Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Visual Materials
Sheet music collection illustrating the thematic development of sheet music from the late eighteenth through early twentieth centuries printed in the United States. Musical genres included are English and American theatre music, comic opera, patriotic songs, Scottish and Irish melodies, "Englished" versions of Italian opera, contemporary topical themes (such as the Civil War including some Confederate imprints), and modern Broadway music. Major and minor publishers are represented. Cities most prominently featured as publishing centers include Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore as well as imprints from Cincinnati, Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco, St. Louis, and New Orleans. A significant portion of the collection is illustrated, reflecting the preoccupations, attitudes and values of the American people
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Visual Materials
One boxed set of watercolor paints entitled Our Children's Favorite Paint Box, manufacturer unknown, ca. 1895. The set is comprised of 18 cakes of watercolor paint, two porcelain dishes, and two thin sticks of charcoal. The paints are contained within wooden dividers, and are embossed with an image of an eagle. The set is housed within a wooden box with a sliding lid. A chromolithograph with labeled scenes of monuments and buildings in various American cities is mounted to the lid. One of the images is labeled "Chicago-Exhibition 1893." "Made in Germany" is printed on the image as well.
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Manuscripts
This collection contains personal papers, business records, correspondence, photographs, prints, and ephemera that relate to Los Angeles theatre impresario, Lynden E. Behymer. The materials date from approximately 1850 to 1998, with the bulk of the collection ranging from the 1910s to 1940s. A small portion of the collection consists of biographical information about Behymer and his family. The Personal and biographical materials series contains albums, scrapbooks, clippings, and correspondence relating to Behymer's birthdays, tributes, and other celebratory events. Of note in the collection are the Business records and Correspondence series. The materials primarily relate to Behymer's involvement in managing musicians, actors, actresses, dancers, singers, theatres, and organizations in the music and entertainment industry in California and abroad. Included are approximately 2,400 pieces of correspondence with organizations such as the California Grand Opera Company, the Chicago Grand Opera Company, the Los Angeles Repertory Theatre, the Merola Opera Company, and the San Francisco Opera Association. Formats consist of account books, ledgers, receipt books, agreements, contracts, correspondence, and notes by Behymer. A significant portion of the collection consists of programs, which are organized by theatre programs, movie theatre programs, and souvenir programs. Theatre programs are one of the largest series in the collection, and consist of theatres based in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, as well as other states and international countries. Many of these theatres (Grand Opera House, Los Angeles Theatre, Burbank Theatre, Philharmonic Auditorium, Chicago Opera House, etc.) are also represented in the Press clippings and Theatre scrapbooks series. Souvenir programs are incorporated into the Music, dance, and drama series as they primarily pertain to performers and musicians such as: Anna Pavlova, Ballets Russes, Ruth St. Denis, La Argentina (Antonia Mercé y Luque), Trudi Schoop, Sarah Bernhardt, Helena Modjeska, Mei Lan-Fang, Ignace Jan Paderewski, and many others. Additional materials in the Music, dance, and drama series include librettos, prompt books, plays, poetry, sheet music, and correspondence with various music organizations and clubs. The collection also contains approximately 3,000 photographs of performers and performances. The photographs range from signed portrait photographs, to play and set designs, musicians on stage, and some press photographs of the Behymer family at events and premieres. A small number of prints, drawings, and ephemera are also found in the collection. They include Behymer's personalized book plates and stationery, travel tickets, memorabilia, invitations, celebrity signatures, business cards, travel guides, postcard albums, greeting cards, drawings, prints by Alfred Frueh and Max Reinhardt, and costume designs.
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Manuscripts
The Ely Collection consists of the papers of United States Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Walter R. Ely, Jr., past President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and prominent Los Angeles attorney. Roughly one-third of the collection consists of over 2000 U.S. Circuit Court case files for the period 1971-1984, including private internal memoranda between Ely and such prominent fellow justices as Anthony Kennedy (now on the Supreme Court) and Shirley Hufstedler. Included are many cases with both local significance and larger regional or national impact, with a random check finding topics such as offshore drilling, censorship ("The Beard"), race relations and education (Los Angeles NAACP vs. California Department of Education), immigration (numerous INS cases), labor relations (Teamsters; NLRB cases), feminism (NOW), and financial fraud (Equity Funding; Bernard Cornfeld), with private comments by the justices not only on the cases but also on Supreme Court behavior, personnel, etc. In addition, there is material on the Committee on Standards of Judicial Administration, the Criminal Justice Act of 1964, and the Bankruptcy Appeals Panel in the early 1980s. Before being appointed to the bench, Walter Ely was a prominent and politically active lawyer in Los Angeles. There is extensive documentation of his involvement with the Los Angeles County Bar Association, of which he was president in 1962, the California Conference of State Bar Delegates, and the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, not to mention his own personal practice. He was also an active Democrat, and there is material on California politics for 1956-1964, especially the election campaigns of Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, Attorney General Stanley Mosk, Richard Richards, and others in 1962.
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Rare Books
623321
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