Depression Era Photo Album of the American West - 1937

PHOTO ALBUM OF A ROAD TRIP THROUGH THE AMERICAN WEST IN THE SUMMER OF 1937. Oblong 4to. commercial album. Cloth covered flexible card boards. String-tied at left margin. 21 black paper leaves with 145 black and white snapshot photographs mounted to rectos and versos. Most prints loosely fit into corner mounts, about 15 adhered directly to page. Most prints identified in white album pen to page below photos. Many photos notated in ink to versos. Mild handling wear to album exterior, a few prints loose from mounts. Overall very good.

An excellent photo album blending original snapshots and souvenir prints, documenting a road trip through the American and Canadian West undertaken by two couples in the Summer of 1937. About 2/3 of the prints are original vernacular photos shot by an anonymous photographer (or photographers) and capture the group's travels through several tourist high spots in the West including Yellowstone, Glacier, the Candian Rockies, Crater Lake (Oregon), Seattle, San Francisco, etc.. A substantial and attractive record of Depression-era travel through the West.

Apparently the two families left from Cheyenne, Wyoming and headed to Yellowstone. Yellowstone photos include the Sapphire Pool, Pink Pot Geyser, Numerous bears, Old Faithful, Grotto Geyser and Yellowstone Falls. From Yellowstone they headed to Glacier Park, Montana and the photos highlight Baring Falls; a photo of wild horses running down the side of the road near Karst Ranch, MT; Jams Glacier; Watertown Lake; Lake McDonald; Logan Pass, MT; West Side Tunnel on Logan Pass; Glacier Hote; McDonald Creek and McDonald Lake, Montana; Avalanche Lake, Mt; Heaven Peak, MT; Gable Pass, Belly River-Crossly Peak, MT; Red Eagle MT on the road to Many Glacier, MT; Going to the Sun, MT; Trick Falls, MT; The Garden Wall Logan Pass Highway, MT.

Then it was through Washington and into Canada on the Highway to Paradise, MT; Rainier National Park. Other photos are of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge with only one car on it, the Palace of Fine Arts, Santa Barbara, Fire Fall at Yosemite, Bridal Falls, Wawana Tunnel, Yosemite Vernal and Nevada Falls, Three Brothers, Yosemite, the Tonto Plateau- Te Painted Desert, Grand Canyon, Az. And home.

For the most part the photos are in a chronological order, visually very interesting and have great contrast. There are 23 photos of Yellowstone national Park and 29 photos within Montana.