COLLECTION NUMBER:
C011.
COLLECTION TITLE:
DeGraff Austin Collection.
CREATOR(S):
DeGraff Austin.
DATES OF MATERIAL:
1931-1971.
EXTENT:
174 items (160 photographic prints, 13 negatives, 1 photomechanical print): 11 color; 8 x 10 in. or smaller + some related letters.
LOCAL CONTROL NUMBERS:
Photographic prints: OP12797/1-162.
Negatives: 99:19979/1-12 and 99:19980.
REPOSITORY:
San Diego History Center
Booth Historical Photograph Archives
P.O. Box 81825
San Diego, CA 92138
1-619-232-6203
ACQUISITION INFORMATION:
Gift of Marie A. Walsh (DeGraff Austin’s daughter), 1981-1982 (263-D and 314-D).
RESTRICTIONS:
Open for research.
COPYRIGHT:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact the curator of the Booth Historical Photograph Archives of the San Diego Historical Society. Reproduction or publication of any part of this collection must include the following information next to the image(s) or in a special section of credits: DeGraff Austin Collection, San Diego History Center, Booth Historical Photograph Archives.
GENERAL NOTES:
Arrangement: by subject and local control number. Related materials: DeGraff Austin Papers, 1916-1978, and typed transcripts of oral history interviews with DeGraff Austin in the Research Archives. Forms part of: San Diego History Center Original Print Collection.
BIOGRAPHICAL OR HISTORICAL NOTE:
From 1946 to 1971 DeGraff Austin’s public service career in San Diego included terms as city council member, vice mayor, county supervisor, and federal customs inspector. He established the San Diego City-County Camp Commission and an outdoor education program that achieved national recognition. Born in Fallbrook, California, in 1895, his family moved to San Diego in 1904. He attended Pomona College and served in the Army Air Service during World War I. He married Charlotte Lester in 1920 and they had two children. Later divorced, he married Beatrice Fricker in 1957. He died in 1980.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE:
Related mostly to DeGraff Austin’s involvement in public service and his 20-year tenure in office on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the photographs show ceremonies, presentations, banquets, public addresses, meetings, openings, ribbon cuttings, and other events. People depicted include local government officials, several past mayors of San Diego, California Congressman Bob Wilson, then governor of California Ronald Reagan, San Diego Union-Tribune owner and publisher James Copley, film actor Gregory Peck, African-American community leaders, and Martin Luther King Jr.; also, park dedications and City-County Camp Commission activities.
SUBJECTS INDEXED:
San Diego County (Calif.) — Board of Supervisors.
San Diego (Calif.) — City-County Camp Commission.
Politics and government — California — San Diego County.
Government officials — California — San Diego County.
Public service.
Banquets.
Meetings.
Public speaking.
African-Americans — California — San Diego.
Parks — California — San Diego County.
Camps — California — San Diego County.
San Diego County (Calif.) — Political life.
San Diego County (Calif.) — Commemorations.
CONTENTS LIST:
| Box 1 | |
| Folder 1 | OP12797/1-20 Subjects: Portraits of DeGraff Austin and other government officials. Includes members of San Diego County Board of Supervisors and County Sheriff Bert Strand. |
| Folder 2 | OP12797/21-51 Subjects: DeGraff Austin’s involvement in public service, various meetings, political functions, and promotional events. Includes 50th anniversary of Irish Rebellion Day, County Proclamation Family Week, March of Dimes campaign, civic improvement projects, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers picnic. Also, publicity photograph with attached press release from Regional Airport Study Committee. |
| Folder 3 | OP12797/52-73 Subjects: Commercial, news, and U.S. Navy photographs of banquets, celebrations, presentations, and public addresses. People depicted include several past San Diego mayors, California Congressman Bob Wilson, San Diego Union-Tribune owner and publisher James Copley, and film actor Gregory Peck. |
| Folder 4 | OP12797/74-95 Subjects: Dedications of historic sites, buildings, and ships; public speaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies; opening of Mission Gorge Road. |
| Folder 5 | OP12797/96-102 Subjects: DeGraff Austin receiving award at first San Diego Urban League meeting in 1955 and attending dedication of Southeast Health Center with prominent San Diego area Afro-Americans. Of special note, photograph of Austin with Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Folder 6 | OP12797/103-122 Subjects: City-County Camp Commission and Board of Education at Camp Cuyamaca; other camp photographs. |
| Folder 7 | OP12797/123-134 Subjects: Dedications of Julian Park and Campo Park in 1948. |
| Folder 8 | OP12797/135-147 Subjects: Series of snapshots with original negatives from around 1951 showing mostly trucks in San Diego County’s Mexican-American Border Region. Also includes an 8 x 10-in. landscape view, looking from the American side toward Tijuana. |
| Folder 9 | OP12797/148-156 Subjects: Portraits of DeGraff Austin and various family members. |
| Folder 10 | OP12797/157-162 Subjects: Miscellaneous photographs of people. Of special note, a color photomechanical print of President Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, inscribed and initialed on the back. |
