The Etching and Engraving Picture File

The Etching and Engraving Picture File is one of San Francisco Public Library’s hidden gems. Originally known simply as the “picture file,” it is a collection of 19th century prints organized by subject.

The collection is vast, taking up nearly 100 linear feet of file cabinet space. Being hidden from view under lock and key, it requires a trip to 4th floor Art, Music and Recreation Center to partake of its riches.



There are folders for over 4,500 different subject headings. Some folders have only a single image while others have dozens.

There is good reason to believe that work on the Etching and Engraving Picture File was begun in the 1960s. It has undoubtedly been the work of many hands over many years.

Celeste West, librarian and editor of Synergy, the publication of BARC (the Bay Area Reference Center sponsored by SFPL), gave a very good description of this special collection in the February 1969 issue of the newsletter:

The vast picture collection now being classified and organized at SFPL is one of the most unusual to be housed in a public library. It will contain a million vintage illustrations obtained from 18th and 19th century books and periodicals. The collection is a fine resource in cultural history, providing pictorial information as well as examples of the distinctive art styles in vogue. Of special reference interest is the large section of portraits, which includes many copies noted in the ALA Portrait Index (1906). The picture file should delight historian, artist, and plain browser in its varied scope — everything from the intricate filigree of gothic engravings, through quack medicine ads, and even 1881 racetrack programs from England.

[Author, publisher and librarian Celeste West, famed for her activism and as an editor of the book The Revolting Librarians, interspersed images from the collection through the issues of Synergy.]



As you can see from the newsletter cover above, the images in the collection were created using block print technology. From the beginning of the 19th century, lithography or prints using wooden blocks revolutionized commercial publishing. The Etching and Engraving Picture makes use of imagery from the popular illustrated magazines of that time along with individual prints and engravings.

With the advent and growing availability of photography images like these became thought of as old-fashioned and anachronistic. They did find favor among collage artists like the surrealist Max Ernst or in the “paste-ups” by San Francisco artist Jess.

One of the virtues of the images of this collection is that they are entirely copyright free. In his book Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood, author Bill Hayes credits our Etching and Engraving Picture File for this image of Leonardo da Vinci. Since there is no legal reason to credit this public domain collection, there is no way of knowing how many other books we have helped to illustrate.


Left: Picture file reproduction in Five Quarts; Right: Image from the Picture file.

These images are also provide inspiration for visual artists. Children’s book illustrator K-Fai Steele credits this collection for inspiring the artwork in his book Okapi Tale, authored by Jacob Kramer. In an interview Steele noted that:

The cover is one of my favorite drawings from the book. When I was doing research for the visual world, in particular the Okapi’s factory, I started by looking at images from mills and mill towns in New England using the Etching and Engraving Picture File Collection at the San Francisco Public Library.

from the folder ”Mills and Mill-Work”

We have had patrons use images from the Etching and Engraving Picture to help them design restaurant menus or to provide inspiration for a tattoo. We treat the images like reference items requiring collateral ID while they are being used in the Library. While the Library does have excellent scanners for patrons to use, we do circulate individual images from our reference desk to library card holders.

Keep the Etching and Engraving Picture File in mind whenever you or a patron need artistic inspiration or if you want to take a little time to disappear down a visual rabbit hole.

Come Up And See My Etchings Sometime...

Pont d'Espagne - High Pyrenees (from the Spain - Views folder)

The Etching and Engraving Picture File is a collection of illustrations culled from mid19th - early 20th century magazines. Some of the magazines clipped include the Illustrated London News, Harper's Monthly, the French magazine L'Illustration, and Scientific American. This collection is a wonderful resource for artists and crafters and others who can use copyright-free illustrations.

The Colossal Elephant of Coney Island (from the Amusements folder)

When you visit the Main Library, come the 4th floor to see a small display, Come Up And See My Etchings Sometime. This display, adjacent to the staircase near the Art, Music & Recreation Center reference desk, features reproductions of images from the Etching and Engraving Picture File.

The illustrations in this collection are filed in folders organized into more than 4,500 alphatbetical subject headings, from "Abbeys" to "Zoos - Philadelphia." These subject headings are listed in the Etching and Engraving Picture File Index.

See also: San Francisco Public Library Art, Music and Recreation Center blog entries using Etching and Engraving Picture File Images.

Putnam's Escape at Horse Neck (in the United States - History - Revolution (Leaders) folder)

Extreme Style: A Survey of Women’s Fashion

 image source: San Francisco Public Library Etching and Engraving Picture File

Extreme Style: A Survey of Women’s Fashion is a display in the Art, Music and Recreation Center on the 4th floor of the Main Library. It will be available to view through mid-October.

It was extremely stylish, now it’s just extreme. According to Oscar Wilde, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” The perception of beauty is always subjective. What is considered the height of fashion looks ridiculous after it predictably, goes out of style.

Self-adornment is found in every culture. Evidence shows that people began wearing clothing up to 500,000 years ago. Images of people wearing clothing have been found in 20,000 year-old cave paintings. In western civilization, being fashionable in the way we now understand it began sometime in the 14th century. Increased trade and travel, technological breakthroughs in textiles, the growth of a middle class and the beginnings of disposable income all converged in this era. The result was that women began to create and follow fashion.

Towards the middle of the 19th century the rate at which the fashionable silhouette changed accelerated. The invention of the home sewing machine and the increasing popularity of paper patterns encouraged home dress-making during this time. Concurrently, periodicals, especially fashion magazines intended for women became popular. By the 20th century the pace of change in the fashionable silhouette grew ever more rapid as the expanding fashion industry, in conjunction with new forms of media, became more effective at stimulating demand for a constant flow of new styles (read more about this at "Women's fashions of the Victorian era").

In the first part of this entry we’ll focus on styles from the head to the waist. Our next entry will discuss the waist to the feet. Listing extreme styles chronologically is another approach, but as you’ll see, some styles and silhouettes cycle in and out of fashion, in some cases centuries apart. It’s also fascinating to compare the extremes of proportion within one article of dress. For example, the hoop skirt to the hobble skirt.

Working our way from top to toe, here are just some of the more extreme styles that women have chosen in their quest to be fashionable.

Hennins, Horned Headdresses and Caged Headdresses: 15th c. Europe. Sumptuary laws limited the height of the cone-shaped hats called Hennins to 24” for the aristocracy, while princesses could wear Hennins up to 36” high. Doorways were adjusted to accommodate the fashion. Eyebrows and hairlines were plucked to increase the illusion of height. Horned Headdresses were stuffed, and Caged Headdresses were wired to maintain their shapes.

image source: San Francisco Public Library Etching and Engraving Picture File

Enormous Hats: 1780’s and early 20th century. These looks coincided with two of the big hair eras. The thought was that a big hat balanced the hair style and created a pleasing proportion. Big hats provided plenty of room for decoration. Edwardian hats were often adorned with a full variety of waxed fruit, yards of ribbon and net, or full nests of stuffed birds.

Extreme Hair: 1700’s, 1800’s and 20th century (1910s, 1940s, 1960s and 1980s). For women without enough hair to achieve the look there were always other options. Padding, false hair, wire cages, hairspray, teasing and extreme chemical treatments. It’s an impressive comment on creativity that all of the different “Big Hair” eras look unique.

Ruff collars: 16th century. The more extreme versions were reserved for the aristocracy, but variations of pleated, starched or wired collars were worn by the middle class as well.

Taxidermy Fur Stoles: In the early 20th century, mink and fox stoles often included the full animal- head, tail and all four legs. One popular way to wear this style was to attach a fastener under the animal’s jaw and then clip it to the tail. This gave the appearance that the animal was biting its own tail.

Shoulder Pads: During World War II, women’s fashion took on a militaristic look. Shoulder pads helped to support this tailored, masculine style. When shoulder pads came back in the 1980’s they began as a retro reinterpretation of that 1940’s style. The 80’s pads seemed to take on a life of their own though, as they grew to truly enormous sizes. The theory was that broad shoulders made the hips look smaller.

Oversized Sleeves: Popular from about 1825 until 1840, the “gigot” sleeve was full at the top and tighter toward the wrist. By the mid-1830s the enlarged top cap was sagging with its own enormity. In order to support these massive sleeves, women resorted to filling them with stiffened buckram undersleeves, whalebone hoops or large feather-filled pads. Enormous sleeves became popular again in the Victorian era around the turn of the twentieth century. They reappeared briefly in the 1930s as a precursor to the shoulder pads of the 1940’s.

Stuffed Birds and Feathers for hats and accessories: At the height of the “Plume Boom” in the early part of the 20th century the business of killing birds for the millinery trade was practiced on a large scale, involving the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds in many parts of the world. By the turn of the 20th century, this trade had nearly eliminated egrets in the US, and populations of numerous other bird species around the globe were also approaching extinction. Reports of “murderous millinery” atrocities led to the formation of the first Audubon societies. Soon, many American women wore “Audubonnets”, the term given to the non-feathered hats.

Sentimental Jewelry: 19th and early 20th centuries. Also known as mourning jewelry, ornaments made from human hair grew out of the desire to keep a part of a loved one close to the wearer. Hair was woven and knotted to make brooches, bracelets, watch chains, earrings and necklaces. Exceptionally skillful crafters also created large landscapes from hair that were framed and displayed. The Civil War and Queen Victoria’s strict mourning customs helped popularize hair jewelry.

Re-opening The Art, Music and Recreation Center

After a long pandemic hiatus, the Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public is open again!  

Come back to enjoy our Etching and Engraving Picture File of 19th century engravings cataloged by subject.

"Parties" - images from the Etching and Engraving Picture File

Peruse our popular song book collections.

Page through beautifully illustrated exhibition catalogs.

Take a spin with our collection of vintage vinyl.

Visit our webpage to learn more about the resources of the Art, Music and Recreation Center.  We also have a listing of Art and Music related online databases.

If you can't visit us at the Fourth Floor at the top of the stairs in the Main Library, you can reach us by phone as 415-557-4525 or by email at artmusicrec@sfpl.org.

Extreme Fashion: A Survey of Women's Fashion, pt. 2

Extreme Style: A Survey of Women’s Fashion continues to be on display in the Art, Music and Recreation Center on the 4th floor of the Main Library through mid-October.

Earlier blog entry: Extreme Style: A Survey of Women’s Fashion, pt. 1 (August 3, 2014)

Swimming suit 1885 - source: Etching and Engraving Picture File

19th century swimwear and tennis wear: When women first began to swim, beaches were strictly segregated between men and women. Even so, modesty was the goal with style not much of a consideration. The first swimsuits were far from practical or comfortable; ladies went as far as to sew lead weights into the hem of the "bathing gown" to prevent the dress from floating up and exposing their (stocking covered) legs. Bathing costumes were made of a heavy wool flannel that absorbed pounds of water. When women began playing tennis in the late 1800s, they basically just wore their everyday clothing. Some of the more aggressive players raised their hemlines a few inches for better mobility.

 A Perfect Health Corset Superior to all Others - source: Etching and Engraving Picture File

Corsets: Corsets were in style for centuries. The shapes changed in order to modify the body to conform to whatever idealized figure was in style. The materials changed from iron to steel to whalebone. They were worn by all economic classes and all ages. There were even special styles designed to be worn while sleeping. In the Victorian era girls as young as one year old were put in corsets. They were said to improve a girl’s posture and health, although there is no word on why a boy’s health did not require the same garment.

Panniers: 17th-18th c. The French word pannier translates as basket, and the understructures to support this style were originally made of woven wicker baskets tied to the waist. Doors were reconfigured and armless chairs were designed in response to the fashion.

Cage Crinolines or Hoop Skirts: When metal cage crinolines were patented in 1856 they were an immediate hit. Women were overjoyed with this invention because it meant they could eliminate the six heavy petticoats they had been wearing to achieve the ultra-full skirted look then in style. After the cage was adopted, skirts became even fuller, often using 20 yards of fabric. At the height of their popularity enough steel was produced in Sheffield, England to make half a million hoops in one week. The crinoline knew no class differences and was adopted simultaneously by all, with only the quality of the crinoline material changing. The inflatable rubber crinoline, an attempt to reduce the weight of steel hoops, was a short-lived fad that never really caught on.

Bustles: In the mid to late 19th century the circular hoop skirt shifted until all of the fullness was in the back. This major change in silhouette in such a short time is attributed to the influence of Charles Frederick Worth, the world’s first

Couturier. Professional fashion designers are so central to our understanding of style that it is hard to believe that they’ve only been dominant for a short time. Worth revolutionized the business of dressmaking. He opened The House of Worth in Paris in 1871, and began the custom of presenting seasonal collections of his own designs. He was also the first to put labels into the clothing he manufactured. As other couturiers appeared the desire for new styles became a demand for new styles.

Hobble skirts: During the first decade of the 1900s, just as women began demanding more freedom and equal rights, one of the most restrictive fashions of the twentieth century came into style. This was the hobble skirt, a slim, ankle-length skirt that grew narrower from the hips to the hem. Popular between 1905 and 1910, the hobble skirt was so tight at the ankles that the woman wearing it could only walk in very short steps. Horses are hobbled by tying their front legs together with a short rope to keep them from running away. The hobble skirt was named after this. Women who wore the skirt often wore a special contraption underneath it. The hobble garter was a band made of two loops of fabric attached to each leg just below the knee. The bands were connected by a short strip of cloth preventing the wearer from accidentally taking a normal stride and ripping the fashionable skirt.

Chopines: Developed in the early sixteenth century in Venice, the high-platformed shoe called the chopine had both a practical and symbolic function. It was designed to protect the foot from irregularly paved and wet or muddy streets, but the enhancement of stature also played a role. The wearer literally wanted to stand out in a crowd. The chopine's height introduced an awkwardness and instability in a woman that required her to rely on an attendant to help her walk. While most examples are between three and five inches tall, more extreme versions rose to over 18 inches.

Platform Shoes: 20th and 21st century descendants of the Chopine became fashionable in the 1940’s, 1970’s and the first decade of the 21st century. The silhouettes from each era are remarkably similar.

Xray foot in stiletto - source: Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed by Harold Koda

Stilettos & High Heels: 16th – 21st centuries at various times. High heels were first worn by men in the 16th century to help secure the foot in a stirrup for horseback riding. Women soon adopted them and high heels have cycled in and out of fashion ever since.


CURRENT EXTREMES?

How do we strive to stay stylish today? Will anything we wear be considered extreme in 100 years? Compared to the historical fashions pictured here our clothing seems so practical and simple. But maybe there are a few styles that could be questionable in a century or two? A short and highly opinionated list might include some of these.

Washed, distressed and pre-ripped pants. Tattoos. Bikinis too small to swim in. Modifying the body through implants. Logo T-shirts advertising the store that sold you the T-shirt. The idealized bodies of the past, shaped by corsets, padded shoulders, or extreme bustles do look odd. Will future generations question our ideal figure represented by fashion models who are taller than 99% of American women, with an average body mass index officially in the anorexic range?

As new fashions are continually designed our perceptions of beauty will continually adapt. Our pursuit of the next beautiful extreme is the one thing that remains constant.

Searching for Images Class - Links

Patron listening to a record in the Music Department at the Main Library [ca. 1970] - image from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Below is a list of a number of the links discussed at the June 5, 2013 class Searching for Images presented by the Art, Music & Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library.

Image Resources at the Library:

The Art, Music and Recreation Dept.’s Print and Picture File: Information and File Headings [pdf format]

Images - links from the Art, Music and Recreation Center Delicious page

Camio - Catalog of Museum Images Online - a subscription database accessible in the Library, or by logging in with a library card and pin number.

San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Resources From Other Libraries:

Calisphere - California-themed digital images

Library of Congress –Newspaper Photograph Morgues (a list).

Library of Congress – Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

New York Public Library Picture Collection Online

Government Websites:

Image Gallery from the United States Department of Agriculture.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library.

United States Department of Defense Multimedia.

United States Antarctic Program Photo Library.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Image Library. 

Federal Emergency Management Agency Photo Library.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Images.

United States Geological Survey Photographic Library.

Search Engines and Websites:
Google Images. Once you have search results follow the “gear” /   and select Advanced Image Search. Here you can limit by image size, aspect ratio, colors in image, type of image, region, site or domain, safesearch, file type, usage rights.

Life Photo Archive Hosted by Google (available for non-commercial use).

Digital Librarian: Images - an exhaustive list of links.

Image * After - user-uploaded free images and textures.

stock.xchng - user-uploaded free stock imagery.

morgueFile - free high resolution stock imagery.

Wikimedia Commons - the online media database of the Wikipedia.

A Brief History of Color in Western Painting

edit of "The Cincinnati Museum of Art - An Ambitious Student" (Harpers Weekly 12/20/1890) from the "Painters" folder of the Art, Music & Recreation Center Picture File

In its most basic form, painting may be defined as the use of pigments (pure colors) in powder form which are suspended in a medium and then applied to some sort of support. The earliest pigments date back to around 350,000 BCE and were made from colored earth materials such as crushed red and yellow sands called ochres. Manganese oxide provided browns and blacks, and white came from calcite. These colors have been found in cave paintings throughout the world and the pigments were used by themselves or mixed with animal fat for better adherence.

As civilizations grew in sophistication, so did the art of painting. Animal fat medium became replaced by plaster, wax, egg tempera and eventually oils such as linseed and poppy seed. Artists moved beyond cave walls and started using papyrus, wood, parchment, and eventually linen canvas for supports.

During the Middle Ages, the artist’s palette became broader due to the discovery of new animal, vegetable and mineral products found locally and abroad. Much of the research in color chemistry and technology was carried out by physicians and alchemists. Pigments were sold by grocers or pharmacists because many of the materials used in painting also had pharmaceutical uses or were found among the spices. The colors were then made by the artists themselves in a long and exacting procedure that required extensive knowledge on the part of the painter.
By the latter part of the seventeenth century pigments were available ready-ground and were sold to artists by specialized grocers who became known as color merchants. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the trade of the color merchant evolved from just grinding pigments to preparing paint and packaging it for sale.

John Brooking's Studio from the "Painters" folder of the Picture File

Until 1841, pieces of pig’s bladders were the normal method of storage, but because they were so permeable, the paint would gradually harden. Pig’s bladders were messy, not easily portable and once the bladder was punctured, the paint began to harden very quickly. The invention of the collapsible paint tube in 1841 by John G. Rand, was one of the most important developments for nineteenth-century painting. Paint in tubes contributed significantly to the ever-growing number of amateur painters. It also made the practice of painting outside much easier. The painter Auguste Renoir is often credited with saying that without paint in tubes, there would have been no Impressionists.

The advances made by chemical scientists in the 19th century brought about the invention and availability of new pigments in colors that had never been used by artists before. Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Matisse were but a few of the artists who embraced these new colors and used them for emotional impact. Monet and Seurat, on the other hand used colors to capture light and produce optical color mixing effects.

The next major change in painting materials occurred in the 1950’s with the invention of acrylic paints. Initially sold as latex house paints, they rapidly found their way into the artistic community. Water soluble, artist quality acrylic paints became commercially available in the 1960’s.

The Library has many books on painting materials and techniques that may be checked out. The following is just a sample of the titles that are available:


Alla Prima: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Direct Painting by Al Gury (Watson-Guptill, 2008).

Color Mixing Handbook by Julie Collins (David & Charles, 2007).

How to Paint: A Complete Step-by-Step For Beginners Covering Watercolours, Acrylics and Oils by Angela Gair and Ian Sidaway (New Holland, 2005).

New Artist’s Manual by Simon Jennings (Chronicle Books, 2006).

Paint Like Monet by James Heard (Cassell/Sterling Pub., 2006).

Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques by Rolina van Vliet (Search Press, 2008).

Traditional Oil Painting: Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present by Virgil Elliott (Watson-Guptill, 2007).

Understanding Color: Creative Techniques in Watercolor by Marcia Moses (Sterling Pub., 2007).


In addition to reading books on painting technique, it is helpful to look at a variety of painting methods used by other artists. Some painters worth studying include Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Pierre Bonnard, Peter Paul Rubens, Frida Kahlo and Jackson Pollock. Ask our librarians for other recommendations.

Works cited in hyperlinks:

Noa Noa: The Tahiti Journal of Paul Gauguin; translated by O.F. Theis (Chronicle Books, 1994).

Renoir / edited by Margherita d'Ayala Valva and Alexander Auf der Heyde (Rizzoli, 2005).

Van Gogh, Starry Night; text based on the interviews between Federico Zeri and Marco Dolcetta (NDE Pub., 1999).

Henri Matisse by Susan A. Sternau (New Line Books, 2006).

Monet, preface by Roberto Tassi (Rizzoli, 2005).

Georges Seurat by Pierre Courthion (H.N. Abrams, 1988).

Dante Gabriel Rossetti by Julian Treuherz, Elisabeth Prettejohn, Edwin Becker (Thames & Hudson, 2003).

Pierre Bonnard: Observing Nature / edited by Jörg Zutter (National Gallery of Australia, 2003).

Peter Paul Rubens by Claudia Bauer (Prestel, 2004).

Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954: Pain and Passion by Andrea Kettenmann (Taschen, 2002).

Jackson Pollock, 1912-1956 by Leonhard Emmerling (Taschen, 2003).

Nature and Its Applications - an illustration index

With the wealth of information and data available through the World Wide Web, often the dilemma for the researcher is navigating this over-whelming quantity of information and data. The job of the librarian is to understand how to both evaluate and supplement this wealth of information.

A well-made and well-conceived reference book can often open up an unknown world of possibilities. These books that we still depend upon are the product of the work of creative and assiduous librarians of years past.

Jessie Croft Ellis is the creator of four such references in the Art, Music and Recreation Center.  Ms. Ellis received a Bachelors degree from the University of Michigan in 1923.  She conducted her original work at the School of Architecture but later became a librarian in the school of Business Administration at the University.

There are many ways to search for images -- a Google image search, an online database like the New York Public Library Picture Collection or specialized files organized by subject like the Etching and Engraving Picture file that we maintain at the San Francisco Public Library.  The indexes created by Jessie Croft Ellis are also organized by subject and provide references to images in books and periodicals.

Her first work was the Nature Index of 1930 which was expanded, in 1949, to become Nature and Its Applications.  The former indexed 5,000 references and the latter indexed 200,000 references. The earlier work retains value because it is not as vast and because a larger percentage of the images are in the public domain.

These two indexes are dominated by plants and animals.  Nature-scapes like "field," "forest," "garden," "pond" or "waterfall" are also included.  There are broader categories like "feather," "dog," "wildcat," "rocks," or "seed."  But most of the categories are very specific.

Using redwood as an example there are categories for Redwood Forest, Redwood Forest Road, Redwood Tree, Redwood Tree Cone, Redwood Tree Roots, Redwood Tree Twig and Redwood Wood.

The majority of images are from popular magazines from the time like American Forestry, American Museum Journal (the predecessor of Natural History), Better Homes and Gardens, California Arts and Architecture, Country Life, House Beautiful, National Geographic Magazine, Nature Magazine, etc... Selected books, dictionaries and encyclopedias are also indexed.

One entry under Redwood Tree is the citation "Count life 35:67 Mar '19" refering to Country Life vol. 35 (March 1919), 67.  The image above (located in Google books using Ms. Ellis's index) accompanies an advertisement for the California Redwood Association.  This association existed not to conserve the redwood, but to exploit it.  They extol the conifer's "soft ... (yet firm) texture [that] makes it especially suitable for sand-blasting, hand-carving and other unusual treatments."

It's nonetheless a striking image with the primitive truck bathed in sunbeams showing the scale of the forest's grandeur and wonder.

The citation for the above image is "Fortune 3: 3 My '31" meaning Fortune vol. 3 (May 1931), 3. It is also part of an advertisement, this one by "Californians Inc." promoting our City of San Francisco "where life is better."

San Francisco is the center of the world's most varied outdoorland [sic]... Almost in an instant, whenever you choose, the stir of the city may be left behind as you drive along the ocean or through fragrant valleys.

This artistic photograph truly gives a sense of the redwood's scale.  The presence of the lone car projects a dual sense of escape and accessibility (fundamentals of advertising to this day).  But even without knowing the wider context, the photograph works on its own as a work of art.

By consulting Nature and Its Applications, the user can get more than just a beautiful or striking image but also an understanding of how nature was viewed -- as an area of study, wonder, beauty or exploitation.

Here is a bibliography of Jessie Croft Ellis' works at the Library.


General Index to Illustrations; 22000 Selected References In all fields Exclusive of Nature, compiled by Jessie Croft Ellis (The F.W. Faxon Company, 1931).

Index to Illustrations, by Jessie Croft Ellis (Boston : F. W. Faxon Co., 1966).

Nature and Its Applications; Over 200,000 Selected References to Nature Forms and Illustrations of Nature as Used in Every Way, compiled by Jessie Croft Ellis (F.W. Faxon Co., 1949).

Nature Index; 5000 Selected References to Nature Forms and Illustrations of Nature in Design, Painting and Sculpture, compiled by Jessie Croft Ellis (The F.W. Faxon Company, 1930).

Book talk and slide show: Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres

On Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 6:30 in the Koret Auditorium, the Art, Music and Recreation Center and the San Francisco History Center will present a book talk and slide show for Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres. This new book celebrates twentieth century movie theatres and movie-going through lush full-color fine art photographs and personal essays that offer both scholarly and literary appeal.

Julie Lindow, editor of Left in the Dark, will introduce the book. Authors Katherine Petrin and R.A. McBride will then present a "then-and-now" slide show with commentary. There will be a book signing following the panel discussion where Left in the Dark will be available for purchase. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. All Library programs are free and open to the public.

San Franciscans are fortunate to live in one of the world’s most vital movie-going cities and one with so many of its historic movie houses still standing. By showing a continuum from past to present, Left in the Dark offers hope that even as these landmarks crumble, the spirit of cinema thrives.

San Francisco’s film industry and movie theater tradition is a long and significant one. Between the gold rush boom of the 1850s and the advent of the moving picture in the 1880s, San Francisco’s population grew rapidly and with it, so did its reputation as an entertainment town. The City became a nexus for cultural life, known for its live theatres and other ‘palaces of amusement’ such as opera houses, dance halls and eventually, vaudeville theatres where many of the first short films were introduced as part of the variety-show programming.

San Francisco also boasts several film industry firsts. In 1878, in nearby Palo Alto, San Francisco resident Eadweard Muybridge took the first stop-motion photos which lead directly to the birth of the movies. In 1880, on Pine Street at the San Francisco Art Association, the world’s first public movie exhibition was made possible with the debut of the Zoopraxiscope movie projector. In 1902, brothers Herbert, Harry and Earl C. Miles, established the first movie “exchange” on Market Street for renting (instead of selling) prints to exhibitors--a more cost efficient practice, which enabled the new art form to spread and increase in popularity.

Since the late 1970s, The Art, Music and Recreation Center has collected newspaper articles on many topics relating to the art and musical life of San Francisco and has organized them by subject in the Newspaper Clipping Files. One such file is titled Moving Picture -- Theaters. Included within this file are hundreds of articles from our local press (including the Chronicle, Examiner, Bay Guardian, SF Weekly and other local neighborhood publications, many of which are not archived online). Within these files one can find documentation of theaters opening, such as the article “A Flashy New Theater to Open in SF” about the Galaxy on Van Ness (Chronicle 11/28/1983), and theaters closing, “City Losing another Single-Screen Theater”, lamenting the loss of the Coronet on Geary (Examiner 7/21/2000). Many articles also document the life of a theater, for example “Lumiere to Join Repertory Club (Chronicle 8/18/1998) reports that the Lumiere converted one of its screens making SF the leader in repertory cinemas.

Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres, R.A. McBride, photographer; Julie Lindow,editor (Charta, 2010).

Additional resources:

Theatres of San Francisco by Jack Tillmany (Arcadia, 2005).

Fox, The Last Word: Story of the World's Finest Theatre by Preston J. Kaufmann (Showcase Publications, 1979).
Fox Theatre, San Francisco, California: Thomas W. Lamb, Architect, Steve Levin, author and editor (Theatre Historical Society, 2003).

The Man Who Stopped Time: The Illuminating Story of Eadweard Muybridge: Pioneer Photographer, Father of the Motion Picture, Murderer by Brian Clegg (Joseph Henry Press, 2007).

San Francisco History Center Historical Photograph Collection

Pop-up Cards for Mother's Day - May 4, 2013

As part of the Good Crafternoon series, the Art and Music Center is presenting a workshop on how to make pop –up cards for Mother’s Day this Saturday, May 4 at 2:00pm.

There will be a variety of engravings to use featuring mothers and children from the Etching and Engraving Picture File, card stock and an assortment of colorful papers to use for pop-up flowers. We’ll also have a selection of books on pop-up cards, if participants would like to work on their own design.

This event will be held in the Sycip Conference Room on the 4th floor of the Main Library.  All Library programs are free and open to the public.

Opera Based On Literature

Scene from "Lucia di Lammermoor," at Her Majesty's Theatre: "Lucia," Mdlle. Piccolomini, "Edgardo," M. Giuglini, in The Illustrated London News (5/23/1857), from the Art, Music & Recreation Center's Picture File (Operas folder)

The San Francisco Opera recently premiered The Bonesetter’s Daughter, an opera by Stewart Wallace based on the Amy Tan novel. There is a long history of creating operas from existing literary works from all times. Here is a listing of operas based upon famous literature.

Operas have been adapted from Greek and Roman classics–-L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi is based upon Ovid, and Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens is based Virgil’s Aenid. Other opera composers have found inspiration in Shakespeare’s works. Giuseppe Verdi alone wrote operas based upon Othello, MacBeth and Falstaff. Charles Gounod composed Roméo et Juliet and more recently Benjamin Britten wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Plays by Pierre Beaumarchais have provided the basis for two operatic masterworks—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (based upon La Folle journée) and Gioacchino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Victor Hugo has also been the source for great operas—both Verdi’s Rigoletto (based upon Le roi s’amuse) and Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.

Abbé Prevost’s novel Manon Lescaut has been adapted to the operatic stage by both Jules Massenet and Giacomo Puccini. Walter Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor became Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. Modest Mussorgsky employed an Aleksander Pushkin short story as the basis for his opera Boris Godunov. Dubose Heyward’s novel Porgy became the basis for George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

During the past few decades the San Francisco has commissioned several operas based upon great literature. Wallace Stegner’s novel Angle of Repose was the basis for an opera by Bay Area composer Andrew Imbrie in 1976. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Les Liasons dangereuses became San Francisco Conservatory faculty member Conrad Susa’s 1994 opera The Dangerous Liasons. Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire was composed as for the San Francisco Opera in 1998 by André Previn.

To learn more about opera you can visit the Oxford Music Online website through the Library’s Articles and Databases page which includes the full content of the New Grove Dictionary of Opera.

Additional reading:

Bringing Opera to Life: Operatic Acting and Stage Direction. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968. (Appendix C - Operas and background texts - details operas based on literary works).

Fate! Luck! Chance!: Amy Tan, Stewart Wallace, and The Making of The Bonesetter's Daughter Opera by Ken Smith. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008).

Literature as Opera by Gary Schmidgall (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).

Opera as Drama by Joseph Kerman. New and revised edition. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).

Shakespeare and Opera by Gary Schmidgall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

The Walter Scott Operas: An Analysis of Operas Based on The Works of Sir Walter Scott by Jerome Mitchell. (University: University of Alabama Press, 1977).


This entry originally appeared in At The Library 39 /12 (December 2008), p. 4.

American And English Popular Entertainment

Punch and Judy, drawn by F. Barnard, from the "Puppets" folder of the Art, Music & Recreation Center picture file

Nowadays information seekers have become accustomed to a world where they can enter a few words into a search engine and be greeted with, and perhaps overwhelmed by, waves of information. In addition to the content created for the web, full texts of magazines and books are also available to search and read online.

In the days prior to the internet and online databases students, scholars and librarians relied upon bibliographies to locate information on a topic. Bibliography was a valued pursuit because it could make information available about obscure but valuable areas of study and research. Bibliographies were often annotated, i.e., provided a summary of the works reviewed and their value.

This blog will occasionally introduce bibliographies that remain valuable because they open up information that cannot yet be located online, or because they provide an avenue of access that is more careful and systematic than online sources. One such source is American and English Popular Entertainment: A Guide to Information Sources by Don B. Wilmeth (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1980)--volume 7 of Gale’s Performing Arts Information Guide series.

Popular entertainment in this volume comprises activities like circuses, fairs, carnivals, variety and minstrel shows, puppetry, panoramas and dioramas. This annotated bibliography includes books and articles, both scholarly and popular. Circus here comprises various animal acts and performance specialists including clowns. Works on carnivals include P.T. Barnum’s shows, various sorts of side and freak shows, dime arcades, and wax museums. Another section lists books and articles about amusement parks, roller coasters, merry-go-rounds. Other forms of entertainment covered in this bibliography include medicine shows, vaudeville, and magic shows.

The book also includes a helpful index that can lead to information about individual performers, places, and theaters. There are also references to more general topics like censorship, farce, impersonation, melodrama, and quackery. Fascinating sources indexed in this volume include articles detailing the relationship between the art of the Hudson River School and panorama painters, the “Yankee” as a character type on the stage, and the classification of circus techniques.

The author concedes that his book is not exhaustive. But since his entries are annotated it is possible to understand the value of each title and the author’s criteria for their selection.

Public Relations and Marketing for Chamber Musicians and People Working in Music

woodcut by Hans Burgkmair from the Art, Music and Recreation Center picture file

The San Francisco Public Library's Art, Music and Recreation Center and the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music will sponsor a two part workshop for musicians and individuals working in the field of chamber music. These workshops will cover many aspects of career development including fundraising, self-promotion and presentation plus outreach program development.

Part 1, Public Relations and Marketing Fundamentals
June 4, 2008, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

This introductory class would serve as a primer on how to design and implement an effective in-house campaign.

Part 2, Strategic Marketing and Public Relations: Developing an Integrated Campaign
June 11, 2008, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

This class is for people who have experience (however limited) with public relations and marketing. It can be a companion to the first class or taken on its own.

All library programs are free and open to the public. Both workshops will be held in the Latino/Hispanic Community Room on the lower level of the Main Library.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Fleishhacker Foundation in making this program possible.

For more information:
Telephone: (415) 710-0551
Email: pelletey@sffcm.org
Website: www.sffcm.org

Indexes to Painting Reproductions

The World Wide Web has opened up an amazing array of images in digital format. However, even though the internet provides a true bounty, it is by no means complete and it is not as well-organized as the indexed bibliographies created by a librarian’s hand.

The library has a number of resources for finding paintings that go beyond websites like Google Images, Yahoo Images, or the Artcyclopedia. The Art Museum Image Gallery is a database of high quality digital reproductions of more than 150,000 artistic works. It is available in the library, and remotely to San Francisco Public Library card holders.

Perhaps the most in-depth source is the World Painting Index by Patricia Pate Havlice, first published in 1977 and supplemented by three later editions. This set is comprised of volumes indexing paintings both by artist and by title. It provides citations for reproductions in thousands of books published between 1940 and 1999. The works indexed may include any painting rendered using oil, tempera, gouache, acrylic, fresco, pastel or watercolor. The index also indicates whether the reproduction is in color, or whether only a detail is reproduced.

The World Painting Index builds on the work of earlier works by Isabel Stevenson Monro and Kate M. Monro – their Index to Reproductions of American Paintings (1948) with its supplement (1964), and Index to Reproductions of European Paintings (1956). These reference books along with the later Index to Reproductions of American Paintings (1977) by Lyn Wall Smith and Nancy Dustin Wall Moure share an important feature. They provide indexing for paintings not only by the artist’s name and the painting’s title but also by their subject matter. Thus, there are listings for categories like children, animals (by name), churches, circuses, cities (by name), railroads, etc…

Do not overlook our department’s Picture File. This resource also provides access to thousands of images organized by subject.

Related blog entry: Images from Life.


World Painting Index by Patricia Pate Havlice. (Scarecrow Press, 1977).

Index to Reproductions of American Paintings: Guide to Pictures Occurring in More Than Eight Hundred Books by Isabel Stevenson Monro and Kate M. Monro. (H.W. Wilson Co., 1948).

Index to Reproductions of American Paintings, First Supplement : Guide to Pictures Occurring in More Than Four Hundred Works by Isabel Stevenson Monro and Kate M. Monro. (H. W. Wilson, 1964).

Index to Reproductions of American Paintings Appearing in Over 400 Books Mostly Published Since 1960 by Lyn Wall Smith, Nancy Dustin Wall Moure. (Scarecrow Press, 1977).

Index to Reproductions of European Paintings: A Guide to Pictures In More Than Three Hundred Books by Isabel Stevenson Monro and Kate M. Monro. (Wilson, 1956).

DIY Holiday Magic!

(image from the Art, Music & Recreation Center picture file)

Just when we think it’s safe to kick back, shed our costumes and put away the pumpkin carving tools, it suddenly dawns on us that more major holidays are right around the corner. For many, this can be a stressful time of year, especially for those who have been hit hard by the recession. Some are wondering how they can share in spreading holiday cheer in this bad economy.
The good news is that the library has books to address this dilemma. Making your own gifts and decorations is a good way to save money and gain a sense of satisfaction from the creative process. Handmade items have a way of saying: “I care enough about you to invest my heart, hands and time in making something one of a kind.”

The following titles are just a tiny example of what the Art and Music department has to check out and take home. Combine the ideas in these books with books on holiday meals and treats (located in the Business, Science and Technology Center on our floor) and you’ll be on your way to having the happiest holidays every.

300 Ways to Make the Best Christmas Ever!: Decorations, Carols, Crafts & Recipes for Every Kind of Christmas Tradition edited by Mimi Tribble (Sterling Pub., 2004).

Christmas Craft Sourcebook by Gail Lawther (Trafalgar Square Pub., 1995).

Christmas Doughcrafts by Elisabeth Bang (Cassell, 1996).

Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick (STC Craft, 2005).

Holiday Knits by Sara Lucas and Allison Isaacs (Chronicle Books, 2005).

How to Make Christmas Tree Decorations by Petra Boniberger, et al. (Search Press, 1997).

Merry & Bright: 301 Festive Ideas for Celebrating Christmas (Hearst Books, 2007).

Old-Fashioned Christmas Crafts (Better Homes and Gardens Books, 1995).

Papercrafts for Christmas by Judy Balchin and Polly Pinder (Search Press, 2008)

Learning From Each Other - The Reference Fair

Every year the San Francisco Public Library organizes a staff only reference fair so that Main departments and selected branches can highlight their collections and remind all staff what they do.

What treasures do big main libraries hold that even the librarians don't know about?  This fair gives all our departments the chance to share and explore.

At past Reference Fairs, the Art, Music and Recreation Center highlighted specific resources used to answer specific reference questions by patrons.  This year our goal is to illustrate a more subjective type of reference question. This is the kind of bibliographic brainstorming a visual artist might do using our collection. It could also be the kind of "forensic" reference work you need to do for the patron who doesn't know, or can't articulate, exactly what they're looking for. Our hypothetical artist needs to find images based on the elements of Color, Pattern, Graphic Lettering and Copyright Free Images.

We created four sample boards, one for each of the subjects above, filled with examples from our collection.

1. COLOR was further broken down into “theory”, “in combination”, “form and space”, “mixing pigments” and “psychological aspects”.  A few Library of Congress subject headings that can be used to find more books on this subject are: Color in art; Colors; Color guides; Color Decoration And Ornament; and Color In Art Exhibitions.

Selected sources used to create this board are:

Artist's Color Manual: The Complete Guide to Working with Color by Simon Jennings (San Francisco, CA : Chronicle Books, 2003)

Color Management: A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers by John T. Drew (New York: Allworth Press, c2012.)

Color Index by Jim Krause. (Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books, c2010)

2. PATTERNS, PRINTS AND TEXTURES - Subject headings and keywords that can be used to find books on these topics are: Mosaics – technique; Tiles – history; Decorative arts – history; Patchwork – patterns; Repetitive patterns (Decorative arts); Symmetry (Art); Stencil work; Decoration and ornament; Design -- Themes, motives

Sources consulted for this board:

Mosaic Patterns: Step-by-step Techniques, Stunning Projects by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. (North Pomfret, Vt. : Trafalgar Square, 2006.)

Japanese Stencil Designs; one hundred outstanding examples collected and introduced by Andrew W. Tuer.(New York : Dover Publications, 1967)

Floral Design. Second series by Alan Weller designed by Juliana Trotta. (Mineola, N.Y. : Dover Publications, 2011)

3. GRAPHIC LETTERING - Use subject headings and keywords such as: Graphic Design (typography); Type and type-founding; Calligraphy; Lettering; Alphabets; Printing; Letterpress printing; Signs and signboards; Electric signs; Posters; Graffiti; Words in Art; Illumination of books and manuscripts.

A selection of books used to design this board:

Vintage Neon by Len Davidson (Atglen, Pa. : Schiffer Pub. c1999)

Helvetica and the New York City Subway System: The True (Maybe) Story by Paul Shaw (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2011)

An A-Z of Type Designers by Neil Macmillan.(New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, c2006)

4. COPY-RIGHT FREE IMAGES.  The main source of inspiration for this board was the library's own Etching and Engraving Picture File.  The list of subject headings can be found here and the actual etchings and engraving can be found in Art, Music and Recreation Center at the Main library.  Twelve items can be checked out at a time and there is a scanner and copy machine available at the library.  Also search the catalog with the keyword Dover Clip-Art Series.

Other books used to create this board:

Food and Drink: A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources. selected by Jim Harter. (New York : Dover Publications, 1980.)

Ready-to-use Old-fashioned Music Illustrations: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. selected and arranged by Carol Belanger Grafton. (New York : Dover, 1990.)

Ready-to-use Art Nouveau Small Frames and Borders: Copyright-free Designs, Printed One Side, Hundreds of Uses. designed by Ted Menten. (New York : Dover, c1985)

BURIED TREASURES:

Floréal Dessins & Coloris Nouveaux by E. A. Seguy (Paris: Calavas, n.d.)
Within the pages of this book you will find examples of a pochoir-illustrated book by the well known E. A. Seguy.

example of pochoir illustration

Color Papers [n.p.] 1930
sample book of Fat Shan, paper dealer, Canton, China.

example of paper for sale for 10 cents

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

display of color silk screens housed in individual folders