Walter E. Hadsell Collection

What is the W.E. Hadsell Collection?

An extensive collection of photographic negatives produced by the studio of W.E. Hadsell was donated to the Maritime Museum of San Diego in 2008. The negatives were individually numbered and conserved in their original envelopes. Their subject matter is primarily the American Southwest and Mexico.

Number of negatives: 560
Number of positives: 10
Size: most are 5″x7″
Date of collection: Early 20th Century

Themes and Subjects:

Veracruz
Veracruz Port
Arizona
Hadsell Family
Mexico D. F.
Jalisco Mexico
Tlalpajahua Michoacan Mexico
Guanajuato Mexico
Lake Chapala
El Oro
Chiapas Mexico
Alameda
Texas City
Grand Canyon

Condition:
3 Negatives are broken.
1 Positive is broken.

Original numbering provided by the Hadsell Studio:
3-4; 8; 13; 17-18; 26; 59; 66; 79; 84; 87; 91; 122; 127; 130-131; 151; 159; 183; 213; 220-221; 223; 227; 234; 251-254; 291; 364; 415; 418; 421; 424-436; 470; 547; 566; 593; 604-605; 670; 678; 708; 742-743; 906; 910; 912; 951; 974; 984; 1303-1308; 1315-1316; 1351-1352; 1438-1443; 1503-1504; 1582; 1598-1599; 1674; 1677-1678; 1697; 1861-1863; 2046-2047; 2107-2108; 2224; 2228-2231; 2236-2237; 2240-2242; 2246; 2257; 2261-2266; 2268; 2270-2272; 2276-2278; 2281-2282; 2285-2288; 2293-2296; 2305-2306; 2309; 2313; 2315; 2322-2323; 2330; 2353-2354; 2360-2363; 2366; 2370; 2372; 2376; 2385; 2399-2408; 2410; 2412; 2420-2422; 2424; 2351-2352; 2435-2444; 2447; 2451-2455; 2459; 2462; 2466; 2475-2480; 2483; 2492-2493; 2495; 2497; 2500; 2502; 2504; 2506; 2509; 2516; 2521; 2526; 2531; 2542; 2562; 2565; 2567; 2576-2577; 2582-2583; 2585; 2587; 2591-2595; 2598; 2603; 2605; 2607; 2609; 2612; 2620-2621; 2631; 2633-2654; 2636; 2640; 2644; 2647; 2663; 2681; 2683; 2699; 2701-2702; 2716-2717; 2722-2724; 2726; 2730-2733; 2741; 2751; 2761; 2762; 2766-2767; 2770-2778; 2788-2790; 2793-2795; 2798; 2800; 2803; 2805; 2807; 2809; 2811; 2825; 2830-2832; 2840; 2863; 2867-2868; 2877-2882; 2885-2889; 2896; 2899; 2903; 2911-2913; 2919; 2934; 2943; 2952; 2953-2956; 2962; 2966; 2971; 2977; 2979-2980; 2982; 2984-2985; 2991-2997; 3002-3003; 3010-3012; 3018-3022; 3024; 3028; 3036; 3040-3041; 3045-3051; 3053; 3055; 3060-3062; 3067; 3072-3073; 3075; 3077-3080; 3083; 3085; 3088; 3090; 3092; 3161; 5300-5306; 3553; 4156.

Hadsell Biography

The American photographer Walter E. Hadsell was born in the 1880s. Following graduation from the University of Arizona in 1904, he worked in the Henry Beuhman Photography Studio in Tuscon, Arizona. The studio is described in one source as “Photographers and dealers in Arizona views, moldings, and picture frames.” Hadsell lived in Mexico during the years 1910s and 1920s. In 1914 he documented the United States’ intervention in Veracruz, know as the Veracruz Incident.

Intervention in Veracruz

On April 9. 1914, several sailors from the crew of the ship USS Dolphin that was anchored in a restricted dock area in Tampico Mexico, were arrested for an hour and a half by Mexican authorities. President Woodrow Wilson demanded an apology from the Mexican government. However the president of Mexico, Victoriano Huerta, refused to grant any apology for the sailors’ arrest. In response, the president of United States sent a fleet to the Gulf of Mexico, and occupied the port of Veracruz.

Maritime themes in the Hadsell Collection

The following selection of photographs highlight the maritime themes found in the Hadsell Collection. Numbers preceeded by “P” refer to the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s catalog number. This is followed by the original numbering provided by Hadsell.