[Substantial Collection of Family and Personally-Produced Photographs by Noted California Artist and Amateur Photographer Isabel Porter Collins]

[Various locations in California, mostly Sausalito and other locations in Marin and Sonoma Counties, 1930. Very good.. Nine photograph albums in a variety of bindings, containing approximately 810 photographs, the great majority paper prints but with a fair share of tintypes and CDVs in the earliest two albums, plus 102 loose negatives, three negative rolls, and a metal container housing 135 later color slides. A phenomenal collection of photographs from noted but still somewhat obscure California artist, teacher, and amateur shutterfly Isabel Margaret Porter Collins. The collection numbers over 800 images ranging from early family images featuring dozens of Collins' antecedents from the 1870s to 1890s, personal albums featuring Collins with her family and friends in various locations in California over the course of about thirty years, and an album and some further images produced by Collins' son Henry Benjamin Collins, whom she called Ben. The collection was most likely retained by Ben.

Isabel Margaret Porter Collins (1875-1954) was an artist and teacher who produced both amateur and fine art photography. She was born in Petaluma to a prominent Marin County family descending from the Collins-Dowd-Harris-Howard-Porter line. Collins was a talented visual artist and studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art from 1898-1900. She then worked as a pen-and-ink artist for Shreve & Company, producing greeting cards and place cards. She was subsequently employed by Dirk Van Erp, from whom she learned coppersmithing, producing lamps, shades, pen trays, and other hammered copper objects. In 1906, she married Henry Collins and moved to Sausalito, where she taught in Bay Area public schools until her retirement in 1945. She participated in major exhibitions for the San Francisco Art Association (1896 and 1901) and earned a gold medal at the California State Fair in 1900. In her later years, Collins lived with her daughter in Seattle. After she died, Collins was buried in the family plot in Ukiah, California.

The photograph albums are not organized in strict chronological order, as the images overlap slightly in time within a few of the albums. Still, the albums are detailed as follows, in roughly chronological order:

1) [Annotated Family Photograph Album]. [1870s-1890s]. [16] leaves, illustrated with forty-four photographs, mostly cabinet cards measuring around 6 x 4 inches, inset one per page into picture windows, with the last six pages comprised of tintypes presented six per page in smaller picture windows. Contemporary padded cloth covers, central metal device on front cover, manuscript titles to spine reading, "Harris Howard Porter Collins." Front cover detached, cloth worn and somewhat soiled, fore-edge clasp lacking. Occasional wear to photos. The album opens with a nice image of Collins' mother Eliza Harris Porter, captioned with her name, as well as her birth and death dates. Similarly captioned photographs populate the album throughout, featuring Collins' family members and friends such as Alpheus Josephus Harris, Julia Harris, Polk Porter, and so forth, providing a solid avenue down which to pursue Collins' ancestry. Many of the images emanate from Honolulu, Hawaii, where Collins' family lived and worked for some time.

2) [Annotated Family Photograph Album]. [1880s-1890s]. [13] leaves, illustrated with twenty-five photographs, mostly cabinet cards measuring around 6 x 4 inches, inset one per page into picture windows. Contemporary red padded cloth with central metal device and corner pieces on front cover, four small metal feet on rear cover, two music boxes stored within the rear cover (which no longer appear to be working), and metal clasp on fore-edge. Contents generally nice, with occasional dust-soiling. Like the first album, this collection of photographs is comprised of cabinet card images of Collins' antecedents, beginning with Josephine Porter, and also including another image of Collins' mother, "Polk with Josie Porter 8-12-82 Healdsburg," "Joe Porter Weller, Nevada," "Mr. Crow Nevada Cattleman," Pamela Everett Howard Harris, and others. Most notably, this album includes an image of a young Collins herself, with the manuscript caption reading "Isabelle Porter (Collins)." In addition to the inset photographs in the album, there are several items laid in, including later letters to Collins' descendants and a few additional photographs. Another good opportunity to pursue Collins' family lineage.

3) [Annotated Vernacular Photograph Album of Family and Scenes in Marin County]. [1905-1912]. [16] leaves, illustrated with 104 photographs. Oblong folio. Contemporary gray wrappers. Moderate edge wear and minor soiling to wrappers. Minor dust-soiling to contents, but mostly clean and in nice shape. This is the first album in the collection that we can assume is comprised mostly of photographs by Isabel Collins herself. The album features over a hundred shots of Collins and her family, mostly centered on her son Ben, her mother Eliza, and various aunts, uncles, and family friends. The family is pictured at home in Sausalito, as well as traveling around to nearby places in Marin and Sonoma counties such as Fort Ross, Sonoma Mission, Slide Ranch, Muir Woods, Carmel, and Mill Valley. Apparently, Collins's son Ben has occasionally provided his own later captions in some of the albums, evidenced here by his inclusion of the word "Grandma" over an image of Eliza Harris Porter. In addition to displaying Collins' talent for photography, this album and most of those that follow provide a wide view of the scenery and landscape of the area of California just north of the San Francisco Bay Area where Collins spent most of her married and family life.

4) Marin - Monterey & Mendocino Cos. (Arizona) Isabel P. Collins [cover title]. [1906-1913]. [68] leaves, illustrated with 133 photographs. Small square quarto. Contemporary Japanese-style blank book, string tied, printed title label on front wrapper. Some wear and abrasions to wrappers, last few blank pages heavily chipped. Moderate foxing and light occasional staining. A custom photograph album created by Collins, featuring scenes in and around the three title counties, Marin, Monterey, and Mendocino, as well as a short section near the end capturing a family visit to Arizona. The photos begin in Sausalito at the Collins home, and also include pictures of Boyes Hot Springs, San Miguel Mission, the Presidio Chapel in Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Sherwood Creek, among others. This album also contains numerous images of the Sherwood School in Sherwood, California in 1912, where Collins taught school. These images include a class picture of Collins and her class standing outside their one-room schoolhouse, other pictures of the school and its students, local Sherwood residents, a sheep farm in the area, and some mining scenes around Sherwood. The small number of photos from Arizona include a shot of Collins labeled, "circa 1900 (1st teaching job)." Due to the language on the printed title card, we assume all or most of the images were shot by Collins herself.

5) [Vernacular Photograph Album of Scenes in Marin and San Mateo Counties]. [ca. 1910]. [48] leaves, illustrated with 111 photographs. Oblong quarto. Contemporary limp black cloth, "Photographs" in gilt on front cover. Minor edge wear. Contents largely sound and clean. Lightly annotated with a few location captions, but largely un-annotated. A collection of photographs featuring Collins' children and family members engaged on a farm and in other outdoor activities in Sherwood and Pescadero, attending the "S.D. Fair," and engaged in other recreational activities in and around Sausalito. Two loose images in this album display Collins' photo credit stamp on the verso, reading, "Isabel Porter Collins Photograph."

6) Snap-Shots [manuscript cover title]. [1911-1930s]. [12] leaves, illustrated with 116 photographs. Oblong folio. Contemporary tan paper-covered boards, manuscript title label on front board, single string tie. Minor wear, some offsetting to rear cover. One leaf detached, but mostly clean and nice internally. A heavily annotated vernacular photograph album that appears to have been compiled by both Isabel and her son Ben, and likely mostly the latter. The majority of the images, though, were likely taken by Isabel, though some images are credited to Ben's friends Lafka and Harpo. The photos capture a wide variety of scenes of the Collins family in Sausalito, hunting, camping, and more, as well as scenes of Ben's social life and travel to Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Salinas. Interestingly, this album includes a portrait photograph of Collins captioned, "Mother 1898 Art Sch[ool]."

7) Photos by Isabel Porter Collins - Vallejo [manuscript cover title]. [1920s-1930s]. [38] leaves, illustrated with seventy-six photographs and a handful of ephemeral items. Small oblong quarto. Contemporary Japanese-style blank book, string tied, manuscript title on front cover. Minor wear and soiling to covers. The preponderance of this album concerns Collins' time as a teacher at Lincoln School in Vallejo in the 1920s, with numerous images of the students, fellow teachers, and outdoor scenes around the school. One of the more interesting series of images pictures the Kikuchi children, with a later note in Collins' hand reading, "Japanese Father Died, Consentration [sic] Camp WWII. Was Vallejo Barber/Wife." There are also several photos of the Collins children and other family members visiting San Francisco. This album was most likely compiled by Collins herself, as it includes a few hand-illustrated gift cards from her daughter, Clairice Thorsen nee Collins, and programs from events attended by Isabel and her two kids with manuscript captions by Collins.

8) [Annotated Vernacular Photograph Album Recording Isabel Collins' Travels]. [1935-1936]. [77] loose leaf sheets, illustrated with 178 photographs and about thirty postcards. Quarto. Contemporary hardcover three-ring binder, covered in decorative floral paper, possibly by Collins herself. Minor wear. A few leaves detached from the three-ring binder, minor wear to contents, but mostly clean and in nice shape. A handmade and very personal account of Collins' travels to Santa Barbara, Montecito, Santa Ynez, Tejon Pass, and more in 1935 and 1936, profusely annotated with manuscript captions of the people and places she visited. Collins sees Santa Barbara College, the 1935 Santa Barbara Festival, the 1936 Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade in Santa Barbara, Huntington Gardens, the Santa Ynez Mission, and more during her travels. A couple of images feature noted California artist Helen Seegert, one captioned "Helen Seegert as a Mexican Flower Girl." The last five pages include a detailed handwritten account and a map detailing the portion of Collins' travels in November 1936. A great many of the vernacular images in this travel album were likely taken by Collins herself, except for the images she distinctly captions with the photo credit of another ("Photo by Leila Robins" or "Anderson's Photo '35").

9) Vamos a Guaymas Mamie y Ben 1-57 [manuscript cover title]. [1957, 1962]. [5] leaves, illustrated with twenty-three photographs. Oblong quarto. Contemporary black cloth, manuscript title on front cover, spiral bound. Spine worn, moderate edge wear. A short collection of photographs recording Ben Collins and his wife Mamie on a trip to Guaymas, Mexico in 1957 and with four photos of a later vacation to southern California in 1962. In addition to this later album, the present collection includes three negative rolls and a metal container housing 135 color slides dating from the 1950s and '60s, which most likely belong to Ben, as well. The assortment of 102 loose negatives, arranged by place in a couple of envelopes (Sausalito and "Nature Trails Sequoia 1930s"), are most likely Isabel Collins' work.

Collins' photographs are positively rare institutionally. The most substantial collection of Collins' work is held by the California Historical Society, numbering 222 photographic prints mostly from her time at the Hopkins Institute. The California State Library holds seven photographs. These two collections are the only institutional records we could find of Collins' work. As such, the present collection most certainly represents the largest collection of Collins' work found anywhere, and apparently the only deep collection of family photographs as well.

Edan Milton Hughes, Artists in California 1786-1940, Volume I, p.233.