Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
An appreciation : Eliza Green Chace, March 2, 1851--December 9, 1924
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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
This collection contains originals and contemporary copies of correspondence of American statesman and diplomat Rufus King, dating from 1782 until 1830, related to United States Department of State communications including negotiations with Great Britain; intelligence bearing on the tension between the United States and France; financial transactions with English and Dutch banking houses; and confidential letters written by American diplomatic representatives. Correspondents include John Quincy Adams, Elbridge Gerry, James C. Mountflorence, William Vans Murray, Timothy Pickering, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, William Loughton Smith, Charles Talleyrand, and others.
mssRK
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Rare Books
67
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Manuscripts
The collection contains correspondence, notebooks, manuscripts, land tracts, scrapbooks, cartes-de-visites and ephemera. Although the majority of the material in the collection deals with the Donner Party, several items written by Eliza Poor Donner Houghton deal with California history. Half of the correspondence deals with the Pioneer (Donner) Monument, which was financed by the Native Sons of the Golden West. Correspondence also includes letters by C.F. McGlashan, Patty Reed Lewis, and seven letters by Tamsen Donner. A letter from Eliza to "My Children" was written immediately after her visit with John Baptiste Trudeau. There is an incomplete handwritten draft of The expedition of the Donner Party and its tragic fate.
HM 58173-58174.
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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.
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Manuscripts
The John Janney collection contains correspondence and business records related to mining in the early 20th century American West. Included are files related to John Janney's several properties and interests, most of which were in Lincoln County, Nevada, including the Ely Valley Mines, Mountain View Hotel, Pioche Mines Company, Pioche Power and Light Company, and Tenabo Mining and Smelting Company. This collection exists as an extensive and rich documentation of Nevada mining, especially during the Great Depression and World War II.
mssJanney
photCL 311