The image is one of nearly 1,500 recently rediscovered negatives from 1910 to 1920, slowly being digitized at SFMemory.org<\/a>. All are the work of Samuel Marmaduke Crow, a professional photographer whose more personal collection had been lost for generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the photos that have been published so far are rare images of Sutro Baths, the California \u201cGrizzlies\u201d U.S. Army regiment training for World War I at Tanforan Racetrack and Katherine Stinson, a barnstorming female pilot who preceded Amelia Earhart. But even more important than the content is the photographic approach. Crow was an innovator and pioneer in flash photography, but his greatest talent may have been putting everyday citizens at ease.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Army men washed dishes in a bucket at Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno in September 1917 with the racetrack grandstand in the background. The U.S. Army\u2019s California 2nd Field Artillery, the Grizzlies, trained at Tanforan during WWI from August to October 1917.\u00a0<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n Photo collector David Gallagher, who has been scanning the four-by-five glass negatives, is stunned how comfortable the subjects appear.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re technically excellent,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cBut they capture a casualness and humanity that you very rarely see in posed portraits of that era. They\u2019re just wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Crow was no mystery, but isn\u2019t widely known. The photographer was born in rural Willows, Calif., in the Sacramento Valley, worked for newspapers including the San Francisco Examiner, wrote essays for Camera Craft magazine and once photographed antiquities collected by William Randolph Hearst for his San Simeon estate. (The photographer, who died in 1947, appears in several self portraits in the collection.)\u00a0<\/p>\n The photographer Samuel M. Crow sitting on a boat and showing off his socks circa 1912. Crow documented daily life in the Bay Area in the early 1900s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n But these images seemed to be personal. Hundreds of the negatives picture Crow\u2019s wife Esther and young son Andrew, often appearing in the background as if Crow was taking a photo test.\u00a0<\/p>\n Photographer Samuel M. Crow\u2019s son Andrew, born in 1904, dressed in a baseball uniform in 1912. Andrew served as a model for many of his father\u2019s photographs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n Danville resident David Okimoto acquired the collection decades ago without knowing the photographer, and had long been looking for a home for the work. Gallagher met Okimoto through a mutual friend, and was stunned from the moment he picked up the first negative: In it a woman has draped herself over the Lands End rocks wearing a \u201cSutro Baths\u201d bathing suit and a relaxed, no-care-in-the-world smile. More images showed the baths\u2019\u00a0buildings clearly visible in the background.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Eight men sit in an open car along the Great Highway near Balboa Street in San Francisco in 1914. Cliff House is visible in the background.\u00a0<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAny time we get a funky picture of the outside of Sutro Baths, I\u2019m sold, because those are rare,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201c… This collection had so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n The images feature less documented corners of San Francisco and the Bay Area in an era that\u2019s mostly lost in time. (The great majority of the Chronicle archive is made up of images from 1930 forward.) Oakland\u2019s Idora Park and Alameda amusement park Neptune Beach are featured prominently, as are Sutro Baths and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.<\/p>\n Front gate staff at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 including a traffic director (with baton), gate man at center and inspector at right<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n The collection also includes more than a hundred clear images from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which took place in 1915 where the Marina District is now. There are rarities \u2014 including some of the best existing images of Ewing Field, a mostly forgotten 14,000-seat Richmond District ballpark<\/a> that burned to the ground in 1926 \u2014 and slices of daily life in Golden Gate Park, along Market Street and at the Ferry Building.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Left: Los Angeles Angels pitcher Howard Ehmke, sitting on the baseball field at Ewing Field in the visitor bullpen during a game against the San Francisco Seals in 1914.
Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n Top: Los Angeles Angels pitcher Howard Ehmke, sitting on the baseball field at Ewing Field in the visitor bullpen during a game against the San Francisco Seals in 1914.
Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n But what\u2019s most striking are the facial expressions and body language Crow captured. Most surviving photos from that time are posed, with subjects either looking very stern, very stiff or both. Crow clearly had a gift with people. The candid photos are sometimes silly \u2014 the heads of two models for Liberty war bonds break through a poster \u2014 often joyful and almost always unguarded.<\/p>\n Oakland women Virginia Arnold and Lenore Bredull promote the sale of Liberty Bonds to help fund the United States\u2019 participation in WWI in 1917. In total, roughly 20 million Americans invested more than $21 billion in Liberty Bonds to support the war effort.<\/p>\n Samuel M. Crow\/sfmemory.org<\/a><\/p>\n The swimming pool photos and some pin-up shots that Crow took (G-rated in 2026, but racy for the time), are particularly eye-catching. The women, likely strangers to Crow, look a bit mischievous and self-assured. Gallagher says he can tell the photographer was charming just by seeing his results.<\/p>\n \u201cHe clearly put his subjects at ease,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cHe was a professional that could take a great picture without forcing his subject into anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n An unidentified woman in a Sutro Baths swimsuit, poses at the Sutro Baths settling pond, which helped remove sand and debris from the water before it flowed into the swimming tanks circa 1915. Lands End is visible in the background<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nTop right: Los Angeles Angels players seated in the bullpen down the left field line at Ewing Field in San Francisco.
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\nBottom right: Baseball writers in a press box photographed by Samuel M. Crow circa 1915.<\/p>\n
\nMiddle: Los Angeles Angels players seated in the bullpen down the left field line at Ewing Field in San Francisco.
\nBottom: Baseball writers in a press box photographed by Samuel M. Crow circa 1915.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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