|
|
Windows on the Past
Early Valley Treasures
As Seen Through the Lens of
Claude C. "Pop" Laval
by Elizabeth M. Laval
Research & Photographic Editor, Stephen
L. Brown
Contributing Author, William J. Conway, Jr.
$29.95 • 200 pages • Hardcover
ISBN 1-884995-47-0
|
|
|
|
|
About this Book
The history of a
community is preserved in three ways—through oral narratives, the written
word, and visual images. Of these three, it is the visual images that
provide the greatest impact. Photographs bring a sense of immediacy to the
viewer. Suddenly, the past is alive—people can be seen on the streets of a
city going about their lives. They may be dressed differently, the streets
may not be paved, horses may be seen instead of
cars.
Photographs allow us to preserve, in a sense, the historical architecture
of our community. Buildings, long since gone, appear to us in photographs.
Their architectural details can be appreciated once more. For the few
moments we view them, they exist again. A photograph may show the site the
building occupied on a particular block, helping the historian to recreate
a neighborhood or section of a city’s historic downtown. Photographs can
help to document costumes, events, and even some of the social mores of a
period in history. The photographer plays an important role in capturing
the essence of a city.
The arrival of photographer Claude C. “Pop” Laval in Fresno in 1911, marked the
beginning of a commercial photography career that would span fifty-five
years. During this time “Pop” Laval took pictures of mountains, crops, businesses,
streetcars, presidents, streetscapes, and ordinary people. Although his
photos of Fresno comprised the largest part of his work, he also
covered other Valley communities from Stockton to Bakersfield. At the time of his death, in 1966, he left a body
of photographic work that is priceless. He left a photographic record of Fresno that covered the years of Fresno’s greatest growth. The Laval photographs have given the people of Fresno and the Valley an opportunity to view their
historic community.
—From the foreword to Early Valley Treasures, as Seen through the
Lens of "Pop" Laval by Catherine Morison Rehart, author of The
Valley’s Legends & Legacies
|
Save 10%
Add both books to
your shopping cart by clicking here
to save $4.99!
|
|
