Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Motoring tourists and the scenic west, 1903 to 1948 : catalogue
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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
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Manuscripts
Paul F. Allen's thesis covers the history of tourism in southern California from 1875 to 1903. Allen details the tourists who came to California, the reasons they came, the activities in which they took part, the hotels in which they stayed, and the places they visited, particularly Los Angeles, Pasadena, and San Diego. The thesis also includes a list of California guidebooks and a bibliography.
mssHM 66662
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Rare Books
This collection consists of railroad photographs, ephemera and publications, 1829-2010, with the bulk of material from the early- to mid-20th century. The focus is chiefly locomotives and trains (steam and diesel) of major railroads and interurban electric railways of the United States and Canada. Also represented in the collection are smaller shortline and narrow-gauge railroads; other foreign railroads; streetcars (or trolleys); and burgeoning light rail and subway systems. Most of the ephemera is printed material produced by railroad companies for promotional and business purposes, such as annual reports, brochures, route maps and guides, timetables, tickets, dining menus, stationery, stock certificates, bond coupons and other items. There are also many city and state tourist guidebooks describing sights along rail routes or promoting land available for farming, mining or home-building across the United States. Also included are items produced for or by railroad employees, such as instruction and safety manuals, train orders, freight bills and in-house newsletters. Railroad industry publications, statistics and reports can be found in the American Association of Railroads files, which are part of Donald Duke's subject files on railroad-related topics. Throughout the ephemera files are newspaper and journal clippings, often from scarce small press and trade publications such as The Railway and Engineering Review, The Railroad Gazette, The Santa Fe Magazine, The Western Railroader, Railway Age and others. In addition to railroad history, other topics of social and cultural historical interest in the ephemera are: Depictions of African Americans and Native Americans in mass-marketed train travel brochures. There are many examples that reflect American cultural and class stereotypes in the early- to mid-20th century. Selected files are noted in the container list. Occupational safety and health: See railroad worker safety manuals and accident prevention literature in ephemera files. History of food and drink: See numerous dining and beverage menus throughout Railroads and Foreign Railroads ephemera files (not always noted in container list). History of graphic design and typography: See examples of early- and mid- 20th century popular styles in printed ephemera throughout collection. Photographs and negatives: The photographs depict locomotives, freight and passenger trains, logging railroads, electric interurbans and streetcars across the United States. This was primarily a publishers file of ready-for-press photographs, which are almost all 8 x 10-inch black-and-white prints, made approximately 1950s-1980s. The photographs were made chiefly by various amateur train photographers, including Donald Duke, but most are uncredited. There are some copy prints (photographs of other photographs), and a few original photographs from the late 19th-early 20th century. Some photographs have locations and dates written on the back, but many are unidentified other than the name of the railroad. There are a few files on Ward Kimball (1914-2002), one of the original animators for Walt Disney Studios and an avid rail enthusiast. There are some photographs, biographical materials, and a file on his personal backyard narrow-gauge steam railroad, Grizzly Flats Railroad, in San Gabriel, California.
645950
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Rare Books
This collection consists of railroad photographs, ephemera and publications, 1829-2010, with the bulk of material from the early- to mid-20th century. The focus is chiefly locomotives and trains (steam and diesel) of major railroads and interurban electric railways of the United States and Canada. Also represented in the collection are smaller shortline and narrow-gauge railroads; other foreign railroads; streetcars (or trolleys); and burgeoning light rail and subway systems. Most of the ephemera is printed material produced by railroad companies for promotional and business purposes, such as annual reports, brochures, route maps and guides, timetables, tickets, dining menus, stationery, stock certificates, bond coupons and other items. There are also many city and state tourist guidebooks describing sights along rail routes or promoting land available for farming, mining or home-building across the United States. Also included are items produced for or by railroad employees, such as instruction and safety manuals, train orders, freight bills and in-house newsletters. Railroad industry publications, statistics and reports can be found in the American Association of Railroads files, which are part of Donald Duke's subject files on railroad-related topics. Throughout the ephemera files are newspaper and journal clippings, often from scarce small press and trade publications such as The Railway and Engineering Review, The Railroad Gazette, The Santa Fe Magazine, The Western Railroader, Railway Age and others. In addition to railroad history, other topics of social and cultural historical interest in the ephemera are: Depictions of African Americans and Native Americans in mass-marketed train travel brochures. There are many examples that reflect American cultural and class stereotypes in the early- to mid-20th century. Selected files are noted in the container list. Occupational safety and health: See railroad worker safety manuals and accident prevention literature in ephemera files. History of food and drink: See numerous dining and beverage menus throughout Railroads and Foreign Railroads ephemera files (not always noted in container list). History of graphic design and typography: See examples of early- and mid- 20th century popular styles in printed ephemera throughout collection. Photographs and negatives: The photographs depict locomotives, freight and passenger trains, logging railroads, electric interurbans and streetcars across the United States. This was primarily a publishers file of ready-for-press photographs, which are almost all 8 x 10-inch black-and-white prints, made approximately 1950s-1980s. The photographs were made chiefly by various amateur train photographers, including Donald Duke, but most are uncredited. There are some copy prints (photographs of other photographs), and a few original photographs from the late 19th-early 20th century. Some photographs have locations and dates written on the back, but many are unidentified other than the name of the railroad. There are a few files on Ward Kimball (1914-2002), one of the original animators for Walt Disney Studios and an avid rail enthusiast. There are some photographs, biographical materials, and a file on his personal backyard narrow-gauge steam railroad, Grizzly Flats Railroad, in San Gabriel, California.
Visual Materials
One catalog entitled Catalogue of the Perry Pictures, by Eugene Ashton Perry, published by Perry Pictures Company, Boston and Malden, Massachusetts, 1908. This catalog is 32 pages in length, and contains primarily black and white illustrations, which are images of art reproductions for sale. Reproductions are organized by category, and size and price. Laid in are several order forms and additional price sheets, as well as a mailing envelope for ordering. Accompanying this catalogue is a mailing envelope in which it was mailed; it is from the Perry Pictures Company, printed in red and black ink, and addressed, in ms., to "Miss Mabel Spofford, 8 Cherry Street, Danvers, Mass." The front cover of the catalog is decorated; the insides of the front and back covers contain the history of the Perry Pictures Company and ordering instructions.
ephKAEE
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Visual Materials
This collection consists of photographs of billboards located in situ primarily in and around Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, San Diego, from approximately 1930-1996 (bulk 1950-1989). The photographs, which are principally color slides (35mm) and film negatives (both black-and-white and color), were created by Pacific Outdoor Advertising Company (POA) and Gannett Outdoor Company for internal purposes and represent advertising for a wide variety of businesses, consumer products, and services, including beverages (many for beer and liquor); food; cigarettes and tobacco; transportation (especially automobiles, airlines and bus lines); hotels; restaurants; motion pictures; charitable and non-profit organizations, including regional cities and civic campaigns; political candidates for local and state elections; public service announcements (such as air raid and Cold War-related ads); radio and television stations; oil and gasoline companies; cemeteries; clothing companies; department stores; recreational facilities; and other commercial, political, civic, and institutional clients. In addition, there are images related primarily to Pacific Outdoor Advertising (POA) Company operations such as client presentations, billboard production and installation, corporate facilities and the POA helicopter. Aerial views taken throughout Southern California document the various markets in which the company placed signage.
Group 044
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Manuscripts
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of American railroad mechanical engineer and innovator William Riley McKeen Jr. (1869-1946) who developed some of the first gasoline-powered railroad motor cars, beginning in 1905 for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1908, he became president of the McKeen Motor Car Company, which built over 150 of the pioneering motor cars through 1917. The materials are primarily focused on the McKeen motor cars and the history of their promotion and production, 1905-1917. Materials include promotional booklets and ephemera, news clippings, scrapbooks, operating manuals, McKeen's personal notebooks and over 300 photographs. Series 1 begins with McKeen's youth and schooling, with examples of some of his engineering notes and workbooks. There are also notes on designing his house, a genealogy of the McKeen family, and his father's estate settlement papers, which include correspondence between McKeen and his siblings. McKeen's professional work and concerns are reflected in several notebooks he kept during his career, with detailed notes related to employees, design issues and other work in the railroad mechanical shops. There are only a few letters of business correspondence, and just one copy of a letter from E. H. Harriman (no original). Among the personal papers is a file of documents related to a 1912 lawsuit brought against McKeen and his second wife, Mary, by Mary's former husband, Charles Hull, in Omaha, Nebraska. This file contains documents that would be of interest to medical and social history researchers: a detective's transcript of observations of prostitutes and activities at brothels (collected to disparage Mr. Hull). Series 2 contains McKeen motor car materials, primarily promotional brochures and ephemera (including a package of custom cigarettes), operating manuals, production statistics, news clippings and articles. See also Series 3 and 4 for clippings and photographs of McKeen motor cars. Series 3 contains three scrapbooks: A) a personal ledger, with clippings; B) a scrapbook of over 100 clippings about the McKeen Motor Car Company, 1907 -- 1920; and C) a scrapbook of photographs and clippings about McKeen motor cars in Australia, 1911-1912. Series 4 contains photographs, including a set of Union Pacific company photographs of McKeen motor cars over the years 1905-1911. McKeen appears in some photographs, and there are some views of employees, Omaha shop buildings, engines and production views. Other photographs show McKeen motor cars on various railroads, some wrecks, engine parts, and views of the McKeen Highway Coach, a passenger vehicle introduced in 1915.
645950
mssMcKeen