GUIDE TO THE COLONEL ED FLETCHER FAMILY COLLECTION
COLLECTION NUMBER:
C051.
NAME OF COLLECTION:
Colonel Ed Fletcher Family Collection.
LOCAL CONTROL NUMBER(S):
Photographic prints: OP 17118/1-155.
Negatives: 99:19993/1-16.
DATES OF MATERIAL:
ca. 1875-1962.
EXTENT:
167 photographic prints: multiple processes, some col.; 8 x 10 in. or smaller.
16 negatives: film; 4 x 5 in. and 7 x 5 in.
2 albums (54 photographic prints): b&w; 18 x 26 cm. and 30 x 23 cm.
SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHER(S):
Some photographs by Guy Sensor, but most photographs by Fletcher family members.
REPOSITORY:
San Diego Historical Society
Booth Historical Photograph Archives
P.O. Box 81825
San Diego, CA 92138
ACQUISITION INFORMATION:
Transfer from Research Archives, bulk of collection, 1976?
Loan for copy from Charlotte Rowe, 7 photographs, 1984.
RESTRICTIONS:
Open for research.
COPYRIGHT:
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: Colonel Ed Fletcher Family Collection, the San Diego Historical Society. For permission to reproduce or publish contact the curator of the Photograph Archives of the San Diego Historical Society.
GENERAL NOTES:
Forms part of San Diego Historical Society Original Print Collection. Related materials: Colonel Ed Fletcher Lantern Slide Collection (C052) and approximately 225 copy negatives (numbered between 81:10080-81:11552) of original photographic prints and negatives loaned for copy by members of the Fletcher family not after 1981 (these images are primarily accessible through a print reference book, People: Fletcher Collection) in the Photograph Archives; also, Memoirs of Ed Fletcher (920 FLE) and other items in the Research Archives.
ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT:
Arrangement: numerical by topic.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES:
Pioneer real estate developer and civic leader, Colonel Ed Fletcher (1872-1955) moved to San Diego from Massachusetts in 1888. He was involved in many land, water, and highway development projects throughout Southern California and served as California state senator from 1935-1947. He married Mary C. Batchelder in 1896 and had 10 children.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTES:
Documents the family, friends, and career of Colonel Ed Fletcher. Includes early card photographs, portraits, group portraits, and snapshots of Fletcher, his wife Mary, their children, and other family members. Also, leisure activities and travel to San Diego County back country and other places. Of special note, a photograph of Mary Fletcher and four sons with President Warren G. Harding in Zion National Park dated June 27, 1923, shortly before his death in office. Career-related images show Colonel Ed Fletcher with various business associates and government officials; views of water, land, and highway development projects in El Cajon, Grossmont, Warner Springs, Imperial Valley and elsewhere; and interior views of Fletcher's office. Also, exterior views of houses, including Fletcher family home and house built in Grossmont by Colonel Ed Fletcher for opera singer Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink.
SUBJECTS INDEXED:
Fletcher, Ed – Family.
Families – California – San Diego.
Real estate development.
Land use.
Roads – United States.
Dams – California – San Diego County.
Waterworks – California – San Diego County.
Water supply – California – San Diego County.
Dwellings – California – San Diego County.
Offices – California – San Diego.
Legislators – California.
Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge (Yuma, Ariz.)
CONTENTS LIST: Folder 1 OP 17118 (1-22) Contains early card photographs, chiefly albumen portraits of unidentified people [probably Fletcher family members] Includes a carte de visite [ca. 1875] of Col. Ed Fletcher's father and a champion bulldog Chromo. Folder 2 OP 17118 (23-64) Portraits, group portraits, and snapshots of Col. Ed Fletcher, his wife Mary, their children, and other family members; also, some unidentified people [probably Fletcher family members]. Includes wedding pictures, men in military uniform, a Fletcher family Christmas card photograph, U.S. Congressman [1947-1953] Charles K. Fletcher, and a gathering of Fletcher descendents. Folder 3 OP 17118 (65-79) Snapshots of Fletcher family leisure activities and travel to San Diego County back country, National Parks, and elsewhere. Of special note, a photograph of Mary Fletcher and four sons with President Warren G. Harding in Zion National Park (Utah) on June 27, 1923, shortly before his death in office. Folder 4 OP 17118 (80-92) Contains career-related snapshots. Includes Col. Ed Fletcher with various business associates and government officials. Also, portraits of Col. Ed Fletcher as sailor in Naval Reserve [1891?] and as California state senator [1936]. Of special note, San Diego Mayor John L. Bacon shaking hands with Col. Ed Fletcher at dedication of bronze tablet on Pacific Milestone in honor of his contributions to highway development. Folder 5 OP 17118 (93-141) More career-related photographs. Depicts various water, land, and highway development projects. Includes Yuma highway bridge and automobile trip to promote roads connecting San Diego with the east; views of El Cajon, Grossmont, Warner Springs, and Imperial Valley; dams, reservoirs, and water distribution structures, including Warner Dam, San Dieguito Dam, La Mesa Dam, Henshaw Dam, and others. Folder 6 OP 17118 (142-155) Chiefly exterior views of houses, including Fletcher family home and house built in Grossmont by Col. Ed Fletcher for opera singer Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Folder 7 Negatives 99:19993 (1-16) Mostly contains copy negatives [corresponding OP number noted] but also some negatives without corresponding prints. Negatives without prints include group portraits of Fletcher family [1932], oldest daughter Catherine Fletcher Taylor with her three daughters [ca. 1928], and her husband U.S. Army Air Corp officer Benjamin H. Taylor. Folder 8 Two photograph albums, one showing progress of Carroll [Lake Hodges?] Dam construction, and the other “Pictures of Colonel Ed Fletcher's Office Taken for Steve Fletcher by Union Title Insurance & Trust Co.” Folder 9 Ephemera includes program from Copley Family YMCA 1991 Civic Tribute to the memory of Col. Ed and Mary Fletcher, a 1963 certificate awarded to Ed Fletcher Company by San Diego County Council of Camp Fire Girls, and a color print of Stratford Inn at Del Mar.
