Henry Hebard West was a Los Angeles resident, Southern Pacific Railroad employee, and candid photographer. His photograph album contains images of Los Angeles and vicinity, but also includes many photos of travels to Northern California, the Midwest, and New England. Most of the photos are portraits of the West family in Los Angeles, where they lived at 240 S. Griffin Avenue, in a house built by the photographer's father. The photos provide a first-hand look at the architecture, interior decoration, furniture, clothing, hair styles, and transportation of the period. They document the life of the West family over a span of forty years, as they age, marry, raise children, enjoy outings to nearby city parks, beaches, hotels, and missions, and vacation together in Northern California, returning again and again to places like Yosemite, Silver Lake, Gem Lake, June Lake, Convict Lake, and Minnelusa to camp; sled; hike; trout fish; and hunt deer, rabbits, doves, and sage hens.
This collection contains motion picture stills and key book photographs created by Columbia Pictures mostly from 1932 to 1959. Included are portrait photos, publicity photos, fashion stills, movie stills, and off-camera photographs showing various aspects of production filming. The subjects of the portrait images include actors, writers, directors, producers, composers, lyricists and others engaged in film production. The images are taken from nitrate negatives and corresponding photographic prints, with front and reverse views. The reverse sides of many prints bear date stamps, A.A.C. (Advertising Advisory Council) stamps, press tags, and handwritten notes including names of people involved in publicity and titles of film fan magazines.