Historically Interesting Well-Annotated Photo Album with 178 Gelatin Silver Photographs of a Road Trip from California to Arizona, Showing Missions (the Ruins of La Purisima Concepcion, as well as the Pala, San Xavier Del Bac, San Diego de Alcalá, Santa Inez Missions, etc.), Dams (the Newly Constructed Coolidge Dam and the Laguna & Hetch Hetchy Dams), Deserted Mining Town of Tombstone, Governor Castro's House, a Sausalito Ferry, the World’s Largest “General Sherman” Tree, a “50-Ton Frog,” etc.; also with the Views of Sequoia National Park, Apache Indian Reservation, Yosemite National Park, Chiricahua National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, etc. Ca. 1930s.

Oblong Quarto album (ca. 18,5x28,5 cm). 52 card stock leaves. With 178 mounted gelatin silver photographs ca. 7x11 cm (2 ¾ x 4 ½ in). All photos with period ink captions in English on the mounts. Several photographs with dates indicated. Period brown sheep with gilt-lettered title “Photographs” on the front board. A few photos mildly faded, but overall a very good album of strong interesting photos.

Historically interesting collection of photographs taken during an early-1930s road trip from California to Arizona. The traveling group likely consisted of two men and a woman, as seen in the featured photographs.

The album starts with two photos of the travelers: one of a man near a 'hanging rock' and another of a woman by a tree in Sequoia National Park. The other images show them posing beside the 'Star of India' ship in San Diego Harbor, next to a giant Redwood tree in Coolidge Grove and a Joshua tree near Victorville, inside a car atop Kit Carson Pass, with a trout from Dogtown Creek, etc. The album also includes a photo of the Grand Canyon from the Bright Angel Hotel, where it appears the travelers stayed, and a photo of the Sausalito ferry, which they likely used to reach San Francisco.

A series of early exterior views portray the former Governor Castro's house in Arizona and various missions: San Xavier Del Bac (Arizona), San Diego de Alcalá (California), Santa Inez (California), the ruined La Purisima Concepcion (California), San Juan Bautista (California), and the Pala Mission (California). The Pala Mission photos also showcase its bell tower and interior, featuring hand-carved altars and statuary crafted by Native Americans.

About eight photos show the newly constructed Coolidge dam in Arizona (1930) and the Laguna (1903-1905) & Hetch Hetchy dams (1923) in California. Other interesting images include the world’s largest tree “General Sherman,” streets of the abandoned mining town of Tombstone (AZ), San Diego’s old Spanish garden with the compiler’s caption “Ramona’s Marriage Place,” a “50-ton frog” (AZ), and an ancient beach near Indio, “where the gulf of California once covered the Imperial valley.”

The rest of the album shows general views of mountains (High Sierra Nevada, Chiricahua, Shasta, etc.), canyons (Grand, Red Rock, Bright Angel, Thousand Palms, Tenaya, etc.), deserts (Arizona, Coachella), rivers (Colorado, Tuolumne, Eel, etc.), lakes (Silver, Twin, Mirror), highways (Redwood, Pacific), animals (a Yosemite bear and deer in Sequoia) and plants & trees (Joshua tree, Sahuaro Cactus, Desert Palms, Cypress Trees, etc.). Overall, a historically interesting album of 178 gelatin silver photographs illustrating a road trip through the American Southwest in the early-1930s.