University of Arizona

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Al Williams Lantern Slide collection

Al Williams owned a photography establishment at 964 Market Street in San Francisco, CA that produced hand-colored lantern slides in the early 1900s. He was involved in the early motion picture business (pre-1906) in San Francisco.

This is a small collection of lantern slides of early oil drilling activity in the Four Corners area, mostly taken in the San Juan River basin area of Utah, east of Mexican Hat, around 1910. The area has continued to be a major producer of oil and natural gas since the early 1900s. There are about 40 hand-colored lantern slides showing oil drilling machinery, tent camps, employees, and landscapes in the area of the San Juan River Basin.