Historical Portrait
Claude Raymond Lauffenberger (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Historical portrait of Claude Raymond Lauffenberger from Sultana precinct, Tulare County, California, taken in 1914. Public-domain WWI-era photograph.
About this photograph
Claude Raymond Lauffenberger came from Sultana precinct in Tulare County, a farming area in California's San Joaquin Valley. This portrait was made in 1914, before the United States entered the war in April 1917.
The date presents a puzzle. American involvement came three years after this photograph was taken, and the military portrait trade that followed mobilisation had not yet begun. Selective Service would eventually register around 24 million men, and local studios photographed many enlistees in uniform before they left for training. Those portraits often became the only formal photograph a young man sat for, kept at home while he served.
Whether Lauffenberger enlisted early, sat for a civilian portrait later misdated, or had some other connection to the war period the record does not say. The photograph survives in the Tulare County library's local history collection, which documents ordinary residents rather than public figures, and was digitised through California Revealed, a statewide programme that brings material from local institutions into public online archives.
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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