Historical Portrait
Willis Rolland Senter (World War I, Tulare County)
Archive record
Historical portrait of Willis Rolland Senter from Lemon Cove, Tulare County, California, circa 1914. Public-domain WWI-era photograph from archive.
About this photograph
The record identifies this as a portrait of Willis Rolland Senter from Lemon Cove in Tulare County, taken between 1914 and 1918.
Tulare County lies in California's San Joaquin Valley, a farming region where settlement increased in the late 1800s and relied on irrigated agriculture. The county library maintains an extensive local history photograph collection documenting residents, families, schools and businesses rather than prominent figures.
The United States entered the First World War in April 1917. Local photography studios photographed enlistees in uniform before departure, and county collections across the country now hold many such portraits. For numerous young men, this would be the only formal photograph ever taken. Families often commissioned these images specifically to keep a copy at home.
The dating bracket in the record spans 1914 to 1918, suggesting some uncertainty about the exact year. If the portrait shows Senter in military uniform, it would most likely date from 1917 or later, after American entry into the war.
The photograph reaches the Internet Archive through California Revealed, a statewide digitisation programme that makes material 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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