Skip to main content

Image / Agricultural and horticultural exhibit at the State Exposition Building in Exposition Park

Have a question about this item?

Item information. View source record on contributor's website.

Title
Agricultural and horticultural exhibit at the State Exposition Building in Exposition Park
Alternative Title
Los Angeles Photographers Photo Collection;
Creator
Schultheis, Herman
Contributor
Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
Date Created and/or Issued
Circa 1937
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
Title supplied by cataloger.; Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937.
Originally named Agricultural Park in 1876, the 160-acre site was developed and served as an agricultural and horticultural fairground until approximately 1910, at which point it was re-named Exposition Park. On November 6, 1913, Exposition Park was formally dedicated, and became the home to a state Exposition Building and the county Museum of History, Science and Art. The State Exposition Building, designed by William D. Coates, Jr., state architect, and Nathaniel Ellery, state engineer, opened in 1912 and housed simple, agriculturally based displays of natural resources and industrial products from across the state. The California Science Center main building today blends the facade of the State Exposition Building with a new structure.
This view captures the grandeur of the two story main room of the State Exposition Building, and includes the skylights in the roof, an ornate chandelier, the arched colonnades lined with California and American flags on the mezzanine, a large fresco on the back wall, the grand staircase, as well as exhibits on the ground floor of various fruits and vegetables preserved in large glass jars, perhaps a decorative version of early canning.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00098197
Herman J Schultheis Collection; Los Angeles Photographers Collection;
N-007-637 8x10
CARL0005081268
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/37842
Subject
State Exposition Building (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Exhibition buildings--California--Los Angeles
Museum exhibits--California--Los Angeles
Agricultural exhibitions--California--Los Angeles
Colonnades--California--Los Angeles
Skylights--California--Los Angeles
Chandeliers--California--Los Angeles
Murals--California--Los Angeles
Staircases--California--Los Angeles
Flags--California--Los Angeles
Exposition Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Schultheis Collection photographs
Coates, William D.,1880-1953
Ellery, Nathaniel

About the collections in Calisphere

Learn more about the collections in Calisphere. View our statement on digital primary resources.

Copyright, permissions, and use

If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.

Share your story

Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.

Explore related content on Calisphere: