Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Coulterville chronicle : the annals of a mother lode mining town
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Rare Books
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Visual Materials
A collection of photographs and maps compiled by American geologist and petroleum engineer Ralph Arnold (1875-1961), documenting his pioneering work in oil and mineral exploration, chiefly in the Western United States, Mexico and Venezuela, from 1900 to 1954. The collection centers on 64 photograph albums that span 50 years of Arnold's life and work. Photographs are accompanied by Arnold's typed captions identifying geological features; oil and mining activities; technical data; and dates and locations, i.e. often an oil or mining "district" or "field," such as "Sunset Field" (California). Subject matter includes geological and topographical features such as rock formations, faults and schisms, mountain structure, geothermal activity, and open land with potential drilling or mining spots. Earthquake faults are seen and described in many of Arnold's California investigations. There are also views of small and large-scale oil operations (by individuals and by organized companies); details of oil flow and reservoirs; asphalt; drilling equipment; workers and fields of oil wells. Arnold's work took him all over the Western United States, particularly California oil fields, but also Texas, Wyoming, Arizona, Alaska and other states. From 1911-1916 he was primarily in South America, and in the 1920s-1940s, mostly in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Mining operations are the focus of some albums, showing investigations for tin, gold and other minerals; mines and ore processing, all with detailed descriptions. Arnold also often photographed people: colleagues and business associates, oil lease owners on their properties; workers (particularly Black and Asian workers in Venezuela); and friends and family. Personal photographs are throughout the album, such as of his wife, Winninette, and their two daughters; Stokes family members (Winninette's family) in South Pasadena; and alumni of Pasadena High School and Stanford University. Arnold was an avid gardener and the albums contain detail views of cactus and tropical plants, and scenes of Arnold collecting wild orchids in Trinidad, Venezuela and Mexico. The maps date from 1880-1948 and include U.S.G.S. and geological maps, California oil fields and well locations; layouts of mines, and various tract maps showing oil company-owned land.
photCL 311
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Visual Materials
This collection contains 1289 photographs, chiefly gelatin silver prints, reflecting the professional life and travels of American impressionist painter Alson Skinner Clark, some taken by Alson Clark and some by commercial and unidentified photographers, from approximately 1889-1939. The collection chiefly comprises portraits of Alson and his wife Atta Medora Clark; photographs depicting their studio home in the Arroyo Seco area of Los Angeles County, California; views of Clark's work, including murals at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Polytechnic Elementary School, and the First Trust and Savings Bank in Pasadena; and images of Alson Clark's travels, both with and without Medora Clark, to Thousand Islands, New York; throughout the Southwestern United States; Mexico; and, to a lesser extent, in Europe and Canada. The collection also includes photograph albums depicting the aftermath of World War I in Europe and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, and photographs depicting various locations in India, China, and Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This collection is directly related to the Alson Skinner Clark papers, 1870-1971, bulk 1890-1940, held by the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
photCL 361
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Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters, manuscripts (including diaries and mining reports), photographs and maps related to the career of mining engineer Charles Janin. Subject matter in the collection focuses on minerals, mines and mining, especially in California, Mexico, Alaska, Canada, Russia (including Siberia), and Central and South America. There is information about gold, silver, platinum, and tin mining as well as gold dredging.
mssJaninc
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Rare Books
357158