Historical Portrait
Charles E. Wileman (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Public domain historical portrait of Charles E. Wileman, World War I Corporal from Cutler, Tulare County, California, circa 1914. Military photograph from WWI era.
About this photograph
Charles E. Wileman served as a corporal during the First World War. The record identifies him as being from Cutler in Tulare County, California.
The date range runs from 1914 to 1918, though the United States did not enter the war until April 1917. The photograph was held by a county library in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region where irrigated agriculture supported communities settled largely in the late nineteenth century.
Studios in this period photographed many enlistees in uniform before they left for service. These portraits were often made so a copy could remain at home with family. For many young men, such a sitting produced the only formal photograph they would ever have. County historical collections across the United States consequently hold large numbers of these military portraits.
The photographer is not identified. The portrait came to the Internet Archive through a statewide digitisation programme that works with libraries, museums and historical societies across California to make local holdings publicly available.
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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