43 double-leaves, with manuscript title on the first leaf ("The Journey South with my Mother 1901, Jan. 17th - March 21st"), the remaining 42 of with mounted gelatin silver photographs (on rectos only), ink captions. Most images measure approx. 9x9 cm (3½x3½"), one is a folding panorama of Catalina composed of 4 smaller images on cloth backing. There are 55 photographs in all, some mounted two per leaf with corners overlapping. Album measures 16.5x16.3 cm (6½x6½"), flexible blue cloth, sewn with Japanese side stitch, ms. label on front cover reading "MWR + Mother - Trip South 1901 - Jan 17-Mar 21."
Captivating series of vernacular photographs recording a trip though Southern California down to the Mexican border and Tijuana, each captioned. The journey begins with train tracks through a desert morning, to the fine residences of Westlake Park in Los Angeles, a flood in L.A. with streetcars stranded, then a Pasadena ostrich farm (and one large bird named Cecil Rhodes with a penchant for posing), on to Mt. Lowe, up the tracks to the summit, next stop Redlands and Smiley Heights, then Riverside with its Christian Science Church. The travelers next head to the coast, visiting Catalina Island, recorded with a four-panel panorama of Avalon Bay. San Diego is the next destination, with the Coronado Hotel, the house where Ramona was married, and the Sweet Water Dam. Finally they board the "Tia Juana 'bus" (pulled by a pair of mules), pass the boundary stone between Mexico and U.S.A. and the Old Custom House, then view some of the ramshackle residences of Tijuana.