San Luis Obispo County Historic Lithographs Collection, 1883, MS 047
Pages: Collection Summary | Historical Note | Scope and Content
Scope and Content
Image © San Luis Obispo County Historic Lithographs Collection, Cal Poly.
This collection contains 48 sheets of hand-tinted lithographs, approximately 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches, depicting 61 different ranches, residences, hotels, commercial and civic buildings throughout San Luis Obispo County in 1883. These illustrated the History of San Luis Obispo County, California, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers produced in 1883 by publishers Thompson and West of Oakland, California. The lithographer and artists are unknown; typically, multiple artists working for the publisher went out into the field to do the sketching.
The geographical range of the lithographs includes ranches and buildings located in the coastal parts of the county (Morro, Los Osos, Pismo, Cayucos, Cambria, San Simeon) and the inland areas of San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, and Nipomo.
The collection has one series:
- Lithographs
The collection is housed in one box. The individual prints have been divided into two subseries, arranged alphabetically by owner name:
- Ranches and Dairies
- Commercial and Civic Buildings
In order to simplify access to the collection for researchers, the lithographs were reorganized and refoldered to more accurately reflect their contents.
Pages: Collection Summary | Historical Note | Scope and Content
