This collection of 46 dry glass plates was
acquired by James G. Lund in 1935. At that time he was working for the Works Project Administration (WPA) in San Francisco photographing projects such as the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge. Just before leaving the WPA, a fellow employee in his late 70's who admired James Lunds' charisma and enthusiasm in the field, gave his collection of glass plates to the young Mr. Lund.
     The collection consists of these 46 plates which are in the positive, negative and stereoscope forms. All images date from the late 1850's to the early 1900's, taken by early photographers such as Isaac Taber, Carleton Watkins and others. It appears that the majority of these plates are early copy plates,
one to three generations off the originals.

The collection remained untouched until 1944 when James Lund used 12 of the images to produce a calendar for the following year, 1945.
     Late in 1945, Lund opened his own business Lund Litho Plate Co. on Clay and Drumm Streets in San Francisco. He ran a successful business in the city of San Francisco until the early 70's when he retired and moved to Vacaville, California.
     In 1999, when James G. Lund passed away, he left a lifetime worth of memories with the Lund family along with a small steele box marked "Rare S.F. Glass Plates". These one of a kind images are truly windows to the past, documenting early life in San Francisco.

     * All plates are shown full frame and in the original form in which they were found.