Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
California Yankee : William R. Staats, business pioneer
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Rare Books
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
Manuscript copy of Carol Green Wilson's biography California Yankee : William R. Staats, business pioneer (1947), which tells the story of William R. Staats (1867-1928) and his life in Southern California. Includes little personal information on Staats and instead focuses on his business dealings, including those with Henry E. Huntington, and his involvement in the development of Union Oil, Southern California Edison, Throop University (Cal Tech), the Mount Wilson Observatory, the Valley Hunt Club, and the Santa Catalina Island Yacht Club. It is also a detailed history of the economic development of Southern California, and Pasadena in particular, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Typewritten 1944 manuscript with handwritten editing notes. Originally titled, "So Many Worlds : A Business Explorer in the Promised Land."
mssHM 72900
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Rare Books
Mountain Avenue (now Avenue 64) to the west, San Gabriel Ave (Blvd.) to the east, Alhambra Ave to the south, (Loma Alta, unnamed) to the north. William R. Staats Co. advertising in the surround. Street directory. See also 151991 for an earlier version. Note birds-eye view on verso. MS lines and notes.. "1905 Map Copyrighted." Cover title. Relief: no. Graphic Scale: Miles. Projection: Plane. Printing Process: Lithography. Verso Text: Folded into gray board cover. Verso has bird's-eye view of Pasadena and Vicinity..
442739
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Manuscripts
Contains Printed Material from Staats Co. on Stock Investments and Handwritten Notes.
mssMorris, Samuel papers
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Manuscripts
The Mount Wilson Observatory Legal Papers comprise one box of material relating to the founding, construction, and operation of the institution dating from 1903 to 1939. The bulk of the papers are legal documents: deeds, leases, utility contracts, and permits. Two folders contain documents relating to legal actions taken against Mount Wilson and the Carnegie Institution. Also included are three letters from John D. Hooker, a Los Angeles industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of the California Academy of Science, announcing his donation to fund the 100" telescope that would bear his name. Other participants include: George Ellergy Hale, Walter S. Adams and Francis G. Pease. The papers are arranged alphabetically according to the person, company, or institution that created them.
mssMount Wilson legal papers
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Manuscripts
The collection, which contains 10,844 items, consists of correspondence, letter books, manuscripts, speeches, diaries, account books, published articles, legal papers, financial statements and business records. The 10,528 pieces of correspondence are chiefly addressed to James De Barth Shorb, James M. Tiernan and Maria de Jesus Wilson Shorb. The 17 letter books are related to the business and financial affairs of Shorb and Benjamin Davis Wilson. The 75 manuscripts consist of items chiefly written by Shorb and Wilson family members. The 224 items in the Business Papers include material related to Shorb's many companies including the San Gabriel Wine Company. The following subjects are covered in the Shorb collection: the Shorb, Wilson, and Patton families, David Jacks, Mariano Vallejo, Santa Catalina Island, the Mount Wilson Observatory, California government and politics, African Americans and the Chinese in California, agriculture, the citrus fruit industry, Indians of California, irrigation, lend tenure, mining, railroads, ranching, water rights, and the wine industry. The collection also documents the history and development of the following California cities: Alhambra, Elsinore, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Ramona, San Gabriel, San Marino, and Wilmington.
mssShorb papers
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Manuscripts
Collection consists mainly of correspondence from the period 1910-14, beginning when Oddie initiated his campaign for governor and ending when he was about to terminate his administration. The correspondence is arranged in 19 boxes in alphabetical order by author. There are also 6 boxes and 4 rolls of Nevada State papers, almost entirely copies of legislative bills for the year 1873, and a small number of documents from other years. Subjects include: mining, politics, and government in Nevada (including divorce laws), women's rights, the financial panic of 1907, the Progressive party, and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915.
mssOddie