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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 04, Photograph 082
    Caption: "Memorial -- Cemetry [sic] of Arlington," c. 1935. Shows an exterior view of Arlington Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, dedicated in 1920. The Tomb of the Unknowns, also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on the amphitheater's east steps, can be seen at the far left.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 081
    Caption: "Washington Monument -- Philadelphia." c. 1920. Philadelphia's Washington Monument Fountain (Rudolf Siemering, sculptor) features a bronze and granite statute of George Washington on horseback. Dedicated at Fairmount Park in 1897, it was moved to Philadelphia's Eakins Oval in 1928.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 080
    Caption: "Old Faithful Geyser," c. 1920. Eruption of Old Faithful, a cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 079
    Caption: "Yellowstone Grand Canyon," c. 1920s. Overview of first large canyon along Yellowstone River below Yellowstone Falls, in Yellowstone National Park.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 078
    Caption: "Seven Falls -- Colorado Springs," c. 1920. One of a series of seven waterfalls on South Cheyenne Creek near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 077
    Caption: "C.P.R.R. Depot. Montreal," c. 1920. Street scene dominated by Canadian Pacific Railway depot building, built in 1889. The tower was added in 1916.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 076
    *Caption: "Broadway at Bowling Green, N.Y." Street scene in New York City, showing Broadway near the small public park Bowling Green. See also 96-07-08-alb11-233 and 96-07-08-alb09-204.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 075
    Caption: "Washington Monument," c. 1920. Built between 1848 and 1888 to commemorate George Washington (former Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and first President of the United States), the obelisk is the world's tallest stone structure at a height of 555 feet. See also 96-07-08-alb09-212.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 074
    Caption: "Blackstone Hotel -- Michigan Av. Chicago," c. 1923. Built in 1909 and designed by Benjamin Marshall, the twenty-one story Blackstone Hotel sits on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive in Chicago Illinois. It is the building closest to the left side of the photograph in this row of high-rises. See also 96-07-08-alb09-092.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 073a
    No caption. This commemorative ten-cent stamp was affixed to the same page as Photographs 073 and 074. With "United States Postage, Lindbergh Air Mail" written across the top, it shows the biplane Spirit of St. Louis, over a drawing of the Atlantic Ocean between New York and Paris. Issued in June 1927 as a tribute to Charles Lindbergh, who made the first non-stop flight between Paris and New York in May of that year.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 073
    Caption: "Capitol -- Wash. D.C." c. 1920. Shows the U.S. Capitol Building (dome and both wings, at oblique angle). Originally constructed in 1800, the building has undergone several expansions, including the addition of the wedding-cake-style dome in the 1850s.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 072
    No caption. Grace McCarthy and an unidentified woman posing beside large bird bath or fountain, in front of the John Shields residence, in the Daybreak Estate area of Long Island.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 071
    No caption. Grace McCarthy and an unidentified woman posing beside large bird bath or fountain, in front of the John Shields residence, in the Daybreak Estate area of Long Island. See also 96-07-08-alb09-208 and 96-07-08-alb11-230.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 070
    Caption: "Placerville," c. 1920. Street scene in Placerville. Automobiles mix with horses and wagons along the curbs.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 069
    Caption: "Mountain Pack Burros," c. 1920. String of burros loaded with packs, with fields and trees in background. One young, unburdened burro stands off to the left of the main group.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 068
    Caption: "Strawberry," c. 1920. Small buildings nestled among trees, with automobiles parked at left.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 067
    Caption: "Scene on the American River," c. 1920. Narrow bridge over river, leading to two houses, with sign stating "3. F. Rancho. 1915."
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 066
    Caption: "Bullion Bend Monument," c. 1920. William and Grace McCarthy standing in front of an automobile, near a stone monument. Bullion Bend, located between Pollock Pines and Whitehall in the historic Highway 50 corridor, was the scene of a stagecoach robbery in 1864 in which silver bullion was stolen by robbers claiming to need the money in order to support the Confederate Army.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 065
    Caption: "Lovers Leap." This rock formation consists of a band of granite cliffs rising above the Eldorado National Forest.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 064
    Caption: "Fallen Leaf Lake." Grace and William McCarthy standing on wood plank dock, with lake and mountains in background.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 063
    Caption: "Fallen Leaf Lake." Lake seen through trees on a hillside.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 062
    Caption: "Scene on the Placerville Highway." Grace McCarthy standing near an automobile on the side of an unpaved road, today's U.S. Route 50, east of Placerville.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 061
    Caption: "Summit -- Tahoe, Placerville Highway." William and Grace McCarthy standing in front of a small wood shed, likely along what is now U.S. Route 50 east of Placerville.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 060
    Caption: "Tenaya Lake." Lake with surrounding mountains. Named after Chief Tenaya of Yosemite Valley's Ahwahnechee People, Tenaya Lake is located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows within Yosemite National Park. The surface elevation of the alpine lake is 8,150 feet.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 059
    Caption: "Tenaya Lake." Lake with surrounding mountains. Named after Chief Tenaya of Yosemite Valley's Ahwahnechee People, Tenaya Lake is located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows within Yosemite National Park. The surface elevation of the alpine lake is 8,150 feet.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 058
    Caption: "Tenaya Lake Resort." Small cabins in front of rocky mountainside. Named after Chief Tenaya of Yosemite Valley's Ahwahnechee People, Tenaya Lake is located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows within Yosemite National Park. The surface elevation of the alpine lake is 8,150 feet.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 057
    Caption: "Mountain Scene -- Tenaya Lake." Meadow with surrounding rocks and mountains. Named after Chief Tenaya of Yosemite Valley's Ahwahnechee People, Tenaya Lake is located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows within Yosemite National Park. The surface elevation of the alpine lake is 8,150 feet.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 056
    Caption: "Tioga Lake." Glacial lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in Mono County, California, within the Inyo National Forest.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 055
    Caption: "Moonlight Scene -- Sierra Summit." Rocky crag in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 054
    Caption: "Tuolumne Meadows." Meadow area along the Tuolumne River in the eastern portion of Yosemite National Park, with mountains in the background. Tuolumne Meadows is recognized as one of the largest alpine meadows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 053
    Caption: "Summit -- Tioga Pass -- Elevation 9940 feet." Grace McCarthy standing beside automobile on an unpaved road, near a stone monument declaring the elevation of Tioga Pass and road signs providing directions and distances to other locales.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 052
    Caption: "Mono Lake -- Craters in the Distance." Mono Lake, in Mono County, California, is a shallow saline lake used as a resting stop by almost two million migratory birds each year.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 051
    Caption: "Devils Gate -- Nevada -- Elevation 7540 Feet." Devil's Gate is a rock formation near Silver City, Nevada. In the nineteenth century a portion of the formation was blasted away to create enough space for a wagon road, which became a toll road serving as an entryway to the Nevada silver fields.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 050
    Caption: "Tioga Road Scenes on the Sierra Summit." Two mountain peaks as seen from the Tioga Road.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 049
    Caption: "Leevining [sic] Grade -- Tioga Road." The Lee Vining Grade is on the eastern side of Tioga Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Mono County, California, northeast of Yosemite Valley. It constitutes part of the Tioga Road, or Tioga Pass Road, now part of California State Route 120. The Grade is visible in the photograph as a thin line running along the mountain sides in the lower third of the image.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 048
    No caption, c. 1927. Grace McCarthy seated on the running board of an automobile parked at a resort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the California-Nevada border.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 047
    No caption, c. 1927. A resort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the California-Nevada border.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 046
    Caption: "Kingsbury Grade -- Nevada." Shows a hairpin turn on the Kingsbury Grade in Douglas County, Nevada. Now part of Nevada State Route 207, the road intersects U.S. Highway 50 near the southeastern corner of Lake Tahoe.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 045
    Caption: "California-Nevada Boundary Line." Grace McCarthy in driver's seat of automobile, on unpaved road with hillside in the background.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 044
    Caption: "Nevada Scene." Mountainside, with another mountain in the distance.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 043
    Caption: "State Penitentiary -- Carson City Nevada." View of prison gate and some of the buildings.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 042
    Caption: "Lake Tahoe."
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 041
    Caption: "Lake Tahoe."
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 040
    Caption: "Carson Valley Scene." Valley surrounded by mountains.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 039
    Caption: "Nevada Scenes." Valley surrounded by mountains.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 038
    Caption: "State Capitol -- Nevada." Dome of Nevada's Neoclassical Italianate State Capitol Building, constructed between 1869 and 1871 in Carson City. Trees obscure much of the building.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 037
    Caption: "Carson City." Street scene with Grace McCarthy standing next to an automobile.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 036
    Caption: "Mary." Elderly woman with shawl and metal pail standing in front of fence.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 035
    Caption: "Lake Tahoe Beach." Beach scene, with William McCarthy standing on dock.
  • McCarthy Album 04, Photograph 034
    Caption: "Highway through the Mountains -- Nevada." Mountain scene, with highway snaking through trees in the distance.