RECENT RESEARCH — It appears that, in the newspaper coverage of the 30 June 1934 ceremony dedicating Emperor Norton's new grave and headstone in Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif., virtually all of the coverage that included photography featured one — very occasionally both — of two specific uncredited photos. Recently, we discovered that the photographs were taken by San Francisco Examiner staff photographer George Elmer Sheldon and that Sheldon actually took 6 photographs that day — including 4 photos that apparently were never published. All 6 photographs were part of a 2006 donation of photos from the San Francisco Examiner's photo morgue, c.1930–2000, to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. We present all 6 photographs here. We believe this is the first time the four unpublished photos of the ceremony have been published outside the Berkeley database.

The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

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Filtering by Tag: 1859

Dating the Earliest Extant Photograph of Emperor Norton

It appears that the earliest known photograph of Emperor Norton is a little earlier than we thought — and earlier than anyone else has said.

The case for the time frame that we focus on here draws on early artistic depictions of the Emperor and on one of the Emperor’s earliest sartorial choices, which is documented in an easy-to-miss newspaper item from May 1860.

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His Majesty's Voice Reaches the South

On the morning of 17 September 1859, Joshua Norton delivered to the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin his Proclamation declaring himself Emperor of the United States. The declaration appeared in that evening's edition. Who'd have guessed that, within a month, a newspaper in Mississippi would have printed the decree in full on its front page? 

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Did Joshua Norton Really Leave San Francisco Between Declaring Himself Bankrupt in 1856 and Emperor in 1859?

Here's a "mystery" about Emperor Norton that may be less mysterious than many seem to think. Despite persistent speculation that Joshua Norton left San Francisco for a period of months or years just before declaring himself Emperor in 1859, the available evidence points to a narrative in which, most likely, the eventual Emperor remained a resident of the City from his arrival until his death.

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