Rare Books
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
The collection consists of the business records of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The records are made up ships' logs, waybills, manifests, personnel records, financial records, notes of protest, freight claims and other business papers. The collection also contains some records of the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company.
mssPacmail
Image not available
Visual Materials
photCL 400 volume 2 & volume 3
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.
photCL 555
Image not available
Visual Materials
This album contains typical commercial photographs of the towns and scenery of California, Oregon and Washington dating from the 1890s. Of note are early views of San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Tacoma, and Seattle. There are also views of California missions and coastal landscapes. The Oregon photographs are of scenery only. Photographs of California include San Diego; Casa de Estudillo in Old Town San Diego; Mission San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano, and Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara; San Luis Obispo; Confederate general James Longstreet's Los Angeles home; the Bellevue Terrace Hotel; various Los Angeles homes; Pasadena; Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin's Santa Anita ranch; San Francisco city scenes; and wilderness en route to Oregon. Oregon photographs show images of the Columbia River; Mt. Hood; Latourell Falls; Multnomah Falls; and nature scenes. Photographs of Washington state include Tacoma; Green River; Native Americans from an unidentified tribe; Seattle; and Angeline, the daughter of Chief Seattle of the Suquamish tribe. Twenty-six of the pictures in this album were photographed by Isaiah West Taber and twenty-two were photographed by W.H.J. and Company. It may be that William H. Jeffers created those twenty-two photographs, as he was active in California during this time period. Other photographers who contributed to this album include Thomas H. Rutter, Charles B. Talbot, and Boyd & Braas (William F. Boyd and George H. Braas). The initials "E.B.R." and the year 1897 are embossed on the photo album's spine.
photCL 94
Image not available
Manuscripts
The collection contains letters, documents, including 190,000 reports, 1200 maps, 500 photographs, and 8200 pieces of printed material related to the life and career of Ralph Arnold. Subjects represented in the collection include: mining, petroleum, and seismology in the Western United States as well as Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and South America; political papers from 1914 to 1956, mostly concerning the campaign of Herbert Hoover for president; family and personal papers from 1836 to 1961 of Arnold and his father, Delos Arnold, containing source material on Pasadena and Southern California local history. The collection also contains Arnold's field books, including those made at Stanford University with the U.S. Geological Survey from 1900 to 1909.
mssArnold
Image not available
Rare Books
294982