[Klemm, K., Attributed to]. Album with One Hundred Gelatin Silver Photographs, Twenty-Six Postcards (Twenty-Three Real Photo Postcards and Three Printed Postcards) and Ten Pieces of Printed Ephemera, Taken and Collected during a 1940 Trip to Mexico (Sonora, Guadalajara, San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Cuernavaca, Mexico City, Teotihuacan, Xochimilco, Taxco, and San Pedro Cholula), Showing the Interior of Hospicio Cabañas, the Church of San Felipe Neri, Fort Loreto, Franciscan Chapel, San Gabriel Franciscan Convent, the Basilica Cathedral of Puebla, etc.; also with the Views of Streets and Portraits of a Local Tour Guide from Popo Travel Bureau, Fortune Teller, Silversmith, Weaver, Adobe Maker, Beggars, etc. Ca. 1940.

Oblong Folio album (ca. 23,5x31,5 cm). 24 card stock leaves. With 100 gelatin silver photographs, each ca. 9,5x6,5 cm (3 ¾ x 2 ¾ in). Most of the photos with period white ink captions on the mounts and verso. Also with twenty-three real photo postcards ca. 8,5x13,5 cm (3 ¼ x 5 ¼ in), most with captions on the mounts, in negative, and verso; three printed postcards ca. 13,5x9 cm (5 ½ x 3 ½ in), all with printed captions in negative and on verso: “Made only by Tichnor Brothers Inc, Boston, Mass;” ten pieces of printed ephemera. Period brown patterned cloth album fastened with a string; with blind-stamped pictorial boards and gilt titled "Photographs; A couple of photos with mild silvering, but overall a very good album with strong interesting photos.

Interesting collection of vivid vernacular photographs, taken by “Dr. Karl Klemm” during his 1940 trip to Mexico, two years before the country’s official entry into WWII. The compiler apparently began his Mexican journey in Sonora, reached Guadalajara via the Southern Pacific Railroad, and continued his travels to San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Cuernavaca, Mexico City, Teotihuacan, Xochimilco, Taxco, and San Pedro Cholula.

The album contains 100 photos taken during the trip, including over thirty-fifty images of Mexican cathedrals (Cuernavaca, the Basilica Cathedral of Puebla, etc.), chapels (Franciscan Chapel), monasteries (San Gabriel Franciscan Convent), churches (Church of Santa Prisca de Taxco), castles (Chapultepec), pyramids, etc. A couple of interesting views depict an early building of Fort Loreto in Pueblo (today the Museum of Non-Intervention), the bell tower & second tower of the Church of San Felipe Neri in Mexico City, and the interior of Guadalajara orphanage with the compiler’s caption: “All children are given the name of the founder.” It is highly likely that the orphanage images portray a kitchen and patio of the Hospicio Cabañas (built in 1803), one of the oldest and largest hospital complexes in the Americas. About 30 photos taken in different cities throughout the journey are ethnographic and illustrate the local people: entertainers in traditional china poblana & charro costumes, fortune tellers, caballeros, beggars, adobe & pottery makers, silversmiths, weavers, etc. There is also a portrait of a curio seller accompanied by Klemm’s curious note: “She has no children to care for her… A Tragedy in Mexico…. but, she said her teeth and her heart were good, so she would not beg.” Several photos showcase the compiler either posing alone or with Salvador Botello, a tour guide from the Popo Travel Bureau he evidently engaged during his trip to Mexico. The album also contains over eight vivid shots of a bullfight stadium, prominently displaying local hospital (“Ambulancia Gayosso”) and Coca-Cola advertisements in the background.

Twenty-three real photo postcards and three printed postcards show farmers harvesting agave plant for pulque and tequila, a Mexican woman grinding corn for tortillas on stone metate, a native man wearing a raincoat of straw, an Indian woman (“They don’t know to what tribe they belong”), a pottery seller, an “Indios” couple, tourists in a trajinera in Xochimilco, etc. The album is also supplemented by ten pieces of printed ephemera (see the list below). Overall, a historically interesting, well-documented album of photographs illustrating a 1940 trip to Mexico.

The list of ephemera:

1. [A Business Card of Salvador Botello, a Representative of Popo Travel Bureau, in Juarez, Mexico]. 1 p. Ca. 5x8,5 cm (2x 3 ½ in).

2. [A Business Card of Gabriel Sanchez, an Authorized Tourists Guide in Guadalajara, Jal, Mexico. “The Guide is your Best Friend]. 1 p. Ca. 5x8,5 cm (2x 3 ½ in).

3. [A Business Card of Geo. H. Cooper from Passenger Traffic Department of Southern Pacific Company on 65 Market Street, San Francisco]. 1 p. Ca. 5x8,5 cm (2x 3 ½ in).

4. [A Business Card for the “California” Silver Shop in Taxco, Gro. (Two Brothers from California)]. 1 p. Ca. 6,5x11 cm (2 ¾ x 4 ½ in).   

5. [A Lithographed Invitation Card to “Modern Mexican Art of Delfino Garcia Permanent Exhibition Oils, Water-Colors, And Woodcuts. Studio Calle De Guadalupe 12-A. Tasco”]. 1 p. Ca. 5,5x9,5 cm (2 ¼ x 4 in).

6. [A Fold-Out Illustrated Color Leaflet, titled:] Indian Pottery Tonalart. Painted in Freehand by Tonaltecan Indian Artists at “El Arte Tonalteca.” Tlaquepaque, Jal. Mexico. 6 pp.: ill., a map showing the route to the studio. Ca. 15x9 cm (6 x 3 ½ in).

7-10. [Four Invitation Cards (with Bird Feathers) to the Exhibition of Mexican Handicrafts Especially Arranged for Visiting Tourists]. Each 1 p. Each ca. 4,5x7,5 cm (1 ¾ x 3 in).