Postcard of Snow at Mt. Wilson Hotel

Summary

Grayscale, real photo postcard of snow at the Mt. Wilson Hotel in California. The hotel is almost unrecognizable under a thick blanket of snow. A man is walking in front of the hotel. The sun tower of the Mt. Wilson Observatory is in the right background. The front of the postcard has a white border. The postcard is unused.

Subject

Mount Wilson Observatory

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

• Produced by the Los Angeles Photo Post Card Co. on Kodak paper.
• "Real photo" postcards were first produced using the Kodak "postcard camera." The postcard camera could take a picture and then print a postcard-size negative of the picture, complete with a divided back and place for postage.
• The postcards from Mt. Wilson belonged to Charles Greeley Abbot. He was the fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian and was an astrophysicist and solar researcher. The Mt. Wilson Observatory opened in the early 1900s, and many researchers, including those from the Smithsonian, visited the observatory to study. The observatory is funded by the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 27, Folder: Charles Greeley Abbot: Snow at Mt. Wilson Hotel (1)

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

c. 1930s

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

• Postcard
• Hotels
• Snow

Place

• Mount Wilson (Calif.)
• California

Form/Genre

• Postcard
• Photographic print

ID Number

SIA2013-07679 (front) and SIA2013-07680 (back)

Physical description

Number of Images: 2; Color: Black and White; Size: 5.4w x 3.5h; Type of Image: Postcard; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

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