The early twentieth century in California was an era of dramatic growth and economic development during which the state became the country’s leading agricultural producer as well as the new home of the motion picture business, formerly based in New York and Chicago. Through the 1920s and 1930s, state delegates in Washington D.C., aided by social organizations like the California State Society, as well as members of the Hollywood film industry, staged a number of festivals, balls and publicity photos with elaborately costumed models and starlets to promote the state and it’s interests.

Ladies Presenting President Hoover with the State Flag, 1929 | Senator Posing with Ladies Representing the Cornucopia of California, 1939

Local Beauties Presenting Vice President Garner with Baskets of Fruit to Inaugurate Citrus Week, 1934

Crates of Sunkist Oranges Presented to Congressional Leaders on the First Day of Orange Week Festival, 1938

Models Posing in the Greenhouse of U.S. Botanic Gardens for the California Fig Ball, 1938

Hollywood Starlet Marion Weldon, One of California’s Representatives, Arriving at the Capitol for National Airmail Week, 1938

Hollywood Starlet Marion Weldon, One of California’s Representatives, Arriving at the Capitol for National Airmail Week, 1938

Weldon and the Postmaster General Planting a Memorial Tree for Airmail Pilots on Behalf of the California Chamber of Commerce, 1938