[Photo Album]: California Soldier's Family Album

California: 1908-1957.

Price: $750.00

Hardcover. Octavo measuring 6" x 9". Blue leather with gilt decorations. Contains 291 sepia-toned or black and white gelatin silver and photographs and color photographs measuring between 1" x 1" and 4.5" x 5.5" with captions. Very good photo album with slight mustiness, bowed boards, and rubbing with near fine photographs.

A photo album kept by the Conway family from California which follows them from 1908 until 1957, the latter half is centered around Rufus Conway who most likely compiled the album. The album was created in the 1960s as a genealogy of the family, beginning with photos of "Grandma," “Grandpa,” and "Mom" in 1908. Early photos show trips to visit family in Nebraska, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and New York. The section of Puerto Rico photos is from the early 1920s and shows “Mom” horseback riding. Two of these photos show trick riding with people balancing on two horses. The family is pictured enjoying the beach in Atlantic City and Long Island in bathing costumes and under parasols. “Mom” eventually went to Tufts College, New York in the mid-1920s. These photos show girls on campus, knitting in their dorms, and posing in cars.

Rufus was born around 1937 and is first pictured in photos from a trip to New Jersey in 1939. By 1944 the photos show Rufus’ childhood in California beginning with a series of photos from San Diego. As a boy he’s photographed in Kensington, California, Murphy Canyon, and Mission Valley. There are also numerous photos from trips to the San Diego zoo. His school days are captured as well, featuring photos from Franklin School in San Diego, his 6th grade camping trip, and eventually his later years in a military academy. Rufus attended Brown’s Military Academy in Pacific Beach, a military preparatory school, in the 1950s. According to their website, Brown’s Military Academy “graduated about 5,000 students from 1911 to 1958, before closing its doors for good in 1968.” These photos show the boys marching on campus, in the military band, and standing at attention in uniforms. A newspaper clipping from this time reads “S.D. Youth Shoots Self with Rifle” and tells of Rufus’ nonfatal leg wound from his .22-caliber rifle because “the shell ejector was not working properly.” Rufus went on to serve in the military at Fort Lewis in Washington State, he’s seen there posing for a professional portrait on the base. The album ends with a small collection of early 1960s color photographs taken of Rufus and his family and elderly relatives including his mother around their California home.

An extensive family album that depicts California and a variety of trips during the first half of the 20th century and the life of a 1950s soldier.


Item #406185

item image

Item #406185 [Photo Album]: California Soldier's Family Album. Rufus CONWAY.