In November 2004 I received an album of old photographs.
The album was given to me by a favorite and regular customer of ours at the
BIG 4 Restaurant, Ernie Bloomfield. Ernie is an insurance broker whose
office is at 22 Battery Street in the Financial district in San Francisco.
We see him at the restaurant nearly every night once he's finished up his
work at the office.
Ernie bought the photo album at an estate sale in San Francisco. Shortly after the purchase, he brought it in to the BIG 4 to show me, knowing that I have a passion for anything to do with San Francisco's history. Ernie ended up giving me the album to keep, and for this I am forever grateful and indebted to him.
The album is 100 plus years old. It is missing its front and back covers and
many of the 243 photos are so faded that the images are barely discernible.
Even so, it is a remarkable and intimate look into life at the turn of the
20th century. The photos are 2 inches by 3 inches and are pasted to black
matt paper that was so commonly used for photo albums at the time. There are
only a few hand-written captions in white ink identifying images. Looking at
the collection as a whole, without knowing anything of it's creator, a story
still emerges.
The photos, spanning a period beginning in 1904 and ending in 1907-08,
were taken by a young woman living with her family in San
Francisco during this time. They obviously lost their home in the Earthquake
and Fire, judging from the photos of her Mother or Grandmother in the
refugee camps. The young woman also seems to stay with family or friends
across the Bay in the aftermath of the catastrophe.
The photos were most likely taken with a (very popular) Brownie camera. The
young woman has friends and family in San Francisco, Berkeley, Sonoma, Napa,
San Mateo, Santa Barbara, and Carmel. She plays in Golden Gate Park, takes
excursions to Land's End, she visits the Japanese Tea Garden. She vacations
in Yosemite and Mount Shasta, and after graduating in 1907 at U.C. Berkeley,
she travels to Italy.
Eventually I intend to upload all of these remarkable 243 photos. But for
now, in helping to remember the calamitous event of April 18, 1906, I
present this young woman's images of the disastrous effects that the
Earthquake and Fire had on her hometown. I do this with enormous gratitude
to Ernie Bloomfield for his unmatchable generosity.
Young Woman's Album | History Index
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