This hand-colored landscape view is believed to show some of the granite monoliths (perhaps El Capitan, North Dome, or Royal Arches?) within Yosemite National Park in California. A vintage print, it was removed from an album of the photographer’s known work and laid down on acid-free mount board and embellished with a graphite frame. Other examples held by this archive show a hand-drawn stock # and title on similar works, indicating they may have been intended as working maquettes or prototypes for commercial postcards.

Mervyn David Silberstein: 1885-1957

A deep dive: Mervyn David Silberstein…Through One Man’s Lens, was published in the Winter, 2018 issue of the Russian River Recorder, an official publication of the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. The pdf also includes the 2007 Recorder article: Cherished Moments: Young Mervyn Silberstein in Healdsburg. An excerpt, by authors Holly Hoods and Pamela Vana-Paxhi:

Healdsburg’s celebrated early 20th century photographer Mervyn David Silberstein was born in 1885 in San Francisco and grew up in Healdsburg with his parents, Jacob and Hannah, and younger sister, Ethel (“Daisy”). They were respected Jewish leaders in the business community. His father owned a successful dry goods and men’s clothing store. The Grangers Store, at the southeast corner of (what is now) Healdsburg Avenue and North Street. The family lived upstairs. While attending Healdsburg High School, Silberstein discovered what would become a lifelong passion in photography. He purchased his first camera at his father’s store. He playfully embellished many of his photos with cartoons and captions. By the time Silberstein graduated from high school in 1903, the self-described “Camera Fiend” was already a cartoonist and writer for the Sotoyome Sun and later, the Healdsburg Enterprise

Another biography of the artist was included as part of an 1993 exhibit held at the Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco:

“Born in San Francisco in 1885, Mervyn D. Silberstein spent his early years in Healdsburg, California. He returned to San Francisco in 1910 and worked as a graphic designer and a free lance photographer. As a member of the California Camera Club, Silberstein’s photographs were exhibited in cities across the country and many of them appeared on the covers of national magazines.

He had a profound interest in Chinese culture as evidenced by the large number of photographs he took of San Francisco’s Chinatown. These photographs provide insight into a community that had just begun the process of westernization and integration, while maintaining many Chinese customs. Scenes of merchants, the elderly, and  children captivated Silberstein. He was especially fond of children, and he managed to capture, as the photographs in this exhibit show, the spirit and the innocence of the children on Chinatown’s streets.”