Historical Portrait
Floyd Harold Clapp (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Public domain historical portrait of Floyd Harold Clapp, World War I soldier from Orosi South and Sultana in Tulare County, California, taken in 1914.
About this photograph
Floyd Harold Clapp was a soldier from Tulare County who appears in military uniform in this 1914 portrait. The archive record identifies him as coming from Orosi South and Sultana, both communities in the county.
The date presents a puzzle. The photograph is catalogued as taken in 1914, three years before the United States entered the First World War in April 1917. Men did not enlist for that conflict until 1917 or later, when Selective Service began registering millions for military duty. The early date may reflect when Clapp first joined the service in another capacity, or it may be an error in the archive's records.
Tulare County lies in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region built on irrigated agriculture and settled heavily in the late nineteenth century. Local studios photographed many enlistees in uniform before they shipped out. These portraits often remained the only formal photograph a young man ever sat for, made specifically so a copy could stay with the family at home.
The county library maintains a large local history collection focused on ordinary residents rather than public figures. This photograph forms part of that collection and was digitised through California Revealed, a statewide programme that makes holdings from California libraries and historical societies 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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