Historical Portrait
Alva Downing (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Public-domain historical portrait of Alva Downing from Monson precinct, Tulare County, California, circa 1914. World War I era photograph from digital archive.
About this photograph
The archive catalogues this as a portrait of Alva Downing from Monson precinct in Tulare County, taken sometime between 1914 and 1918. The photographer is not recorded.
Tulare County lies in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region where irrigated agriculture supported communities of ordinary residents whose photographs now fill the county library's local history collection.
The United States entered the First World War in April 1917. Selective Service registered millions of men, and local photographic studios found steady work making portraits of enlistees in uniform before they shipped out. Many young men sat for a formal photograph for the first time in their lives so that a copy could remain at home while they served.
The dating here spans both sides of American entry into the war, so whether this portrait records a man already in service or simply a resident of the Monson precinct during those years cannot be determined from the record.
The photograph has been digitised and made publicly available through California Revealed, a statewide programme that works with libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across California to bring local collections online.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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