Posted on by clarkn

Halloween Revelry

For this week’s blog, I wanted to take a break from my usual work and check in on the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. The CCDL provides access to a rich store of visual resources from across the Claremont Colleges community. I am particularly drawn to the site’s photographic collections of early Claremont, including the Boynton Collection of Early Claremont, the City of Claremont History Collection, and the Claremont Colleges Photo Archive. The images in these collections open a window into the people and landscapes of early Claremont as only photographs can. Trust me: you will get lost in these photographs! 

In the spirit of the season, here are some selections from the CCDL which depict Halloween traditions in early twentieth-century Claremont. Enjoy!
Halloween_prank_Pomona_College (2).jpg
A brick wall and cannonball placed at the top of the stairs leading to Sumner Hall, Pomona College as a Halloween prank in 1901. A notice reads, “Trespassers Will Be Given The Grand Boot.”
 
Interior_of_Pearsons_Hall_Pomona_College.jpg
This room inside Pearsons Hall, Pomona College was used as a museum. Written on the back of this photograph: “This horse grazed on the roof of Pearsons Hall of Science one Halloween.”
Halloween_prank_Pomona_College (3).jpg
Another prank by those Pomona College tricksters, circa 1914-1918. A large sign in front of Sumner Hall reads “Claremont Nurseries.”
Source:
Claremont Colleges Photo Archive, Claremont Colleges Digital Library, http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/ccp.