Technician engraving the bell of a brass horn at the F. E. Olds and Son plant, Los Angeles, between 1933-1939

Item Overview

Title

Technician engraving the bell of a brass horn at the F. E. Olds and Son plant, Los Angeles, between 1933-1939

Photographer

Connell, Will, 1898-1961

Date Created

[between 1933 to 1939]

Date

1933/1939

Collection

Connell (Will) Papers

Notes

Description

Technician applying engraved decoration to the bell of a brass horn at the F. E. Olds and Son plant (probably a cornet, trumpet or trombone). About 50 gravers with wooden knob handles are on the work bench in front of him. The horn rests on two small stacked sand bags which are raised on a small pedestal. He wears a visor and a seersucker jacket.
F. E. Olds was a manufacturer of musical instruments founded by Frank Ellsworth Olds in Los Angeles, in the early 1900s. The company made brass instruments, especially trombones, cornets, and trumpets. Olds was joined by his son Reginald Birdsall (R.B.) Olds in 1920. Their address was 1914 Raymond Ave., Los Angeles, from about 1922 to 1956. The company was purchased by Chicago Musical Instruments after World War II, and went out of business in 1979.
This photograph appears on page 24 of a catalog of the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. which is dated to 1933 or later (because it contains a reference to Radio City Music Hall which opened in December 1932).

Caption

Text from negative sleeve: Olds Instruments

Physical Description

Extent

1 photographic negative

Medium

b&w nitrate negative

Keywords

Genre

cellulose nitrate film
black-and-white photographs

Names

F. E. Olds and Son (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Location

California--Los Angeles

Longitude

34.039503

Latitude

-118.297106

Resource type

still image

Subjects

Musical instrument industry--California--Los Angeles
Brass instruments
Engravers--American--California--Los Angeles