-
UOP Water Tower, JFC, 1962-1963

We now call the “UOP Water Tower” simply Burns Tower. When Joel penned this on the sleeve in 1962, he may not have known about the Burns dedication. The dates from Joel on this sleeves are Nov 1962-June 1963, possibly the timespan of his 4×5″ construction negatives in this particular sleeve from the Jessica Fong’s…
-
Stockton Fog Picture, JFC, circa 1970

I’ve mentioned before that the main reason for Joel to get into 4×5″ “Large Format Photography”, was most likely driven by his desire to be taken “serious” as a photographer. He had resigned into not being a professional photographer, this is, making a living out of it. But that didn’t take away Joel’s desire to…
-
Dick Bass, COP-San Jose, Box 102, Nov 1958

The date is November 8, 1958 and College of Pacific is playing San Jose State. I’ve indicated before to keep a close eye on all of Joel’s football images of 1956-1959. There are plenty of them showing #22, so I checked who was wearing the jersey. Dick Bass. From Pacific website Hall of Fame: Joel…
-
COP Boxing, JFC, April 1957

Further exploring the 1955-1959 timeframe,I found a few sleeves in Jessica Fong’s Collection of Dardis negatives with the “Boxing, April 26, 1957” written on them. No further information about schedules nor athletes. These negatives are all shot as 4×5″. It’s most likely, from the angles and perspectives, including lack of positional movement, that Joel’s camera…
-
COP-Chico State, JFC, Dec 1956

This basketball game was found in one of the 4×5 negative sleeves from the Jessica Fong Collection of Dardis negatives. The date on the sleeve is Dec, 1956. Since the Chico State basketball game is discussed in the December 7, 1956 Pacific Weekly, all seems to fit. Further research showed this game was played on…
-
Soap Box Derby, Box 101, 1958

This derby took place on July 11, 1958 in Stockton. The pilot’s T-shirts in the images all read Karl Ross Post 16, American Legion. Safe to assume this is about a yearly event to see who qualifies for the All American Derby Down in Akron, Ohio Soap Box Derby. That’s where the real prize money…
-
Smith Canal and RR Tracks, JFC

Continuing the scanning of the Jessica Fong Collection sleeves. This time the content of the sleeve had no date on it, just a note to print the contents at 11×14″ enlargement. In spite of lack of a date, there’s a few things to note. First of all, Joel is after “fine-art” images to print, sell…
-
Delta King, JFC, May 1959

The exact date of this sleeve with 4×5 negatives in Jessica Fong’s collection of Dardis images is May 2, 1959. The Delta King is well known in the Delta area, but I did have to check out the history from a time perspective to make sure the May 2, 1959 date on the sleeve is…
-
Smith & Lang Fire, JFC, July 1958

There’s a lot written about the Smith & Lang Fire in Stockton, July 22, 1958 already. Scanning 4 x 5 negatives from Jessica Fong’s Collection, I came across these 3 larger negatives. It puzzled me at first, as one wouldn’t necessarily take a 4 x 5 view camera to a fire to report on, but…
-
COP Football, Box 100, 1958

The rest of of the negatives in box 100 are all related to football matches at COP. There’s of course the Arizona State match of September 27, 1958, but also Brigham Young University (BYU) on October 11, 1958, and finally, Cincinnati on October 18, 1958. I can’t tell from the images alone which negatives belong…
