American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Twenty 4 x 5 inch glass negatives (except one), five with contact prints, and one 3.5 x 3.5 in. negative with a contact print (21 total) by Beverly Allen with notes, purchased in the 1980s from his son, Paul Allen (one 4 x 5 with a piece missing from a lower corner).

Includes 3pp typed description of the quake as both remembered and told to Allen by his parents. He describes events such as the authorities knocking on doors and giving people 10 minutes to vacate, then exactly 10 minutes later blowing up their house to form a firebreak - the only thing that kept San Francisco from burning to the ground completely. He also mentions that an estimated 300 people were shot or hanged as looters - one of the first rules put in place to control the city. He also mentions shooting photos every day, developing them at night, then selling them for 15 cents the next day. He had one actress purchase about two dozen copies of a photograph of the completely destroyed theater where she had worked to send to family and friends.