Marian Osgood Hooker

Marian Osgood Hooker (1875–1968) was a physician and photographer in the early 20th century. She is known for her photographs of rural Italy, published in several books including Farmhouses and Small Provincial Buildings in Southern Italy.

Early life Hooker was born in San Francisco, California, to Katharine Putnam Hooker, the niece of famous geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney, and John Daggett Hooker, a direct descendant of Connecticut's founder Thomas Hooker. The family, which also included Marian's younger brother Laurence Whitney Hooker (1878–1894), moved to Los Angeles in 1886 to take advantage of the booming economy.

Hooker attended the prestigious Marlborough School in Los Angeles where she studied art history under school founder Mary Caswell, graduating in 1894.

Photography In 1896, Hooker and her mother embarked on their first of five trips abroad. She documented her travels through Gibraltar, Madrid, Tangier, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Amsterdam, and England

Career In 1910, Hooker earned a degree in medicine from the University of California, Berkeley. She became Dr. Martin Fischer's research assistant at the University of Cincinnati, co-authoring several scientific papers and continuing to collaborate with him after her return to become Assistant Medical Examiner at the University of California in 1912. The Hooker Family Papers are at the Bancroft Library and contain correspondence between Marian and her mother, as well as other correspondence, family portraits, snapshots, and drawings.