Historical Portrait
Guy Snyder (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Historical portrait of Guy Snyder from Tulare County, California, taken in 1914. Public domain World War I era photograph from archival collection.
About this photograph
This portrait shows Guy Snyder, a resident of Tulare County in California's San Joaquin Valley. The photograph dates from 1914, three years before the United States entered the First World War in April 1917.
Tulare County was a farming region in the San Joaquin Valley, its economy built on irrigated agriculture and settled heavily in the later nineteenth century. The county library maintains a large local history photograph collection focused on ordinary residents, families, schools and businesses rather than public figures.
The portrait is held in that collection and was made publicly available through California Revealed, a statewide programme that digitises material from California libraries, archives, museums and historical societies. Once American involvement in the war began, local studios photographed large numbers of enlistees in uniform before they shipped out. Many of these portraits were made specifically so families could keep a copy at home, and they often remained the only formal photograph a young man ever sat for. County historical collections across the state consequently hold thousands of such images.
The record does not indicate whether Snyder himself later served, nor does it identify the photographer or studio that made this portrait.
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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