Album with 207 Original Gelatin Silver Vernacular Photographs, Taken during an Early Car Trip from Los Angeles to Mexico and Back in July-August 1938, Titled: Six Weeks in Mexico. Ca. 1938.

Folio album (ca. 37,5x31,5 cm or 4 ¾ x 12 ¼ in). 30 card stock leaves. With 207 mounted original gelatin silver photos, from ca. 7x8,5 cm (2 ¾ x 3 ½ in) to ca. 3,5x5 cm (1 1 x 4 in); most photos are ca. 6x8,5 cm (2 ½ x 3 ½ in). All leaves with period manuscript ink captions, related to all photos on the leaf or individual images; first leaf with a manuscript ink title. With 47 paper leaves from ca. 23x21,5 cm (9 x 8 ¼ in) to ca. 10x21,5 cm (4 x 8 ½ in), mounted on verso of the album leaves, with typewritten notes about the trip. With a period printed tourist map of Mexico, mounted at the rear, with hand-drawn routes of the trip. Period beige soft cover full cloth album fastened with a string; red decorative faux leather arrows on the front board. The manufacturer’s paper label is on the verso of the last leaf. A few photos mildly faded, but overall a very good album of interesting photos.

An attractive extensive collection of original gelatin silver vernacular photos illustrating a 1938 car trip from Texas to Mexico by American tourists. The album was compiled by a Los Angeles female resident who travelled with her family members (“Norrie,” “Jean”) and – on different legs of the trip – several friends (“Dave and Ethel Davidson,” “Mavericks,” “Eckhards,” “Carlos,” and others). The photos are supplemented with long typewritten entries from the compiler’s diary, providing commentary on the events and encounters.

According to the notes, the travellers left their house in Los Angeles on July 12 and drove to Phoenix and San Antonio, crossing the Mexican border at Laredo. Then, the party went down to Mexico City via Monterrey, Ciudad Valles and Jacala. In the capital, they visited several sites (Chapultepec Park, Lake Xochimilco, nearby Desierto de los Leones National Park) and then travelled as far as Lake Patzcuaro and Uarapan in the west, Orizaba and Cordoba in the east, and Oaxaca, Cuernavaca and Taxco in the south. On August 19-21, they stopped at the Iztacchihuatl-Popocatepetl National Park and climbed Mt. Popocatepetl. On the way back to the United States, they visited the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, brought liquor across the border, stopped in Kerrville (TX), and visited Carlsbad Caverns (NM). Near Blythe, they got into a car accident, as the compiler fell asleep while driving, and were rescued by “Mormans in a truck loaded with kids.” The travellers returned “home to Hollywood by 7 in the morning on Tuesday Aug. 30”.

The photos from the first leg of the trip show cars waiting to be inspected on the American-Mexican border, the “market at Cuidad Victoria,” travellers swimming in “Rio Frijo,” and the streets of Tamazunchale and Jacala. Over twenty photos of Mexico City show Zocalo, “Casa de Diego Reviera,” Avenida de la Reforma, Metropolitan Cathedral, the Iron Horse monument (equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain), National Palace, Xochimilco (canals, boats, tourists on board), Chapultepec Park (palace, band concert, Monument to the Boy Heroes), Plaza de Toros bullring, airport, &c. There are also interesting images of Toluca (street market, the tourists on the merry-go-round, Patzcuaro (street and market scenes, “plaza from hotel window”), Uruapan (“plaza of the [hotel] Progresso,” the tourists in a 2nd class railway car, in a private horse-driven rail “station wagon”), a boat trip on Lake Patzcuaro to Cocochucho, Janitzio Island (town, statue of Jose Maria Morelos, three scenes with “viejitos” – traditional folk dancers), &c. The other photos show Iztacchihuatl and Popocatepetl mountains, Puebla, Cordoba, Orizaba, Oaxaca (general views, railway station, pre-Columbian site at Monte Alban), Taxco (street views), Cuernavaca (Borda Gardens), Tepoztlan (Aztec pyramid), Teotihuacan archaeological site, the travellers in Carlsbad Caverns &c. Eight photos illustrate the hike up Mt. Popocatepetl (“Carlos & Norrie at the top,” “pass between Ixtla & Popo,” “Las Cruces – me and the snow line,” &.). The large colour-printed map of Mexico at the rear has hand-drawn pencil lines outlining the route of the journey.

The leaves with the typewritten diary of the compiler include interesting notes on the main events and encounters, prices for hotel rooms, rental accommodations, groceries, souvenirs, perfume, noise in Mexico City, her going to get “hair wash and wave” (Jul. 26), the companions’ sicknesses (Jul. 28-29), the car accident on the way back (Aug. 29), &c.

Overall an interesting extensively photo-illustrated account of an early car trip to Mexico by a California female traveller in 1938.