Historical Portrait
Jack Snyder (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Historical portrait of Jack Snyder, a World War I soldier from Tulare County, California. Public-domain photograph from 1914 archive collection.
About this photograph
The archive record identifies this as a portrait of Jack Snyder, a soldier from Tulare County during the First World War, and dates the photograph between 1914 and 1918.
Tulare County lies in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region where the county library maintains an extensive local history photograph collection focused on ordinary residents rather than public figures.
The United States entered the war in April 1917. Around 4.7 million Americans served, drawn from the roughly 24 million men registered through Selective Service. Local photography studios found steady work making portraits of enlistees in uniform before they departed. These formal sittings were often the only such photograph a young man ever had taken, with copies made specifically to leave with families at home. County historical collections across the country consequently hold large numbers of these military portraits.
The photograph's date range spans 1914 to 1918, though American entry came in 1917. Whether Snyder served with American forces or enlisted earlier with another nation's military, the record does not say. The photographer remains unknown.
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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