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A nice bird's-eye view photograph of Avalon, Catalina Island. The view shows the town and bay, including many wooden homes, a church, a compactly arranged "tent city" for fresh-air worshippers, and completely unpaved streets.
C.B. Waite, an American photographer active from the 1880s into the early 1900s, made significant contributions to the documentation of Southern California and Mexico (well over 3000 images, some of which were later reproduced as postcards). His California work generally dates from before 1897, which is when he began the Mexican chapter of his career. In the early 1880s he associated with San Diego photographer Henry Ellis Coonley. By the 1890s he had extended his field to other parts of Southern California and was contracted by railroad companies to photograph in Arizona and New Mexico as well. Renowned for his extensive and diverse body of work, Waite captured a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, urban scenes, and cultural events. His photography played a crucial role in recording the early development of these regions and preserving visual histories that are invaluable to researchers and historians today. Waite's images are celebrated for their technical quality and artistic composition, reflecting a deep understanding of the evolving photographic techniques of his time.
Rarity
While Waite's Mexican photographs are fairly common in the market (they were sold to tourists visiting Mexico City over many years), his Catalina Island images are scarce. The Santa Barbara Historical Society has two Waite images of Santa Catalina Island:
- 66. Avalon, Santa Catalina Isl.
- 161. Stage at Santa Catalina Isd.
![(Native American Photograph) [Albumen photograph print of seated Native American man]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/93105.jpg)
