Historical Portrait
McKinley Ayers (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Public domain historical portrait of McKinley Ayers from World War I era, Tulare County, California, 1914. Military service photograph from Internet Archive.
About this photograph
The archive's record identifies McKinley Ayers and places the photograph in Tulare County during the First World War period.
The date range spans 1914 to 1918. The United States entered the war in April 1917, when Selective Service began registering millions of men for military duty. Local photography studios photographed enlistees in uniform before they shipped out, often producing the only formal portrait a young man ever had made. Families kept copies at home.
Tulare County sits in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region built on irrigated agriculture and settled heavily in the late nineteenth century. The county library maintains a large local history photograph collection focused on ordinary residents rather than public figures.
The photographer is unknown. The photograph forms part of material digitised through California Revealed, a statewide programme that makes holdings from California libraries, archives, museums and historical societies publicly available online.
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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