Scope and Content Note
The majority of the photographs in this collection show scenes in California and date from the first part of the 20th century. Among the subjects depicted are Yosemite (including Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, and Bridal Veil Falls), the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair, Mt. Lassen, Carmel by the Sea, Los Angeles, Altadena, Santa Monica, the State Capitol, hotels, beaches, and numerous missions. Also included are images of surrounding states, including Montana's Glacier National Park, Washington's Mt. Ranier, Arizona's Grand Canyon, and Canada's Lake Louise.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1915-circa 1945
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
Much of the American Stock Photo Photographs are negatives, the majority of which are nitrate.
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
Biographical Note
Alexander Wiederseder was born to Ferdinand and Anna (List) Wiederseder in Slovakia on February 17, 1879. He emigrated to the United States in 1909 and settled in New York. He moved to San Francisco, California in the early 1910s and was in the city at the time of the 1915 World's Fair. After living briefly in Seattle, Washington Wiederseder settled in Southern California, where he married Elsie Margaret Laura Mollendick (1891-1971) on January 28, 1924. He was a cabinetmaker by trade but apparently made a hobby of photography, capturing numerous images of the western United States. Wiederseder died on August 1, 1961 in San Diego.
Full extent
1,200 Photograph(s)
Full extent
6 Linear Feet
Abstract
The majority of the photographs in this collection show scenes in California and date from the first part of the 20th century. Among the subjects depicted are Yosemite (including Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, and Bridal Veil Falls), the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair, Mt. Lassen, Carmel by the Sea, Los Angeles, Altadena, Santa Monica, the State Capitol, hotels, beaches, and numerous missions. Also included are images of surrounding states, including Montana's Glacier National Park, Washington's Mt. Ranier, Arizona's Grand Canyon, and Canada's Lake Louise.
Arrangement
This collection consists of approximately 1,200 photographs and negatives.
Provenance
The American Stock Photograph Collection was purchased from photographer Alex Wiederseder and donated by Herb and Dorothy McLaughlin (Accession #1993-01149).
Processing Note
The container list below reproduces captions written on the sleeves that the negatives were originally housed in. The first number in the title is the item number; the second is Wiederseder's negative number. These numbers are followed by the caption. Spelling errors have been corrected with no note. The sleeves occasionally have notes regarding exposure, which were not transcribed. Sleeves have been copied onto archival paper.
Geographic
- Altadena (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Carmel (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- San Francisco (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Santa Monica (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
- Yosemite National Park (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Topical
- Title
- American Stock Photo Photographs
- Status
- Completed
- Subtitle
- American Stock Photo Photographs
- Author
- Processed by Richard Pearce-Moses and Margaret Moore in 1989; machine-readable finding guide created by Joyce Martin.
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Greater Arizona Collection Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932
archives@asu.edu