Photographs and negatives, primarily prints, glass plate, nitrate, and acetate negatives,
but also a few travel stereographs, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, and daguerreotypes,
mostly relating to the Overson family of St. Johns, Arizona, along with some of townspeople,
buildings, and special occasions. There are a few portraits of people taken by Charles Jarvis,
circa 1890 to 1910. More were taken by his daughter, Margaret Jarvis Overson, circa 1920 to 1960.
A small amount were taken by other photographers and by her adult children, especially Eva M. Overson Tanner.
The images include mostly unidentified people, family, student class groups, school athletic teams,
and a few celebrations and street scenes. Photographs also include Mormon schools, school groups,
church groups and church leaders.
Collection Number:
MS 549
Language:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
Charles Godfrey (DeFriez) Jarvis (1855-1919) settled in St. Johns, Arizona in the 1880s and operated
a drug store where he also was a dentist, photographer, postmaster, notary public, and U.S. Land Commissioner,
and had the first telephone office. He was born to the DeFriez family but was taken in by the Jarvis family
and took their name. He married Margaret Jarvis (1857-1934) and they had eight children including Margaret
Godfrey Jarvis (1878-1968).
Margaret Godfrey Jarvis assisted her father with photography beginning in her teens.
She married Henry C. Overson (1968-1947) in 1896 and they had nine children: Eva M., Henry Victor, Albert N.,
Edgar P., Harry J., Evan, Ivan, Ross W., and Marion Peter. Henry Overson's construction company built and
repaired houses and other buildings in St. Johns. Margaret continued her father's photography work from
their home and on location.
The Jarvis and Overson families were members of the Church of Latter Day Saints
accompanying many other settlers to St. Johns, Arizona in the early 1880s.
Scope and Content Note
Photographs and negatives relating mostly to the Overson family of St. Johns, Arizona but also from Charles
Jarvis and later Margaret Overson's photography business in St. Johns. The images include Overson and related
family members, Mormon groups, student class groups, high school sports teams, and a few St. Johns celebrations
and street scenes.
Photographs known to be taken by Charles Jarvis consist of a small number of cabinet cards with his studio imprint.
These are all studio portraits of individuals, children, and families, taken circa 1890 to 1910, and most appear
to be family members although they are unidentified. There are a few school group and church group images probably
taken during the late 1890s and forward.
Except for family photographs of Overson children and their activities, most of the collection represents the
1920s to 1940s, a time when Margaret's children were in high school and then marrying and starting their own families.
Most of these images are of unidentified family members, and a smaller amount are unidentified portraits of others.
There are also some images of school buildings and students including high school sports teams, bands, drama productions,
and graduating classes, mostly from the late 1910s to the late 1930s. Also present are a few images of Mormon church leaders
and church groups, women's groups, and a boy scout camping trip (ca. 1930s).
Other highlights include a few images of parades and parade floats, celebrations, cart races at the 1937 Golden Jubilee Parade,
and Henry Victor Overson dressed as "Uncle Sam" for a holiday. Other views of rural life include hay harvests, picnics and excursions,
building construction, women's gatherings, and home interiors. One image shows a large meterorite on a flat-bed railroad car.
The images are mostly unidentified but some information can be taken from the content, from published histories of St. Johns,
and from Margaret J. Overson's published family history which reproduced some of the images. All the images were scanned and are
available in digital format. There is a good amount of duplication in the digital scans because images were sometimes scanned as
negatives and then as prints, and each print was scanned even if it was a duplicate.
See the spreadsheet for the Overson Family Photographs for more specific information. Please contact an archivist to view spreadsheet.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into 2 series by type of material.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish
from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record,
the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The
user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the
University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all
claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
Access Terms
Personal Name(s)
Jarvis, Charles Godfrey, Photographer.
Overson, Margaret Jarvis, Photographer.
Geographic Name(s)
Saint Johns, Ariz. -- Pictorial works.
Subject(s)
Automobiles -- Arizona -- Pictorial works.
Boy Scouts -- Arizona -- Pictorial works.
Building sites -– Arizona -- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
Camping -- Arizona -- Pictorial works.
Cartes-de-visite.
Children -- Pictorial works.
Daguerreotypes.
Dams -- Arizona -- Design and construction -- Pictorial works.
Domestic life -- Pictorial works.
Infants -- Pictorial works.
Jarvis family.
Meteorites -– Arizona -- Pictorial works.
Mormons -- Arizona -- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
Overson family.
Parades –- Arizona -- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
Photographers -- Arizona.
Photoprints.
Rural women -- Arizona -- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
School children -– Arizona -- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
Schools –- Arizona –- Saint Johns -- Pictorial works.
Cartes-de-visite, Men, women, children, families, including Paul Paulson (Photographers: C.R. Savage, Dagmar N. Jonstrup, G.F. Anderson, Crocwell and Ottinger), 1870s-1880s
box
folder
3
1
Portraits –- Children, unidentified, circa 1860s-1890s
3
2
Portraits –- Children, unidentified, 1900s-1920s
3
3
Portraits –- Children, unidentified, 1930s-1940s
3
4
Portraits –- Children, First communion/confirmation, 1930s-1940s
3
5
Portraits –- Couples, unidentified, circa 1860s-1890s
