The Photography Collection contains over half a million images, its strength residing in nineteenth and early twentieth century materials. Among the collections are daguerreotypes, albumen prints, stereo views and photographic albums. Images in the photography collection include:

• Views of California
• Extensive holdings of early San Francisco
• Portraits of individuals
• Work by celebrated photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge , Minor White, Alma Lavenson, Arnold Genthe and Carleton Watkins

Guide to the CHS Photography Collections
The following contains lists of subject headings which represent contents of photo folders. Images cannot be viewed digitally.

• San Francisco by Subject
• San Francisco Streets
• General Subject
• Access by Location
• Oversized Photographs by Subject
• Portraits
• Oversized Portraits
• Photo Album Shelf List

Photography Sources

• Photographic Process Descriptions
• Daguerreotype and Card Mounted Photograph Size and Classification Descriptions

(click to access USC Digital Archive)

Collections at University of Southern California

The California Historical Society houses a portion of its photography collection at the Regional History Center in the Doheny Library. The collection has two major parts, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection and the TICOR Collection. Together these collections are incomparable for the documentary picture they provide of the development of the Los Angeles region between 1860-1960. In all, there are some 23,000 images in the two collections.

To access California Historical Society holding in the USC Digital Archive database, go to "advance search" and select California Historical Society in the "Within" field on the drop-down list.