WFPA Collection

One Family, Four Generations, Ten Men, and a Ton of Film

Watson Family Photographic Archive (WFPA)

In less than a century, Los Angeles grew from a coastal enclave to one of the world’s most influential cities. The Watson Family of photographers recorded it all – big disasters, small everyday triumphs, world leaders, petty con men, sports legends and infamous trials. Across four generations, a Watson photographer (or two) has been present at most of the significant events in Southern California, and on occasion through-out the world.

Spanning the entire 20th Century, the Watson Family Photographic Archive is more than a historical photo-library. It also illustrates how advances in photo-technology changed the texture of news photography. The Watson family’s tradition of technical innovations (dating to the early 1910’s in both the motion picture and still photography) are also highlighted in the collection.

Publications & Museum Collections

The Watson’s Photographs have been published world-wide for close to a century in newspapers, magazines and books. Watson photograph are held in the permanent collections of The Getty Museum and The Hollywood Heritage Museum, and one of George Watson’s original 4X5 cameras is in the permanent collection of the Newseum in Washington D.C.

Selections from the Family Archive have also been exhibited at Los Angeles County Museum of Science and Industry (1972), Los Angeles County Public Library, Getty Gallery (2003), and The Forrest Lawn Los Angeles Museum (2007). In 1999, the Watson Family received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame honoring their contributions to the film industry.

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