GUIDE TO THE ARGALL FAMILY COLLECTION

COLLECTION NUMBER:
C008.

COLLECTION TITLE:
Argall Family Collection.

CREATOR(S):
Argall family.

DATES OF MATERIAL:
ca. 1863-1956, bulk 1900-1940.

EXTENT:
170 photographic prints (49 on cardboard mounts): b&w; 28 x 33 cm. or smaller.
3 albums (709 photographic prints): b&w; 19 x 28 cm. or smaller.

LOCAL CONTROL NUMBERS:
Photographic prints: OP17122/1-162.

REPOSITORY:
San Diego History Center
Booth Historical Photograph Archives
P.O. Box 81825
San Diego, CA 92138
1-619-232-6203

ACQUISITION INFORMATION:
Gift of Nada H. Storey, 1979 (107-D).

RESTRICTIONS:
Open for research.

COPYRIGHT:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact the curator of the Booth Historical Photograph Archives of the San Diego Historical Society. Reproduction or publication of any part of this collection must include the following information next to the image(s) or in a special section of credits: Argall Family Collection, San Diego History Center, Booth Historical Photograph Archives.

GENERAL NOTES:
Arrangement: (1) photographic prints and postcards, arranged numerically by local control number; and (2) photograph albums. Forms part of San Diego History Center Original Print Collection.

BIOGRAPHICAL OR HISTORICAL NOTE:
Frances S. (1893-1958) and Dorothy E. Argall (1899-1977) both worked as librarians for the San Diego Public Library for more than 30 years. Their parents David John and Thomasina Laura Oates Argall emigrated from Ireland to the United States around 1890 and lived in Colorado before moving to La Jolla, California, in 1904.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:
The collection consists of photograph albums, cartes de visite, cabinet cards, postcards, panoramic photographs, and other images documenting the family, friends, and activities of sisters Frances S. and Dorothy E. Argall. It includes studio portraits from Ireland and England of their parents and grandparents, as well as family gravestones; photographs of the family residence and the staff of the San Diego Public Library [ca. 1925]; snapshots of outings to La Jolla beach, Balboa Park, and San Diego County’s back country; men in military uniform, Camp Kearny, and biplanes; and a photograph used for a newspaper story about the sisters many years of service as librarians for the public library. Panoramas depict a rodeo, automobiles on mountain roads, and other views of mountains in San Diego County, including sunrise services at Mt. Helix. Albums contain snapshots from 1909-1939 of Frances and Dorothy with friends and family members. Subjects include a Camp Fire Girls outing at Oakzanita, infants and children, pets, beach and back country outings, the penguin pool and other animals at the San Diego Zoo, library staff outings, and views of La Jolla, San Diego Bay, Presidio Park, Balboa Park, Old Town, Coronado, Carlsbad, Anza Borrego, and Ensenada (Mexico).

SUBJECTS INDEXED:
Argall family.
Argall, Frances S.
Argall, Dorothy E.
San Diego Public Library.
Camp Fire Girls.
Families — California — San Diego.
Librarians.
Beaches — California.
Mountains — California.
Zoos — California — San Diego.
La Jolla (Calif.) — Photographs.
Back country (San Diego County, Calif.) — Photographs.

CONTENTS LIST:

Box 1
Folder 1 OP17122/1-34
Portraits of Argall and Oates family members on cartes-de-visite [ca. 1863-1875] and cabinet card mounts with photographer’s imprints, including Frederick Argall, chiefly from Ireland and England. Includes sisters Frances and Dorothy Argall as infants, their grandfather George Oates, their mother Thomasina Laura Oates Argall, their paternal grandmother [Frances E. Argall?], and probably their father David John Argall. Also includes images of gravestones.
Folder 2 OP17122/35-49
Card photographs of Argall family members, Frances and Dorothy Argall, school children and classrooms, and gravestones.
Folder 3 OP17122/50-64
Photographic prints, including a cyanotype, of Argall and Oates family members, Frances and Dorothy Argall, the family residence at 3574 Louisiana Street, the staff of the San Diego Public Library [ca. 1925], and a San Diego Union photograph of librarians Frances and Dorothy Argall used for a 1956 story headlined “Sisters Have Served 67 Years In Library.” Also, an aerial view of La Jolla and portraits of men in military uniform.
Folder 4 OP17122/65-115
Argall family snapshots from between 1900 and 1925 along with some photographic postcards. Subjects include outings to the beach at La Jolla, Balboa Park, and San Diego County back country. Also, Camp Kearny, biplanes, and children.
Folder 5 OP17122/116-162
Contains panoramic photographs and photographic postcards [ca. 1920] chiefly captioned “by [D.N.?] Clauser [of] Havana, Ill.” Subjects include landscape views of San Diego County back country, automobiles driving up mountain roads, and the Potrero mountain grade; Guatay, Palomar, and other mountains; and possibly the “first picture taken” of sunrise services at Mt. Helix. Also, a rodeo, baseball game, Ill[inois] Day in Balboa Park, and San Diego Bay.
Box 2
Folder 6 Album 1
Snapshots, some captioned, of sisters Frances and Dorothy Argall with friends, family members, and pets. Subjects include a Camp Fire Girls outing at Oakzanita, outings to the beach at La Jolla and San Diego County’s back country, infants and children, men in military uniform ca. World War I, and the 1916 flood in Mission Valley.
Folder 7 Album 2
Created by Frances S. Argall in 1914. Snapshots include family members, friends, and pets; ships in San Diego Bay and a train accident; and views of La Jolla.
Folder 8 Album 3
Snapshots of Frances and Dorothy Argall, friends, and library staff members at various locations throughout San Diego County in the late 1930s. Includes the penguin pool and other animals at San Diego Zoo; Presidio Park, Balboa Park, Old Town, Coronado, La Jolla, Carlsbad, Anza Borrego, back country, and Ensenada (Mexico). Many images captioned. Some photographs of Coronado Jubilee evidently removed.