- TICOR/Pierce
Collection Description
This collection of roughly 16,000 principally black-and-white photographs contains the work of several photographers as well as the collections which, in some cases, they themselves formed. Some of the prominent local photographers associated with this collection are C.C. Pierce, George Wharton James, and Charles Puck. Subjects include Los Angeles and environs, California Missions, Southwestern Indians, and turn-of-the-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Though the images date from 1860 to 1960, the major strength lies in 1890-1930 vintage Southland views.
The C.C. Pierce Collection is distinctive for its thorough coverage of city and street views and for the many images of Los Angeles architecture. C.C. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day. He was also a collector of photographs of Los Angeles and actively bought older photographs of the city. The George Wharton James Southwestern Native American Portraits collection was one of C.C. Pierce's purchases, acquired by him in 1902. It contains 2,000-3,000 negatives of Indians of the Southwest, along with images documenting the southwestern frontier in general.