A mysterious 1886 photograph of the Pasadena Broom Brigade
In her Sunday Los Angeles Times article, Carla Hall delves into a mysterious photo at the Pasadena of Museum of History's exhibit at Saturday's Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. Hall interviews Laura Verlaque of the Pasadena Museum of History, historians Randy and Betty Lou Young, and Wally G. Shidler, who has gathered a unique collection of L.A. memorabilia over the past 50 years.
Of the Pasadena Broom Brigade, Hall writes:
The women are lined up in a row--straight backs, dark starched dresses, sober faces. They clutch long-handled brooms to their sides, bristles up, as if they were rifles. The black-and-white photo is dated 1886.
A cleaning crew? Unlikely. For one thing, the women are too well dressed. For another, they look ready to march into battle or, at least, a parade.
"Isn't it neat?" asked Laura Verlaque, collection manager at the Pasadena Museum of History, which counts the photograph of the Pasadena Broom Brigade in its archives. "We don't really know what it was. We think it was a social group. Whether they marched in brigades, we don't know."