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Caption: "Benicia Arsenal Office," c. 1915. William McCarthy began his career as an inspector of armaments for the U.S. War Department at the Benicia Arsenal in 1903. The arsenal was established in 1851 as the first Ordnance Supply Depot in the West, from which it supplied and supported U.S. troops from the Civil War through WWII and the Korean War. It was deactivated in 1963.

Date: 1915

Caption: "Lake Louise - Victoria Glaciers in the distance," c. 1935.

Date: 1935

Caption: "Fort Worden when the snow has come. Greetings from Port Townsend - Wash." and "Photo by P.M. Richardson, 1910." This postcard shows an overview of Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington, on Admiralty Inlet of Puget Sound. Construction began on the fort in 1898, and by 1902 it was serving as an active U.S. Army base. Fort Worden was part of the "triangle of fire," three coastal defense fortifications (Fort Casey, Fort Worden, and Fort Flagler) guarding the entrance to Puget Sound. The U.S. sold the property to the state of Washington in 1957. In 1973, the fort and surrounding area opened as Fort Worden State Park.

Date: 1910

Caption: "This Monument Marks the Spot Where East and West Union Pacific R.R. Was Joined in Completion. Ames Monument, Near Summit Between Cheyenne & Larmie [sic]. Sept. 30, 1934." Grace McCarthy stands in front of the large four-sided pyramid of the Ames Monument in this photograph. The monument, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, does not mark the spot where the transcontinental railroad was joined (that occurred at Promontory Summit in Utah). Instead, the Ames Monument commemorates brothers Oakes and Oliver Ames, financiers of the Union Pacific Railroad, builder of the eastern portion of the transcontinental railroad line. At the time the pyramid was constructed in 1882, it stood at the highest point in elevation attained by the transcontinental railroad (8,247 feet).

Date: 9/30/1934

Caption: "Saltair. Salt Lake." View of the first Saltair resort pavilion, constructed in 1893. Designed by Richard K.A. Kletting, the pavilion hovered above the Great Salt Lake on more than 2,000 posts and pilings. The resort was a popular spot for Mormon families, only fifteen miles from Salt Lake City and overseen by Church leaders. The Church sold the pavilion in 1906. It was later destroyed by fire in 1925.

Date: 1916

Caption: "Want to go home," c. 1906, shows two unidentified young girls posing for a photograph.

Date: 1906

Design and drawing of unidentified building by Alfred Eichler. Project for Department of Mental Hygiene - Hospitals.

Date: undated

Design study of San Francisco State College by Alfred Eichler. Project for Department of Education.

Date: undated

Caption: "California Here We Come. Donner Monument. In Our Home State Again After Five Months Tour. October 7, 1934." William and Grace McCarthy took this photograph of the Pioneer Monument when they arrived back in California after a five month road trip to the East Coast. The Pioneer Monument, featuring a pair of pioneers with their two children looking west, was first dedicated on June 6, 1918 to commemorate those who emigrated to California in the mid 1800s. Today, the monument and surrounding area is known as Donner Memorial State Park. The park was established in memory of the ill-fated Donner Party, a group of emigrants whose wagon train was caught in the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the winter of 1846-47. The Pioneer Monument's stone pedestal stands twenty-two feet high, the height of the snow that the party had to contend with. Of the eighty-seven people in the wagon train, only forty-eight survived to be rescued the following spring. Some of the survivors are said to have resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.

Date: 10/7/1934

No caption. Grace McCarthy standing next to an exhibit by the San Monte Fruit Company at the 1912 "Big Week" in Salinas (Monterey County), an event still celebrated today as the Salinas Rodeo. The exhibit consists of a globe made of apples and apple slices. See also 96-07-08-alb05-062.

Date: 1912