Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Smallpox in Los Angeles in 1887
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Rare Books
610120
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Rare Books
643580
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Manuscripts
Leonard John Rose, Jr. was an amateur historian and this collection contains drafts of his memoirs and descriptions of 18th and 19th century California social life and customs. In "A Serial in Three Parts," L. J. Rose, Jr. thoroughly describes the livestock management practices and horsemanship of Mexican cowboys in 18th and 19th century California. In Gringos Grandees he further illustrates the social life and customs of Mexicans and Native Americans living in a small village in the San Gabriel Valley. In this manuscript, L. J. Rose, Jr., narrates his and his father's life stories, with accounts of his family's move west, success in wine production and horse breeding, but it is also a local view of Los Angeles and California history in the second half of the 19th century. The writing in this collection of Leonard John Rose is limited to his accounts of leading a failed California bound emigrant train from the Midwest. The third section contains short biographies of L. J. Rose and Calvin F. Fargo, narratives of the Rose Party, and the diary of Martha True Fargo, L.J. Rose, Jr.'s mother-in-law. The diary provides a social history of women in Portage, Wisconsin in 1864. The ephemera section of this collection revolves around newspaper and magazine clippings about the Rose family, their homes and estates, their prize winning horses, and their wine production. Some of the newspaper articles are from the Los Angeles Times and the Illustrated Los Angeles Herald, while the magazine articles include a 1950 three part series entitled, "Pastime of Millions" by Carleton F. Burke in The Thoroughbred of California.
HM 70753
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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