Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Gems of California scenery
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
A collection of approximately 1,500 photographs and various ephemera and publications of California missions, collected by Southern California educator Connie Rothstein, with an emphasis on the San Gabriel Mission, the history of the city of San Gabriel, and the production of "The Mission Play" by John Steven McGroarty. The collection also includes late-19th and early-20th century photographs of Los Angeles and Southern California, and postcards and ephemera related to the Southern California region. Notable in the collection are 391 stereographs of missions and Los Angeles, including some by photographers William Godfrey and H. T. Payne, A. C. Varela, and Carleton Watkins. All of the California Missions are represented in the collection, plus the "sub-missions" or Asistencias of California. The mission photographs include many unusual views and details, and are a mixture of snapshots made by tourists and commercial photographs. There are many views in and around Southern California, most dating from 1880s-1920s, by various photographers. Specific topics emphasized in and around Los Angeles are: Olvera Street, Chinatown, La Fiesta de Los Angeles celebration; and the Mount Lowe Railway. There are many cabinet cards and stereographs, and six large panoramic photographs of the Los Angeles area. The ephemera include hundreds of postcards and photographic postcards, scrapbooks, and many small publications on the history of the missions and California, as well as ephemera related to "The Mission Play." Other topics in the collection are: photographs and ephemera of Monterey, California; Oregon and the Columbia River Highway; and a group of photographs of cowboys and Western culture (mid-20th century).
photCL 496
Image not available
Visual Materials
Three black-and-white photographs that comprise a part of a mammoth plate landscape panorama of Moreno Valley in Southern California, looking out across a sweeping valley, dotted with a few buildings, and mountains in the distance. The images (nos. 136, 128 & 127) form part of a series of photographs created by photographer Herve Friend for the Bear Valley Irrigation Company.
photOV 11428a-c
Image not available
Visual Materials
Black-and-white photograph showing a landscape view of the Alessandro Tract in the Moreno Valley of Southern California with a distributing reservoir in the foreground and the valley and mountains behind. The image (no. 126) formed part of a series of mammoth plate photographs created by photographer Herve Friend for the Bear Valley Irrigation Company.
photOV 11430
Image not available
Visual Materials
Black-and-white photograph of the forest-lined Bear Valley Reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California. The image (no. 135) forms part of a series of mammoth plate photographs created by photographer Herve Friend for the Bear Valley Irrigation Company.
photOV 11431
Image not available
Visual Materials
Black-and-white photograph showing a landscape view of a stream of water running between hills above the San Jacinto Dam site in Southern California. The image (no. 121) formed part of a series of mammoth plate photographs created by photographer Herve Friend for the Bear Valley Irrigation Company.
photOV 11432
Image not available
Visual Materials
A collection of 13 photographs of Yosemite National Park made by photographer Herve Friend in 1906, showing waterfalls, the Merced River, and other scenic views of Yosemite Valley.
photCL 346