Louis Thors
Composite Photo Showing the Classical Seniors of San Francisco Boys High School, Including Japanese Student Keizo Koyano, 1881
Albumen print
4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches overall
With subject identification verso.
With subject identification verso.
Sold
This composite photograph shows the 1881 graduating class of what was then San Francisco Boys High School (now Lowell High School). They are as follows: Row 1: George Elliot; Frank...
This composite photograph shows the 1881 graduating class of what was then San Francisco Boys High School (now Lowell High School). They are as follows:
Row 1: George Elliot; Frank Dunn; A.K. Hapersberger; F.W. Kaiser; Henry P. Flint; William C. Martin; Edward L. Goetjan
Row 2: Keizo Koyano; George Rothganger; George B. Somers; Mr. Blackburn; Edward W. Putnam; Lucius Solomons; Henry Meyer
Row 3: Cecil Stewart; R.G. Hillman; Max Solomon; Albert Raymond; Walter A. Schott
One notable aspect is the inclusion of a Japanese student, Keizo Koyano. Born in Japan in 1854, Keizo Koyano was in San Francisco by the 1870s. In 1877, he became the first president of the newly-created Gospel Society (Fukuin Kai), which was formed in Chinatown and made up of Methodist and Congregationalist converts. The Gospel Society was not only the first Japanese Christian group in the US, but one of the first Japanese American organizations of any kind. After graduating Boys High School in 1881, Koyano attended Yale Divinity School, went to Japan to teach, then returned to the US to attend Amherst. He was ordained a reverend and toured the US giving lectures on Japanese culture and customs including one popular one titled, “A Trip Through the Mikado’s Empire,” which was illustrated with “sixty-five stereopticon views.”
Another notable alum pictured in the photo is Lucius Solomons. The son of San Francisco Jewish pioneers Hannah Marks and Gershom Mendes Seixas Solomons, Lucius Solomons went on to become an accomplished attorney, writer and orator.
Row 1: George Elliot; Frank Dunn; A.K. Hapersberger; F.W. Kaiser; Henry P. Flint; William C. Martin; Edward L. Goetjan
Row 2: Keizo Koyano; George Rothganger; George B. Somers; Mr. Blackburn; Edward W. Putnam; Lucius Solomons; Henry Meyer
Row 3: Cecil Stewart; R.G. Hillman; Max Solomon; Albert Raymond; Walter A. Schott
One notable aspect is the inclusion of a Japanese student, Keizo Koyano. Born in Japan in 1854, Keizo Koyano was in San Francisco by the 1870s. In 1877, he became the first president of the newly-created Gospel Society (Fukuin Kai), which was formed in Chinatown and made up of Methodist and Congregationalist converts. The Gospel Society was not only the first Japanese Christian group in the US, but one of the first Japanese American organizations of any kind. After graduating Boys High School in 1881, Koyano attended Yale Divinity School, went to Japan to teach, then returned to the US to attend Amherst. He was ordained a reverend and toured the US giving lectures on Japanese culture and customs including one popular one titled, “A Trip Through the Mikado’s Empire,” which was illustrated with “sixty-five stereopticon views.”
Another notable alum pictured in the photo is Lucius Solomons. The son of San Francisco Jewish pioneers Hannah Marks and Gershom Mendes Seixas Solomons, Lucius Solomons went on to become an accomplished attorney, writer and orator.