Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
California Mercantile Company
- Description
- 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.
