The Portrait Collection primarily includes photographs of people where the subject has been identified, and that are not part of a larger family or organizational collection. It is separate from the City of Fresno, Fresno County, and General Subject photograph collections. Organized alphabetically, the collection fills twenty-two archival file boxes where each box contains between seventy and one hundred photographs. 

 

The collection was started with a donation from the Fresno Morning Republican newspaper in the early days of the Society archives. You can see evidence of their work in the editing room. The newspapermen often cut out around the head and shoulders of the individual. Many of the prints are very narrow in order to fit within a newspaper column. They also marked their faces with black or white pencil to add contrast, Art Deco detail and/or names. Over the years, more photographs have been added to the collection. These range from wedding photographs to snapshots. 

 

The Society welcomes any additional information you may have about this collection. If you find an error with the name or date, or just want to add information for our records, we’d love to hear from you. Please email your comments to archives@valleyhistory.org