San Pablo Ave. Oakland, CA. 1906

A series of photos taken by my great-great uncle immediately
after the 1906 earthquake. I found these photos and a couple
of his cameras when the old family homestead was sold
recently. His photos and cameras were in uncovered boxes in
the rafters of his tool shop. The photos fared well, except
those on the top of the pile. These were labled with
date/place on the back of the photos. Based on the size of
the photos, I'm guessing 120 film shot with an old Brownie
that looks to be from the early 1900s.

Posted by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 15:38
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Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 02/29/12 15:46

What a great find (your uncle's photos seem as if they have been in the rafters for over a century) to capture the result of the great San Francisco earthquake. Definite lean to the house and the garments of the people adds another point of interest. Just trying to imagine what our digital pictures would look like under similar storage conditions after a hundred years.


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 15:47

Here's another... My uncle had a number of cameras over the years.
They were all in the same box in the rafters. It was interesting to see
the progression of his cameras, from the old Brownie to a 35mm
Minolta,from the 50s or 60s, I'd guess...

My uncle and great-grandfather had a creamery (Model Creamery) on San
Pablo Ave in Oakland in 1906. Their business was not damaged, but there
was a lot of damage in the neighborhood.


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 15:50

One more... BTW: that's my great-grandfather, dead-center in the
previous photo, looking at the camera.


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 15:59

Jan: I'm guessing the photos weren't stowed away in the rafters until
after he died in the mid 60s. So, about 50 years of stowage, though the
photos are, yes, over a century old...


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 16:44

One last. Here's a photo of the guy, my Uncle John Brask, who took the
photos above. Before he and my great-grandfather opened their creamery
in Oakland, John was the driver for George Pardee, before Pardee became
the governor of California. John is driving the "Blake Team" here. I
don't know who took this photo. I thought this photo was kinda cool:
shows the carriage off pretty nicely, as well as the driving clothes. It
looks like Uncle John has some sort of bag/blanket wrapped around his
legs...


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Wed, 02/29/12 16:53

And thank you Jacky for sharing a part of your family history. Don't we all wish that there had been photographers in our family histories to record greater and smaller moments in that history.


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 02/29/12 17:02

Thanks for your kind comments, Jan. Posting these is a little self-
indulgent, I admit, but I thought the photos were interesting in-and-of
themselves. The focal plane/depth/width of the last one is strange.
Maybe someone who knows more about lenses might know what kind of lens
did/does this? Would have been very late 1800s or very early 1900s


Comments by Bob Buckles on Wed, 02/29/12 18:06

Amazing. Thanks for sharing.


Comments by Sandi MacDonald on Thu, 03/01/12 05:48

Very interesting Jacky...thanks for sharing.;-)


Comments by Mo Fridlich on Thu, 03/01/12 08:44

WoW! What a great find. These are great, a slice of history.


Comments by Gwenn on Thu, 03/01/12 10:35

A pleasure to look at ! Thanks !


Comments by Paul Bracey on Thu, 03/01/12 16:13

Great stuff.


Comments by John Long on Sat, 03/03/12 01:38

Most interesting Jacky - will these photos stay in the family, or go to a Library or Museum?
I have done my family history and have managed to get back to 1705 - but I was lucky in that all the "Long's" lived with about 5 miles of here.


Comments by Jacky on Wed, 04/18/12 22:40

Today is the 106th anniversary of the quake.