About This Image

Photographer's blind stamp in lower left of photograph. Rounded upper corners.

John R. Putnam and Carlton O. Valentine were commercial photographers in Los Angeles from about 1891 into the early 20th century. Putnam & Valentine documented the growth and development of Southern California over a 50-year period, with Putnam primarily handling the photography and Valentine the business end of the company.

Apparently, Putnam's son, Arion, also worked for the company, as well as being the official photographer for the Southern Pacific Railway. Carleton O. Valentine became the first official president of the Los Angeles Camera Club in late 1899. The firm often showed in the group's salons and publications.

The company produced stereos and scarcer larger prints, as well as mass-market landscape postcards, of images of Los Angeles, Yosemite, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon. Out-of-state views include Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Orleans and San Antonio, TX.

The company was initially located in the Temple Block in Los Angeles for many years, but moved into enlarged and specially built quarters in what was then the new Aristo Building at 757 South Los Angeles St. in 1914.

John R. Putnam died in August 1913, and Arion Putnam and Carlton O. Valentine continued to operate the Putnam & Valentine Studio until at least 1920. According to an advertisement in the Santa Ana Registrar (May 16, 1923), Putnam Studios was then founded as a successor to Putnam & Valentine.

Works by the company are held at the J. Paul Getty Museum; Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library; the California Historical Society; the Amon Carter Museum of American Art; Stanford University Libraries; the Autry Museum of the American West; the Bates Museum of Art; and the LA County Natural History Museum.

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