Artfully-compiled with witty captions and cartoons, this 1920s photo album paints a humorous and tender picture of the life of young Mexican-American women in Calexico, a town in southern Imperial County, CA, located on the Mexican border.

Much of the album documents the students of Calexico Union High School. It is possible the album’s compiler was Sara Hernandez, a graduate of the class of 1929, as a few of the photos in the album are signed to her. As well, a 1928 newspaper article in the Imperial Valley Press mentions Hernandez winning a local typing contest and there are a handful of photos in the album showing other typing students. These portraits are each accompanied by an illustration of an insect, possibly because of the “clicking” of the typewriter, or perhaps a reference to the popular cartoon character of Archy, the typewriting cockroach.

Many Calexico Union High students are pictured in the album, some of whom are identified by their proper names, though most are treated humorously-deprecating captions such as “the missing link” or “nature’s greatest mistake.” A few, however, are given kinder monikers such as “California treasures” or “future Mexican Venuses.” Groups of friends are identified as “sorrows of Satan,” “unholy three,” “freaks of nature,” etc. One image, showing classmates holding a “1929 pennant” is amusingly captioned “Urrea, Palmer, Acevez, Lamarque, & Ellis. Members of: Bored of Education.”

A number of photos depict subjects in costume, such as one young woman dressed as the “belle of Barcelona,” and another as a “daughter of the Mexican Revolution.” Other images show subjects playing with gender. One pair of photos shows girls dressed in the style of French male “Apaches,” sporting big suits, hats, and fake goatees. The album page bears the caption “Bolsheviks. Down in Mexico.” In another, two girls are seen clad in pants and suspenders, with arms around one another and a bottle in the air. This one is captioned “Let’s make whoopee.” There are also pictures of campers and instructions at Hi-Pass Camp in Humphreys. CA. A group portrait of the Hi-Pass Girls Reserve is wryly-captioned “Birds eye View of Sing Sing.”

Along with the smartly-executed captions and illustrations, many of the album pages themselves are artistically arranged such as one page which has four photos cut in the shape of a club, diamond, heart and spade. As well, many of the photos were printed with a custom border which gives the appearance of the image existing inside an ornate picture frame.