Arnold Genthe ( January 8 , 1869 – August 9 , 1942 ) was a German-born American photographer , best known for his photographs of San Francisco 's Chinatown , the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , and his portraits of noted people , from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities . Arnold Genthe was born in Berlin , Prussia , to Luise Zober and Hermann Genthe , a professor of Latin and Greek at the Graues Kloster ( Grey Monastery ) in Berlin . Genthe followed in his father 's footsteps , becoming a classically trained scholar ; he received a doctorate in philology in 1894 from the University of Jena , where he knew artist Adolf Menzel , his mother 's cousin
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Arnold Genthe