Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Manuscripts
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
These papers document the transfer of land in Los Angeles County during the first few decades of California statehood. This collection consists of the original documents certifying the sale, purchase, pre-emption, or surveying of land by sheriffs, clerks, notary publics, and surveyors of Los Angeles County between 1850 and 1889. Some of these legal proceedings partially document the transfer of land ownership from Californio to American hands. Many of these documents are "pre-emption" claims to land made mostly by new American immigrants to California under the Possessory Act of April 20, 1852, which gave individuals the right to claim 160 acres of public lands for the purposes of mining or agriculture. The "inventories of women's separate property" were a result of the California State law enacted on April 17, 1850, entitled "Act defining the rights of Husband and Wife." This collection includes mortgage agreements and releases; inheritances and wills; certificates of sale due to taxes owed, law suits, and foreclosure; claims of preemption; land documents of individuals significant to Los Angeles history including Abel Stearns, Pío Pico, Ignacio del Valle, Francis P.F. Temple, and Benjamin D. Wilson; lease agreements; and additional miscellaneous legal documents relating to land transfers.
mssLAL
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Manuscripts
These papers document the transfer of land in Los Angeles County during the first few decades of California statehood. This collection consists of the original documents certifying the sale, purchase, pre-emption, or surveying of land by sheriffs, clerks, notary publics, and surveyors of Los Angeles County between 1850 and 1889. Some of these legal proceedings partially document the transfer of land ownership from Californio to American hands. Many of these documents are “pre-emption” claims to land made mostly by new American immigrants to California under the Possessory Act of April 20, 1852, which gave individuals the right to claim 160 acres of public lands for the purposes of mining or agriculture. The "inventories of women’s separate property" were a result of the California State law enacted on April 17, 1850, entitled "Act defining the rights of Husband and Wife." This collection includes mortgage agreements and releases; inheritances and wills; certificates of sale due to taxes owed, law suits, and foreclosure; claims of preemption; land documents of individuals significant to Los Angeles history including Abel Stearns, Pío Pico, Ignacio del Valle, Francis P.F. Temple, and Benjamin D. Wilson; lease agreements; and additional miscellaneous legal documents relating to land transfers.
mssLAL
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Visual Materials
The photograph album chronicles Charles F. Lummis's time with the Del Valle family at Rancho Camulos in Ventura County, California, from 1887 to 1888. There are many photographs of the Del Valle family, particularly the Del Valle daughters, with whom Lummis is shown playfully interacting. Family gatherings include a local Catholic priest, couples dancing, and young women playing instruments. Views of Rancho Camulos, the surrounding landscape, and architectural features such as the placita, the chapel, and the south veranda, are also prominently featured. The front cover of the photograph album bears the embossed title of "Susanita Del Valle," while the spine's title says, "Views of Camulos." An inscription on the third page reads: "Susanita Del Valle, with the best wishes of Chas. F. Lummis—Feb. 3, 1888." Some of the pictures appear in The Home of Ramona: Photographs of Camulos, the Fine Old Spanish Estate Described by Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, as the Home of "Ramona," by Charles F. Lummis, published in Los Angeles in 1888. The Huntington Library holds a copy of this book (RB 35644) as well as a second edition (RB 252770). Both copies are illustrated with original cyanotypes by Lummis, many of which are in The Home of Ramona.
photCL 504
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Manuscripts
Professional and personal papers of Abel Stearns, including correspondence, business records, legal documents, and other manuscripts. The materials in the collection deal with life in California during the Mexican and early statehood periods, including the cattle industry, ranching, real estate, political and social life, and the gold discoveries in Southern California in 1842. Correspondents include Juan Bandini, Cave Johnson Couts, Tomas Eleuterio Estenaga, John Forster, Thomas Oliver Larkin, Perfecto Hugo Reid, Alfred Robinson, and others. Also included are diaries kept in 1879-1905 by Juan Bautista Bandini, son of Juan Bandini, who lived in the Santa Monica area. The collection also contains a group of papers accumulated by John Tracy Gaffey, third husband of Mrs. Abel Stearns. The Gaffey papers contain correspondence, including letters from Stephen Mallory White, papers relating to San Pedro, California and historical sketches. There are also papers related to María Victoria Bartoloméa Comecrabit Reid.
mssStearns
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Manuscripts
The bulk of these items are documents entitled "Inventories of Women's Separate Property." In addition to inventories, this folder also includes other legal documents relating to female ownership of land and property including deeds of sale, wills and leases.
mssLAL
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Manuscripts
A collection of 162 items which consists of letters and documents in both English and Spanish by early Californians relating to politics and government, business, and mission affairs (particularly Mission Santa Cruz). While the bulk of the collection falls between the years 1830 to 1852, there are papers concerning the life and times of Abel Stearns, the activities of John Rowland in New Mexico and California (1835-1865), the agitation of Alta Californians demanding self-government, the Mexican War, and the events leading to California statehood. Included are final drafts of certain articles of the 1849 California Constitution and indexes and lists of civil and criminal cases in the courts of Los Angeles for the years 1830 to 1850. Persons represented in the collection include: Juan Bandini, José Castro, Pío Pico, Hugo Reid, John Rowland, Pablo Vicente de Solá, and Abel Stearns.
mssHM 40401-40555