The Bob Walker Collection

Oak tree silhouette, n.d.. Photograph: Bob Walker

This collection is the life work of environmentalist and photographer Bob Walker. It consists of over 30,000 images taken around the San Francisco Bay Area from the early 1980s into the 90s. Under contract to the East Bay Regional Park District, Bob photographed almost all of the District's properties from the Carquinez shoreline to Mission Peak. As an environmental activist, Bob also photographed the progress of development around the East Bay, using his images in his numerous slide presentations. Approximately one quarter of the images are aerial views that reveal the topography of the East Bay region.

	Bob Walker Slideshow

Bob said, "I've really felt evangelical about making people stop and realize that they're in the middle of a very stunning landscape. It's all around them, and so accessible, but often they've overlooked it because California is loaded with so many superlatives." (December 1992, Diablo magazine.) Walker was an influential environmentalist, serving as chairman of the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club. He was also on the board of Save Mount Diablo and committee member for various other organizations, including the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, the Greenbelt Alliance and the Bay Trail Steering Committee.

Bob Walker died in 1992. During his last months, he spent time looking for someone to care for his life's work. He particularly wanted a place that would make his images available to the organizations he had dedicated his life to. His collection was placed at the Oakland Museum of California by his executors in 1993.

Prints of the Bob Walker Collection are available from the Oakland Museum of California and rights may be purchased for publication. The collection is available for viewing by appointment; please contact Carolyn Rissanen, Registrar, at 510/238-3884.

For more photography at OMCA visit our photography resource page.