[CALIFORNIA] -- [FIREFIGHTING]. Fire helmet, badges, photographs, and more associated with San Francisco firefighter Ernest Nelson, Engine Co. No. 42, ca 1910-1930s.

Small archive highlighted by photographs and firefighting ephemera of Swedish immigrant Ernest L. Nelson (ca 1881-unknown) who served as a San Francisco firefighter from approximately 1912 through ca 1930s. The 1910 Federal Census shows him arriving in the US ca 1895 and working at the time as a bartender. Photographs in the archive indicate that by 1912 he was a firefighter with Engine Co. #42 in San Francisco. Archive comprised of the following:

9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. albumen photograph mounted on board, titled and credited in the negative "Engine Co. No. 42 S.F. / Ready For Action / Photo by Durston." Verso with handwritten note in blue pen "1912 / 2nd from Left Ernest Nelson on pole / on far right Muligan / 3rd from left Freiland / Far Left Capt. Walsh / Lt. Lewis top man on pole / 2nd from Right Lovett." -- 9 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. albumen photograph mounted on board, titled and credited in the negative "Night Alarm / Engine Co. No 42 S.F. / Photo by Durston." Verso with handwritten note in blue pen "Mrs. E Nelson 396 Somersett / 1912 / 5th from right Ernest Nelson." -- 8 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. albumen photograph mounted on board of firefighters on the David Scannell, a steam-powered fireboat built in 1909 for the San Francisco Fire Department. A tag for "Lyons & McCall / College Hill Tailoring Company" is affixed below the image and on verso. -- Gold-framed round colored cello portrait of Nelson, 5 3/4 in. diameter. -- 9 additional photos and real photo postcards, various sizes, depicting Nelson, Co. 42, and other firefighters. None dated except for two 8 x 10s which have the year 1935 handwritten in pen on verso. Condition of photographs varies but generally good, most with some wear especially to mounts, also with toning, and occasional abrasion or dampstaining.

[With:]
red fire helmet with high eagle and number "24"leather shield, 8 3/4 x 14 in. (wear, cracking to paint, identifications above and below leather badge removed). Interior leather liner intact with store identification "Howard's Smart Clothes / 936 Market St. / San Francisco, Calif." -- Sterling silver "Veteran / F.A. of S.F." badge-shaped pin, ca 1900, no back marks, featuring the image of a ladder wrapped in a firehose and a steam powered fire engine apparatus. 7/8 x 1 3/8 in. (tarnished otherwise good). While the maker is not identified, this same badge was sold by "A. Andrews Diamond Palace" in San Francisco. -- Police & Firemen's Insurance Association screw back button featuring image of a policeman and a fireman surmounted by "PFIA" and surrounded by "Excuderunt Esto Perpetua," with backmark of Brown and Bigelow, St. Paul, MN, 3/4 in. diameter (tarnish, wear). -- 9 buttons featuring images of a fire apparatus, manufacturers B. Pasquale Co. and Pacific Button Co., both of San Francisco.

[Also with:]
Small booklet "Fire Alarm Boxes: Numbers and Locations." San Francisco: Commercial Fire Dispatch Co., 1931. -- Small booklet, "Constitution and By-Laws of the Veteran Firemen's Association of San Francisco," with enclosed newspaper clipping "3 Rescued as Fire Sweeps Hay Warehouse" and a photo credit identification that includes fireman Edward Nelson.