Alcatraz Lighthouse, 12th Coast Guard District (9 December 1946)
A Coast Guard photograph, dated 9 December 1946 in the catalog, of the Alcatraz lighthouse tower and keeper's house on the island that then held the federal penitentiary.
- Date
- 1946-12-09
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 205573479
- Rights
- A photograph in the Records of the U.S. Coast Guard (Record Group 26), series "Photographs of Activities, Facilities, and Personalities" (NAID 513164), file unit "Aids to Navigation - Lighthouses." The item reads "Use Restriction: Unrestricted." The series note says: "Fewer than one percent of photographs in this series are credited to commercial sources, and may have copyright or other use restrictions." No commercial credit appears on this item; a Coast Guard photograph is a United States government work, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The stored copy is an 1,800-pixel downsample of the catalog's scan.
The National Archives catalog title is “Alcatraz Lighthouse,” local identifier 26-G-5003, with a production date of 9 December 1946. The original caption, quoted in the catalog, reads: “The Alcatraz Lighthouse in the 12th Coast Guard District (California).” The mounted print shows a tall square tower and a two-storey house on a slope with hedges and a flagpole flying the United States flag; handwriting on the mount reads “ALCATRAZ LIGHT HOUSE” and “(aids to navigation).”
The photograph documents the Coast Guard’s light, not the prison. In 1946 the island also held the United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz, whose records are filed elsewhere in this archive; no prison building can be identified in this view.
