During a career that began in 1968 and spanned more than three decades, photojournalist Da Rios documented North San Diego County life in a significant number of photographs for the Times-Advocate and the North County Times. In 2017, Rios donated his collection of what has been recently estimated to be one million photographic negatives to the California University at San Marcos Library, Special Collections, under the direction of Library Dean Jennifer Fabbi. The images and their associated appearances in the newspaper are currently being inventoried by Special Collections employees Laura Nelson and Denisse Mosqueda Perez, with librarians Judith Downie and Sean Visintainer providing contextualization and reference assistance.
Because Rios was most often assigned to stories in Escondido, it seemed like the natural thing for the Escondido History Center to collaborate with the California University at San Marcos Library in order to introduce the impressive collection of now historical photographs to the community. The decision to publish a wall calendar featuring a dozen of those photos was easy; narrowing down to that number with such a large number to choose from was not. Volunteers Alexa Clausen, Carol Rea, and History Center Executive Director, Robin Fox met to determine the general types of photographs to include while CSUSM Special Collections staff culled through thousands of photographs for consideration. Eventually, the final twelve were chosen and a small assortment of other photographs was incorporated into a collage for the cover.
The 2021 calendar fills the void of the ever-popular Pioneer Room Friends annual calendar, which also featured historical photographs but was unable to be printed this year due to pandemic restraints. The Pioneer Room Friends graciously agreed to let the History Center take on the project this year. Hard-hit like other non-profits and businesses during the pandemic, especially when forced to cancel two major fund-raising events, the Escondido History Center welcomed this opportunity to help fund operations.
The calendars are now on sale online at www.escondidohistory.org and at several businesses in
Escondido:
§ Rosemary Duff Florist, 101 W. 2nd Ave.
§ Grangetto’s Farm & Garden Supply, 1105 W. Mission Ave.
§ El Plantio Nursery & Landscaping, 1322 San Pasqual Valley Rd.
§ Owens Automotive, 302 N. Juniper St.
§ Hair Station, 240 W. Crest St., Ste. C
The calendar is also available at the Escondido History Center in Grape Day Park; call (760) 743-8207 first to make arrangements.
To learn more about the Dan Rios Collection, email CSUSM at archives@csusm.edu
