Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
San Buenaventura mission
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
The Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives consists of 5157 glass plate negatives, film negatives, and panoramic negatives, 1889-1949, that depict commercial, residential and landscape sites in and around Pasadena and Southern California. The images provide a look at the commercial, residential and social development of Pasadena and surrounding areas during the early years of the twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in images of residential architecture in Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino; images of Lake Tahoe; depictions of, and activities at, the Raymond, Maryland, and Huntington Hotels in Pasadena; and the commercial, social and cultural landscapes of Pasadena. The collection also provides, through its breadth and depth of subject matter, an example of the career activities of a commercial photographer in Southern California in the early years of the twentieth century.
photCL 402
Image not available
Manuscripts
This collection contains the records of the Southern California chapter of the Index of American Design, which was a Federal Arts Project, 1933 to 1943. The collection consists of reports, correspondence, drawings, paintings, photographs, and ephemera, chiefly on California art and architecture within the 18th and 19th centuries, although other subjects and issues are also discussed. Subjects addressed within the collection include the history of African Americans in Los Angeles; Southern California history; California architecture, art and art history; California politics and government; the Federal Art Project; Native Americans in California; the history of California's material culture; old age pension plans in California; the history of Spaniards and Spanish Missions in California; and the United States Works Progress Administration in California.
mssIndex
Visual Materials
View of the front of Mission San Buenaventura with figures on steps.
photCL Pierce 03952
Image not available
Visual Materials
This is a collection primarily of negatives and photographic prints depicting the growth of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California, from 1860s to 1980s. Many views are cityscapes or street views, showing buildings, storefronts, homes and roads, and documenting the use of railroads, trolleys, streetcars, and automobiles. There are many card photographs by early professional photographers, and also a number of snapshots made by amateurs, some in personal photo albums. The collection's scope also includes early views of many other communities in Southern California (and a few in other states); the beginnings of aviation in Santa Monica, including the first Douglas Aircraft Company buildings; a photo album of residents in Topanga Canyon, ca. 1913; automobile racing in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, 1920s; maritime views; a photo album of U.S. troops in France during World War I; a 1949 real estate development in Apple Valley, California, and others. Besides photographs, a portion of the collection consists of scarce publications and historical ephemera, primarily related to Santa Monica and Los Angeles, including brochures, advertising cards, menus, event programs and other materials. Highlights of the Santa Monica images are aerial views of the buildings along the coast and pier (1920s); several views of the Arcadia Hotel (1880s); the Long Wharf and adjoining railroad and train depot; the first bath houses on the beach; the beach club culture of the 1920s and 1930s; the amusement piers of Santa Monica, Ocean Park and Venice; and the beginnings of the Douglas Aircraft Company. There is a large set of promotional photographs made late 1920s-1930s by Powell Press Service depicting people enjoying Santa Monica's beaches, clubs and outdoor recreation. An important subset within the collection is 407 negatives made ca. 1890 - 1908 by Los Angeles historian and amateur photographer George W. Hazard (1842-1914). Hazard travelled around Los Angeles and vicinity photographing the adobes, houses, streets and storefronts that told the early history of the city. Many of Hazard's negatives have handwritten identifications, naming streets, former homeowners, ranchos, and other historical details. There are a large number of cabinet cards and other card-mounted prints and stereographs. There are 1,264 stereograph prints, highlighted by the works of photographic pioneers William M. Godfrey, Francis Parker, Hayward & Muzzall, and Carleton Watkins. Other formats represented are: glass and film negatives; panoramic prints; 7 photograph albums, photographic postcards, 20th-century color prints and transparencies; and a small number of tintypes, cyanotypes and a set of chromolithographs.
Image not available
Visual Materials
This is a collection primarily of negatives and photographic prints depicting the growth of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California, from 1860s to 1980s. Many views are cityscapes or street views, showing buildings, storefronts, homes and roads, and documenting the use of railroads, trolleys, streetcars, and automobiles. There are many card photographs by early professional photographers, and also a number of snapshots made by amateurs, some in personal photo albums. The collection's scope also includes early views of many other communities in Southern California (and a few in other states); the beginnings of aviation in Santa Monica, including the first Douglas Aircraft Company buildings; a photo album of residents in Topanga Canyon, ca. 1913; automobile racing in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, 1920s; maritime views; a photo album of U.S. troops in France during World War I; a 1949 real estate development in Apple Valley, California, and others. Besides photographs, a portion of the collection consists of scarce publications and historical ephemera, primarily related to Santa Monica and Los Angeles, including brochures, advertising cards, menus, event programs and other materials. Highlights of the Santa Monica images are aerial views of the buildings along the coast and pier (1920s); several views of the Arcadia Hotel (1880s); the Long Wharf and adjoining railroad and train depot; the first bath houses on the beach; the beach club culture of the 1920s and 1930s; the amusement piers of Santa Monica, Ocean Park and Venice; and the beginnings of the Douglas Aircraft Company. There is a large set of promotional photographs made late 1920s-1930s by Powell Press Service depicting people enjoying Santa Monica's beaches, clubs and outdoor recreation. An important subset within the collection is 407 negatives made ca. 1890 - 1908 by Los Angeles historian and amateur photographer George W. Hazard (1842-1914). Hazard travelled around Los Angeles and vicinity photographing the adobes, houses, streets and storefronts that told the early history of the city. Many of Hazard's negatives have handwritten identifications, naming streets, former homeowners, ranchos, and other historical details. There are a large number of cabinet cards and other card-mounted prints and stereographs. There are 1,264 stereograph prints, highlighted by the works of photographic pioneers William M. Godfrey, Francis Parker, Hayward & Muzzall, and Carleton Watkins. Other formats represented are: glass and film negatives; panoramic prints; 7 photograph albums, photographic postcards, 20th-century color prints and transparencies; and a small number of tintypes, cyanotypes and a set of chromolithographs.
Image not available
Visual Materials
Photographs made by Adam Clark Vroman, ca. 1892-1909, spanning various subjects, primarily his bookstore in Pasadena, California, and scenes from his travels. Of particular significance is Vroman's handwritten journal of a trip to see the Snake Dance at Walpi, Arizona, in 1895, written sequentially on the back of 19 mounted photographs. Vroman's traveling companions were Horatio N. Rust, Mrs. Thaddeus (Leontine) Lowe, and Charles J. Crandall, who are shown, along with Vroman, at pueblos, and traveling with supplies and wagons. There are also views of the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest. The California images include scenery and travelers in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mount Wilson, Mount Lowe and the Alpine Tavern, and travelers having a picnic; details of missions; historic adobes of Monterey; Rancho Guajome Adobe in San Diego County; Yosemite and one view of Indians living in Yosemite Valley. Locations depicted in other parts of the United States are: Manitou, Colorado; Oregon, Illinois; Niagara Falls; Grant's Tomb; a bird's-eye-view of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and other miscellaneous views. Vroman travelled to Japan in 1903 and 1909, and eight prints in the collection show Japanese men and women in traditional dress, as well as details of architecture. Vroman appears in a few photographs. There are several portraits of Pueblo Indian men, some identified in Vroman's captions.
photCL 86
photCL 555
photCL 555