Minor White photographs
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of 479 black and white gelatin silver prints and 423 gelatin silver print negatives of urban and rural postwar Bay Area and greater Northern California taken by photographer Minor White while he resided in San Francisco from 1946 to 1953. The bulk of the photographs document San Francisco county neighborhoods, including the downtown financial and produce districts; the Embarcadero and waterfront; and the Potrero, Mission, Glen Park, Bayshore, Nob Hill, Chinatown, Bernal Heights, Laurel Heights, Fillmore, Sunset and Richmond districts. The images document African American, Japanese American and Chinese American neighborhoods and businesses in San Francisco. A significant number of photographs document the postwar housing construction boom in San Francisco including the construction of the planned neighborhood Parkmerced; the construction of single family housing in the Sunset district; the development of former cemeteries into residential and commercial areas; and the construction of public housing in the city.
The collection also includes many photographs taken in counties in proximity to San Francisco County, including Alameda County, Amador County, Calaveras County, Contra Costa County, Marin County, Mariposa County, Mendocino County, Placer County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Solano County, Sonoma County, and Tuolumne County. These photographs document many of the historic buildings located in these California counties. Of particular note are images of one of the oldest Chinese temples in California, the Temple of Kwan Tai in Mendocino County; the first Serbian Orthodox Church in America, the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church and the Argonaut Mines in Amador County; and flood damaged buildings in Alviso, San Jose, Santa Clara County.
Dates
- 1946-1953
Language of Materials
English
Access
The photographic prints in the collection are open for research. The negatives in the collection are restricted for conservations reasons.
Publication Rights
Reproduced with permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum. © Trustees of Princeton University. Reproductions can be obtained from the California Historical Society. For copyright clearance and permission to use images from the Minor White photographs held at the California Historical Society, please visit the Minor White Archive website.
Biographical Information
Minor White (July 9, 1908 – June 24, 1976) was an American photographer and educator. His professional career began in 1938 as a photographer on a Works Progress Administration project, documenting historic buildings in Portland, Oregon. After serving in World War II, White settled in New York enrolling in Columbia University and working as a photographer for the Museum of Modern Art. In 1946 Ansel Adams invited White to teach in the photography department at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). While teaching White continued to practice photography, documenting the distinct neighborhoods of San Francisco and various other Northern California counties. He left the California School of Fine Arts in 1953, accepting a curatorial position with the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Two years later White joined the faculty of the Rochester Institute of Technology, and in 1965 was invited to design the visual arts program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. White continued to teach, photograph, exhibit his work and publish a monograph and text on his personal photographing process. He died of a heart attack on June 24, 1976.
Extent
2.25 Linear Feet (5 manuscript boxes)
System of Arrangement
Photographs are arranged into forty-five folders organized chronologically by year, then by print size and, finally, by either a numbering system presumably created by White, or by month and date on which the photograph was taken. Negatives are stored in two boxes, organized in chronological order by negative number. Negative numbers appear in the left upper corner of negative enclosure and correspond to negative numbers recorded on backs of photographic prints.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Minor White, 1957.
General
Supplied titles created by cataloger.
General
The original information recorded on the verso of the historical photographs may include racial terms that were commonplace at the time, but are considered to be derogatory today.
Processing Information
Processed by Jaime Henderson, 2017.
- Alameda County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Amador County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Calaveras County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Contra Costa County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Ethnic neighborhoods -- California -- San Francisco County -- Pictorial works
- Gelatin silver film negatives
- Gelatin silver prints
- House construction -- California -- San Francisco -- Photographs
- Marin County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Mariposa County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Mendocino County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Placer County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- San Francisco County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Oakland and San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- San Mateo County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Santa Clara County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Solano County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Sonoma County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Tuolumne County (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Waterfronts -- California -- San Francisco -- Pictorial works
- Title
- Finding aid to the Minor White photographs PC-RM-White
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Henderson, Jaime
- Date
- 2017 March
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the California Historical Society Repository