Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Concert strictures revived : being a fragment of an old manuscript lately discovered
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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
Image not available
Manuscripts
This collection contains the papers of English art historian Katharine Ada Esdaile (1881-1950), with the bulk of the materials relating to her research and writings on British monumental sculpture, sculptors, and church monuments from the medieval period to 19th century. Material types include personal writings, diaries, correspondence, business papers, family papers and photographs, research files and research notebooks, and miscellaneous published and unpublished materials. Notably the collection includes more than 600 chiefly pre-World War II visitor booklets and pamphlets produced locally by British churches and approximately 3500 photographs taken or collected by Esdaile of sculpture, often funerary monuments in English churches, ranging from large churches like Westminster Abbey to small rural parishes. This collection provides a resource for viewpoints on monumental sculpture in the early 20th century (for instance as represented in book reviews by Esdaile) and for information about Esdaile's experience as a woman art historian in the early 20th century. Given the broadness of Esdaile's scope, from medieval to 19th century British monumental sculpture, the collection is less useful for specific information about monuments or sculptors. In addition, many of Esdaile's attributions in her notes appear to have been based primarily on her own instincts and do not have citations. Many of Esdaile's notes are handwritten on small scraps of paper or are fragments, sometimes making the information difficult to parse. The collection is chiefly Esdaile's files, but the dates on some items (such as post-1950 booklets) indicate the collection was added to and used after her death, presumably by her son Edmund Esdaile, who also made notes on items in the collection and appears to have done the preliminary organization of the papers after Esdaile's death.
mssEsdaile
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Manuscripts
The collection consists chiefly of letters to George Lundy Hunt from family and friends, with a few business letters, dating from 1864-1877. Subject matter includes life in Ontario, Canada, and in Victoria, British Columbia; history of the Cariboo Mining District of British Columbia; gold and copper mining in Calaveras County, California; and the Fenian Invasions of Canada from 1866-1870. Also included is Hunt's diary for the year 1867, when he was in the mining town of Campo Seco, California, and a few pieces of manuscript fragments, legal documents, and ephemera.
mssHuntg
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Manuscripts
This collection consists of two series: the Grace Nicholson papers (2,926 items) and addenda (1,444 items). The papers consist primarily of correspondence, while the addenda is primarily notes. Both relate to Grace Nicholson and her work in the fields of Native American and Asian art. There are many letters from Native Americans to Nicholson and extensive diaries and notes that Nicholson kept on her buying trips through Native American territory, especially of the Karok, Klamath, and Pomo Indians. Subject matter includes Native American legends, folklore, vocabulary, tribal festivals, basket making, business in art trade, and living conditions. There is also a considerable amount of correspondence from China, Japan, and Korea between Nicholson and her buyers. Among the subjects covered are Chinese art and architecture, Japanese art, Korean art, Javanese textiles, Siamese art, Philippine art, life and social conditions in Asia, and the business of trading Asian art. Being a well-known dealer in Native American and Asian art, Nicholson was in contact with many artists, such as Frederick Arthur Bridgman, W. Herbert Dunton, Sadakichi Hartmann, Elizabeth Conrad Hickox, Louise Merrill Hickox, Grace Carpenter Hudson, George Wharton James, Lilian Miller, Hovsep T. Pushman, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Millard Sheets. Nicholson also purchased materials for institutions such as the Field Museum of Natural History, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art, the Pasadena Art Museum, and the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California. Her intimate relationships with Native Americans give particular insight into their lives and culture. Historians and academics sought her out, including Alfred Lewis Kroeber, Charles Fletcher Lummis, and Clinton Hart Merriam. Nicholson also received letters from political figures such as Frederick Webb Hodge, Herbert Hoover, Hiram Johnson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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Manuscripts
The collection consists of the personal correspondence of Orrin Peck and his sister, Janet Peck. There are 119 letters from Phoebe Apperson Hearst and these letters discuss her philanthropy in the fields of art and education, her son William Randolph Hearst, their life in California, travels in Europe, and San Francisco and national politics. Other correspondents include: Pablo Casals (1), John Drew (1), William Randolph Hearst (7), Lou Henry Hoover (4), Carl von Marr (179), and John Singer Sargent (17).
mssPeck