Trail breakers of the West, photographed by Smith.
Susie Smith photographs courtesy Chris Ervin Collection
The photos of Susie Smith and Lula Mae Graves are published in “Postcards from Mecca: The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves 1916-1936.”
The Old Schoolhouse Museum’s
Second Friday Lecture will feature a presentation on photographs of the desert
from the 1930s. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more information…
Susie Keef Smith, Postmaster, Mecca Post Office, photographed in 1929 by Lula Mae Graves.
Photograph courtesy Warner Graves Collection
Photographs taken in the 1930s by
Mecca postmaster Susie Keef Smith and her cousin Lula Mae Graves, offer an
unparalleled portrait of the forgotten swath of desert between Mecca and the
Colorado River.
Susie Keef Smith and her camera with the desert lily she was photographing in the late 1920s. Her cousin, Lula Mae Graves, captured this scene, which appears in a book called “Postcards from Mecca: The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves.”
Photograph courtesy Warner Graves Collection
When Susie Keef Smith died in
Leucadia in 1988, she left no close relatives. A county administrator assigned
to her estate saw nothing of value in her old cracked photo albums and chucked
them into a dumpster. A brave archaeologist named Ron May jumped in and saved
them.
Susie Smith plays with a king snake at the P.O., photographed in 1930 by Graves
Susie Smith Photographs courtesy Warner Graves Collection, Chris Ervin Collection
Join Ron May and Warner Graves
III (grandson of Lula Mae Graves) in this unique and special presentation. Smith’s
and Grave’s photos are published in a book, “The photos of Susie Smith and Lula
Mae Graves are published in “Postcards from Mecca: The California Desert
Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves 1916-1936.”
Susie Smith and Lula Mae Graves paved their own roads through the desert.
Photograph courtesy Warner Graves Collection
Sponsored by the Desert Institute
at Joshua Tree National Park and the Twentynine Palms Historical Society, this
lecture will be held at the Old Schoolhouse Museum, 6760 National Park Drive,
Twentynine Palms, on Friday, February 14 at 7 pm. This lecture is open to the
public and costs $5 per person at the door.
San Jacinto Mountain at the northern gateway to the Coachella Valley, photographed by Susie Smith.
Susie Smith photographs courtesy Chris Ervin Collection
Trail breakers of the West, photographed by Smith.
Susie Smith photographs courtesy Chris Ervin Collection
Sunset on the Salton Sea, photographed by Susie Keef Smith.
Susie Smith photograph courtesy Chris Ervin Collection
