Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Printing as a performing art
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Visual Materials
This series contains nearly 450 large-size printed items that pertain to theatrical and musical entertainment primarily in the United States from the second half of the 19th century, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The series is comprised mainly of lithographed posters advertising upcoming shows and performers in a wide variety of performance genres grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The images primarily contain depictions of scenes or acts from plays and shows, portraits of performers in formal dress and in character, or group portraits of members of burlesque troupes, theatrical companies, and traveling shows. While a few items in the series were intended to take up an entire wall, most of the items consist of "one-sheet" and "half-sheet" posters (a sheet was sized to approximately 28 x 42 inches) that were intended for smaller dipslay spaces. Pasted to the bottom of some posters are date sheets--small strips of printed text containing the date and location of a future performance. Among the most commonly credited printers in the collection are show printers including Strobridge & Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City; H.A. Thomas and various partners of New York City; W. J. Morgan & Co. of Cleveland, Ohio; and Forbes Co. of Boston, Massachusetts.
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Visual Materials
This series contains approximately 1,850 small-size printed items that pertain to theatrical and musical entertainment in the United States primarily from the second half of the 19th century. The materials consist of advertising and promotional ephemera, illustrations, and business records related to performers, theatrical and musical events, and venues in a wide variety of genres grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The majority of items in this series promote plays and actors, and images primarily depict scenes from theatrical or musical events or contain portraits of performers. Item types include trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, photographs, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text.
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Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,300 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). Materials are arranged into two series: small-size items (11 x 14 inches or less) and large-size items (bigger than 11 x 14 inches). Small size items are described broadly at the series level; large-size items are fully inventoried and all printers, artists, and publishers are indexed by name. The collection has 450 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic theatrical and minstrel posters that were intended to advertise specific shows or performers. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 1,850 and are comprised mainly of promotional ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, tickets, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American theater and the evolution of advertising strategies for the performing arts in the United States in the late 19th century. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.
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Manuscripts
The Leticia Quezada papers is a collection of personal and professional correspondence, documents, ephemera, and photographs related to her career in education, politics, and Mexican culture.
mssQuezadapapers
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Manuscripts
This collection contains the papers of Gloria Molina, who was a Los Angeles County Supervisor of the First Supervisorial District from 1991 to 2014. This collection is mainly comprised of records created and accumulated during her years on the Board of Supervisors. These materials -- including correspondence, agenda, motions, reports, press clippings, notes, ephemera, site plans, photographs, audiovisual and electronic resources -- document a wide range of activities performed by Molina and her staff, such as project planning, legislation, lawsuits, redistricting, campaigning, and budget planning.
mssMolina