Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Aphorisms from Latham
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
Sea journal kept by Latham A. Brown aboard the schooner Odd Fellow during the ship's 1849 voyage to San Francisco. Some notable entries include an encounter with the the bark Flora, which reported "joyful news from the gold diggings, which revived our company very much" (March 22), and going ashore in "Patigonia [sic] called the Peninsula of St. Joseph...this day being the most pleasant of any day since I left home we ar[e] surrounded by Penguins and varios [sic] other Birds" (April 12). Also included is a journal entitled "Latham A. Brown's Book, 1847," which is a seaman's exercise book assembled by Brown and which includes rules of traverse sailing, mercator sailing, how to find longitude and latitude, predicting tides, star declination, and finding latitudes by the moon, each with tables, problems, examples, and sketches of ships. Other items include an American Ship Masters' Association certificate naming Brown an approved shipmaster (1865) and several abstract logs for the schooner Restless from travels in the South Pacific, including Honolulu, Tahiti, and Sydney, from the mid-1850s.
mssHM 74816-74819
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Manuscripts
The three diaries detail Latham's employment as both a geologist and engineer in 1910, 1912, and 1916. He discusses his everyday activities as a petroleum geologist for the Pinal Dome Oil Company, the Kern Trading & Oil Company, and the Kern County Oil Protective Association, including surveying land and oil drills, making maps, and the routine office work involved. He also discusses his work as a consultant with different oil companies including the Pacific Midway Oil Company. The 1916 volume includes the entries Latham made while in Washington D.C. assisting the Navy in congressional hearings on naval oil reserves in California; he appeared before the Committee on Public Lands on February 10th. There are newspaper clippings, photographs, and various letters glued onto the pages throughout the three volumes. The group also includes seven pieces of correspondence, most of which are related to Latham's work; authors include Burt L. Davis, President of the Pacific Midway Oil Company, and the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels
mssHM 65959-65968