Photo postcard circa 1907.  "Orange picking at J. H. Williams' Ranch.  Porterville Cal."

(Added 11/17/14)   A photo postcard image of the same scene as above.  But this isn't the same photographic image, e.g. Note that the little boy is holding his arms differently in this photo.       It's postmarked Sept. 17, 1908,  so I would assume the latest this photograph could have been taken would have been the during the 1907-08 winter harvest.

 Two close-ups:

 

(Added 2/17/16) Postcard image of the J.H. Williams ranch of Porterville (see the 2 previous images).
Postmarked March 7, 1907.

(Added 7/17/18)  Another view of the Williams' ranch.   The photographer is Howard Clinton Tibbitts.    This is a scan from the glass negative.  Circa 1910.

Another photo postcard.  The inscription at bottom of picture reads:  "Vineyard of W. L. Bond  Orosi" (Orosi, CA).  Circa 1915.   The photographer's emblem at the lower left corner says:  "F. Daniels" (or possibly E. Daniels ), "Orosi. Cal." 

Close up:

Photo postcard view of  Orosi, CA, during a flood.  Circa 1909.

This is a cabinet card photograph by C. A. Myers (Charles Albert Myers), Visalia CA (circa 1890-1895).  This appears to be an image of six teenagers in costumes.   Hard to tell what the subject matter at hand was...  e.g. Several of the girls seem to be dressed like maids wearing black armbands, the young man is wearing a coat & top-hat with a sash across his chest.  And there is a banner in the background with an unusual symbol on it.
Perhaps they were putting on a play. (?)

In 1893, a fire apparently started in C. A. Myers' photo-lab which destroyed his studio and did a considerable amount of damage to the large "Holt Block" building.   An article linked here talks about that fire, and the possibility of spontaneous combustion of certain photographic materials.  Note that on the same page as this article it mentions that H.C.Tandy's Hanford photo gallery  was also destroyed by a  fire around the same time. (See my 9/4/12 post of Tandy pictures).
(Added 1/28/17):  C. A. Myers maybe the same photographer ("Charles A. Myers")  who owned Myers Studio on O'Farrell Street in San Francisco, during the 1910's & 1920's.    e.g.  According to voting and census records, both the Visalia and Bay Area photographer "Charles A. Myers" were born in Iowa around 1868.   This San Francisco studio did a lot of lobby display photographs for theatrical groups.

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Below are two photo postcards showing the cast of the cantata  Esther, the Beautiful Queen .
Visalia CA, 1915.

The reference to "1st  M. E. - Visalia Cailf.", might mean that this program was performed at the Visalia First Methodist Episcopal Church.



On the back of this postcard is written:  "Left to Right:  Mr. Parsons,  Mrs. Payne,  Mrs Snow,  Mr. Masters.   Queen Esther Cantata.  1915".  The cantata referred to here is probably the one composed by William B. Bradbury with Chauncey M. Cady and R. W. Seager: i.e.  Esther, The Beautiful Queen: a cantata or short oratorio.

(Added 5/9/18)  I recently found another photo postcard of this church play.

On the back of it is written: "Mr & Mrs Payne as Haman & Zerish, & baby, in Queen Esther Cantata.  1915.   1st M.E. Church - Visalia."

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Photo by "Robinson & Churchman, Holt Block. Visalia, Cal.". (circa 1900).

I believe the men in this picture are members of the  I.O.O.F. (The Odd Fellows) in their ceremonial dress.   

From a photo postcard dated 1908.  On the postcard it states that this picture was taken in Lindsay, CA.
It identifies one person in the photo as Henry Ulrich and also three members of the Schlegel family: Francis, Laura and Wilbur (Wilbur being the one who is clowning-around).

Photo postcard dated 1904.  The woman mounting the kneeling horse is not identified.  The inscription at the side of the picture reads:  "She will start east three weeks from today.   From J.G.C.(?) Porterville Cal."

 This photo postcard is post-marked: Portersville, Cal., Jul. 18, 1908 .  During this period some documents added the "s" to Porterville (CA).

Another photo postcard from 1908.  On the back of this card is written: "Andrew Hoover at right - Bert Hoover at left - view taken near Springville (Daunt) Cal.  1908.".    Springville, CA was originally named Daunt.

 Here are three cabinet card photos from Doran Studio, Tulare CA, circa 1890: 

 Written on the back of this photo: "Wm Doldeson".  And below that,  in a different person's handwriting it says:  "Mr Wm Donaldson,  private investigator, Late 1800's".   So far I haven't found any corroborating documentation for a private detective of that name in Tulare County.

Another Doran image, this time of a girl with doll.

Here's an image of a little boy (same studio).

Nice to see someone smiling in a 19th century photograph.

 This is a photo postcard of the "grammar school" at Ducor, CA.  Post-marked 1913.
It's architecture seems somewhat unusual. e.g.  Looking at how the windows are placed, it's difficult to tell how many stories tall it was.  i.e. Excluding the steeple, is it 2 or is it 3 stories?  And the corner of the roof just visible at the right side of the photo appears high compared to the rest of the main roof.


Close-up from this photo:

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Here are two photo postcard views of Ducor's Baptist Church (circa 1910).

This church still stands today as the town's First Baptist Church.

(Updated 3/10/13)  A present day photo of this church.   It's on the SW corner of Ducor Avenue and Dennis Road.