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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Rare Books
88285
Visual Materials
Street lighting in a business district on road near Atlantic Ave., probably Alhambra
photCL SCE 05 - 54049
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Visual Materials
This collection contains photographs, negatives, and some ephemera chiefly collected by California conservationist and editor William H. Thrall (1873-1963) for use in Trails magazine. Thrall served as managing editor of the publication from 1934 to 1939, which was produced to encourage the use of mountain trails and outdoor recreation in Los Angeles County. The collection includes approximately 1200 prints (Boxes 1-4); 68 glass negatives (Boxes 7-8); approximately 2300 film negatives; 150 slides; and miscellaneous documents and ephemera, and a folding pocket camera. The photographs primarily date from the 1930s, but also include copy prints (and some originals) of late 19th and early 20th photographs. The images depict mountain and forested landscapes and outdoor recreational activities including hiking, skiing, and camping, chiefly in the San Gabriel Mountains and surrounding mountains of Southern California. Many of the photographs include individuals involved in recreational activities as well images of historical mountain pioneers. The photographs chiefly consist of 4.5 x 2.75 inch snapshots and 8 x 10 and 6 x 10 inch prints, by photographers including Dan P. Alexander, Carl H. Bauer, Harlow Dormer, C. C. Vernon, and Thrall. There is also a group of glass plate negatives and film negatives, including a group of unprinted film negatives that appear to be personal photographs with views of nature, groups of people, family scenes, buildings, boating, and trips, in the 1930s-1950s (Box 15). The film negatives have handwritten numbers presumably assigned by Thrall. Many of the prints appear in Trails magazine, which was published quarterly by the Mountain League of Southern California from Winter 1934 to Spring 1939 (Volume 6, No. 1). In Autumn 1941, the Southern California Outdoor Federation began publishing a new edition of Trails Magazine (without Thrall as editor), but only two issues were published (Volume 2, Nos. 1-2).
photCL 481
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Manuscripts
Collection of maps surveyed for the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office between 1860 and 1897. The maps primarily focus on excavations, improvements, and expansions of roads throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties, with geographic coverage ranging from Malibu to Pomona and Newhall to San Juan Capistrano. Most of the maps show boundary lines of the various Ranchos existent throughout these counties, and many also include buildings, railroads, telegraph lines, land use, relief, and elements of the natural landscape such as canyons and rivers. Also included are maps showing the San Gabriel Mission, San Juan Capistrano Mission, and an elevation of the Los Angeles County court house. Some of the Ranchos depicted include San Antonio, Azusa, San Jose, Los Nogales, San Pedro, San Joaquin, San Rafael, Centinela, La Puente, Sausal Redondo, La Ballona, Rodeo-de-las-Aguas, Cienega, San Pasqual, and San Francisquito. Property shown includes that of Elias 'Lucky' Baldwin, Pio Pico, and Abel Stearns. The maps were originally housed in 16 bound volumes.
LARM_Vol_C_30.01
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Visual Materials
This collection contains approximately 10,000 photographs, negatives and ephemera created or compiled by Grace Nicholson (1877-1948), a collector and dealer of Native American and Asian arts and crafts in Pasadena, California. The bulk of the collection dates from 1903 to the 1920s and includes photograph albums and individual photographs with views of Native Americans of the Northwest Coast, California, and the Southwest of North America; pictures documenting Nicholson's basket collecting trips primarily between 1902 and 1912; images of Nicholson's stores and residences in Pasadena, including the building of the "Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Oriental Art" in the mid-1920s; and personal photographs of Nicholson, her family, friends, and associates. Nicholson's personal snapshots and photograph albums provide a valuable resource for studying Native American communities, particularly in Northern California, in the early 20th century. Many of the photographs depict daily life and include images of homes, community events, dances and rituals, families and children, and portraits. Most of these photographs were taken by Grace Nicholson or her assistant, Mr. Carroll S. Hartman, and are often accompanied by Nicholson's handwritten identifications.
photCL 56