Historical Portrait
Raymond Augustus Lee (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Public-domain historical portrait of Raymond Augustus Lee, World War I serviceman from Visalia, Tulare County, California, photographed in 1914.
About this photograph
Raymond Augustus Lee served in the First World War and came from Visalia in Tulare County, California. The archive record dates this portrait to 1914, though the United States did not enter the war until April 1917.
Tulare County sits in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region 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 rather than public figures.
Once the United States entered the war, local photographic studios photographed large numbers of enlistees in uniform before they shipped out. Many of these portraits were made so that families could keep a copy at home, and they often represent the only formal photograph a young man ever sat for. County historical collections across the country consequently hold thousands of such images.
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. Items reaching the Internet Archive through this programme come from many separate local institutions across the state.
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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