US Naval California Radio Station Collection (UG 21)
The US Naval California Radio Station Collection (UG 21) consists of several hundred glass negatives and cyanotype prints related to early US Navy Radio Stations in California, circa 1904 to 1921. There is no donation information known about the collection. The collection provides historical photography of the first radio stations in the San Diego and the San Francisco area. Included are selected item level images from each California location (see below).
In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt designated the Navy to provide efficient coastwise communications for the U.S. Government and, when not in competition with commercial stations, to receive and transmit all radio messages to and from ships at sea. "Instructions for the Transmission of Messages by Wireless Telegraphy, US Navy 1904" were promulgated on the same day that President Roosevelt approved the designation of the Navy to have sole control over ship-shore communications. The year 1906 witnessed the completion of the West Coast chain of Navy wireless stations. Most of them were built in the vicinity of lighthouses so that their transmissions would be primarily over water. This system constituted a highly successful relay network from Canada to the Mexican Border, day and night.
This collection provides outstanding coverage of early naval radio stations in California, especially as it relates to radio equipment and building construction.
For a full box list of the collection, with station locations, subjects, and dates, click here.
To view other California related naval radio station photo collections, please see:
NHF-097: Yerba Buena Naval Radio Station Collection
S-417-A: Naval Radio Station Annapolis Photo Collection
NHF-128: California US Naval Radio Stations Collection
NHF-099 Twelfth Naval District Radio Headquarters Collection
UA 543.02 Naval Historical Foundation Collection
For additional information about this collection, please contact the photo archive at: nhhcphotoarchives@navy.mil
