located on the Pacific Ocean, west and south of Golden Gate Point (the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula) within the boundaries of the Presidio of San Francisco.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 140
    Caption: "Fort Casey Lake," c. 1906. Crockett Lake, on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, with still waters reflecting trees from the shoreline.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 139
    Caption: "Pajaro River Trestle," c. 1906. Shows a railroad trestle bridge over the Pajaro River in California's Central Coast region. The bridge is seated on concrete footings.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 138
    No caption, c. 1906. Grace McCarthy in a dress suit and feather-plumed hat, posing next to a stream.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 137
    No caption, c. 1906. William McCarthy in suit and bowler hat, posing next to a stream.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 136
    Caption: "Market St. Sept 9. 1910 S.F." Market Street in San Francisco, decked with bunting and flags for California's Admissions Day, the anniversary of the Golden State's entry as a state in the U.S. See also 96-07-08-alb07-008.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 135
    Caption: "MC Foto - Mage of Presidio." The caption suggests that the dog shown here, possibly a Boston Terrier or Pug, lived in San Francisco's Presidio.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 134
    No caption, c. 1906. Small dog, possibly a Papillion or like breed, seated upright on its rear haunches on a stool.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 133
    Caption: "MC. Foto" and "Dutch Windmill," c. 1905. This postcard shows the Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park, built in 1903 to pump ground water within the park for irrigation purposes.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 132
    Caption: "Echo Park [sic] Los Angeles," c. 1906. Unidentified man leaning on a railing made of tree branches, with palm trees and other vegetation in the background. 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 131
    Caption: "East Lake [sic] Park. Losangeles [sic]," 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 several people seated on benches and strolling pathways. In the background, the lake for which the park was named can be seen, as well as an elaborate bandstand situated on the lake.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 130
    Caption: "Portion of Interior. Fort Point.," c. 1906. View of arched colonnades on ground and middle floors of Fort Point, and an upper tier with barbettes for the future installation of heavy artillery coastal defense weapons. 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, but 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.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 129
    Caption: "Steamer Damara. On Rocks at Fort Point." On October 8, 1910, the British steam ship Damara, loaded with a cargo of barley bound for England, ran onto the rocks below Fort Point at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. It took eleven days to refloat the ship.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 128
    Caption: "Weinstock Lubin Store. K. Street Sacramento.," c. 1906. Street scene along Sacramento's K Street, with the Weinstock Lubin flagship store prominently featured at the right side of the photograph. Weinstock's opened as Lubin's at 4th and K Street in 1874, growing over the years into a downtown landmark. The company opened stores throughout California, as well as Nevada and Utah. The building pictured here replaced the original store, which burned to the ground in 1903. The site is now occupied by Macy's.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 127
    Caption: "State Capitol -- Sacramento," c. 1906. Grace McCarthy (farthest to the right) and three unidentified people in an automobile in front of the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 126
    No caption, c. 1910. View of Bisby's Spiral Airship, located in an amusement "zone" known as The Pike in Long Beach, California. One of the earliest suspended roller coasters, this thrill ride operated from about 1902 to 1915. Gondolas suspended below the rails carried riders up a lift to the top of a tower, after which they followed a spiral track back down to the loading area.
  • McCarthy Album 05, Photograph 125
    No caption, c. 1906. Unidentified woman sitting on bench in garden under trees.