Early ones reveal a land of missions, cattle and Native American and Mexican dwellers. Later ones unfold a tale of interurban electric railways, automobiles and the American street scene of the early 20th century. Both his own photographs and those he collec-ted, however, were in the format of glass plates. These originals are now almost impossible to use, according to Shoaf. To view them physically, researchers must flip through the images one by one, risking damage to the plates.
Much more work remains to be done.
The California Historical Society photo collection that now resides in USC's archives consists of more than 23,000 images, of which Pierce's 6,000 glass negatives are only a part. Shoaf estimates the digitizing and indexing of the remaining images may take another three years. Further major photographic collections also beckon. USC holds the entire photography morgue of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner newspaper, and the files of Dick Whittington, a highly active Los Angeles commercial photographer of the 1920s through the postwar period. A Paiute Indian woman grinds acorns in an outdoor kitchen in Yosemite, Calif., c. 1900.