Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. Chief James Edgar Davis holds a box with the burning mortgage to the Bide-A-Wee home for women. The mortgage was set on fire by Gloria Swanson, silent film actress. Swanson helped Minnie Barton, home founder, pay the mortgage by sending $100 a month for several years. The group gathered to burn the mortgage in celebration of completing payment on the home set up by Barton to help working mothers. Also pictured are Mary Brill, president of the Big Sister League, Superior Judge Georgia Bullock, and Mrs. Robert Ladd Gifford. Minnie Barton was the second woman to join the Los Angeles Police Department and also founded the Barton Home for girls in 1917. Gloria Swanson was an actress best known for her role as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard. James E. Davis James Edgar Davis was Los Angeles Chief of Police from 1926–1931 and from 1933-1939. Text from original nitrate sleeve: Bide - A-Wee - Home; Burning Mortgage: Gloria Swanson, Minnie Barton, Chief James E. Davis. Handwritten annotation from nitrate negative: Bide-a-Wee home.
Type
image
Format
b&w nitrate negative
Identifier
ark:/21198/zz00254c9x
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
People Government Charities--California--Los Angeles Women's Shelters--California--Los Angeles Actresses--American--California Davis, James E. (James Edgar), 1889-1949 Barton, Minnie Brill, Mary Bullock, Georgia P., 1878-1957 Swanson, Gloria, 1897-1983
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