Long Beach Fireman's Historical Museum Photographs Collection

The Long Beach Fireman's Historical Museum Photographs Collection consists primarily of negatives documenting the Long Beach Fire Department's history and activities from 1906 to the early 1970s. The negatives are primarily 4x5" black and white film, through there are some negatives of additional size, including 5x7", 2½x2½", 3½x5½", and 35mm, mostly black and white with a few color negatives. There is also a collection of photographic prints, which document both the history of the Long Beach Fire Department, as well as some of the early history of the city of Long Beach. These photographs are of varying size, with the majority being 8x10" prints.

The negatives are arranged numerically, and are primarily in chronological order. The negatives are all filed under serial numbers originally assigned by the Long Beach Fire Department, and those numbers have largely been retained in the collection. The serial number is followed by digits representing the number of negatives and prints which are included per set. Each group of negatives is housed within one or more acid-free envelopes, and negatives which have been digitally scanned are housed separately from those which have not been scanned. Scanned negatives are indicated by an "S" on the envelope. There is a small collection of nitrate-based negatives, which are stored separately from the general collection due to their inherent instability.

Photographic prints have been arranged topically, and were assigned an inventory number during processing. Digitally scanned prints are housed separately from unscanned prints. Those prints that are copies of negatives in the collection are housed in two additional boxes, and their inventory numbers correspond to the serial numbers of the negatives from which they were printed.

The Fire Museum maintains prints from the original negatives and a great deal of scrapbooks.

The collection is separated into 15 series: Apparatus, Car Collisions & Traffic Accidents, City Departments, Drill School & Demonstrations, Fire Prevention, Fire Stations, Fires, Funerals, Ladies Auxiliary, Miscellaneous, Mutual Benefit & Union, Parades & Publicity, Personnel, Site Inspections, and Tests. The series were assigned according to the Long Beach Fire Department's subject index ledger, and negatives and prints which were not assigned a series designation in this ledger were assigned one during processing which corresponds to the Fire Department's series descriptions.

Aside from providing insight into the history of fire fighting in Long Beach, this collection explores the evolution of life in Southern California from the early 1900s through the 1970s. In documenting the activities of the fire department, the photographs in this collection also documents the people residing in the city of Long Beach: the homes they lived in, the cars they drove, the businesses they established, and their general way of life. In addition, the collection provides pictorial evidence of the human impact on the environment in the city of Long Beach, particularly as it pertains to the oil industry, which was a major influence on the growth and development of the city. Some striking photographs of the sea of oil derricks blanketing the landscape of Long Beach can be viewed in this collection.

Information regarding the collection has been entered into the following fields:

ID number

Representing the ID number assigned by the Long Beach Fire Department to negatives.

Box Number

Box number in which the negative or print is housed.

Title

A descriptive title of the image. This field also includes the names of any personnel pictured, unless the list of names is too long to fit into this field, in which case names are entered in the notes field.

Series

Series description assigned to the negative by the Long Beach Fire Department.

Date

Date the original photograph was taken.

Notes

Any additional information about the prints, including names of personnel which do not fit into the Title field.