Fair Oaks Rancho

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  Fair Oaks Ranch Photographs

  Visual Materials

  This collection consists of one photograph album with 48 photographs and 35 loose photographs (as well as some duplicates), with images depicting the Fair Oaks Ranch in Altadena, California. The photographs in the album are cyanotype prints dating from around 1889; the loose photographs include cyanotypes, cabinet cards, and stereographs that date from the late 1870s to about 1900. The last page of the album contains a travel sketch in pencil, followed by sketches of a room interior and floor plan on two pages laid in. Subjects include interior and exterior views of the residence, landscaped grounds, trees, and plant life; members of the Crank family; ranch workers, including Chinese laborers, working in the orchards and vineyard, harvesting and packing fruit, drying apricots, and loading fruit onto horse-drawn carts; workers' quarters; the operations of the winery and distillery; and also a handful of sweeping views of the San Gabriel Mountains and the Altadena and Pasadena areas taken from vantage points on the property. The photographer of the album is unknown, but Item 46 shows a wood hutch with a mirror in which the photographer and camera are reflected. Some of the cabinet cards and stereographs have imprints from area photographers: C. McMurtrey (Item 80), C.B. Ripley (Items 73-74), and A.C. Varela (Items 76-78). Titles have been transcribed from captions on album pages and photo-mounts when present; titles devised by the cataloger are enclosed in square brackets. Additional information was gathered from notes on the backs of some photographs. Approximate dates for the collection were devised by the cataloger based on years noted on certain items, the general history of the property and Crank family, and also on a year visible on a calendar in Item 46. Thirteen photographs have duplicates in the collection, which are noted in the inventory below.

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  The Vineyards of "Fair Oaks."

  Visual Materials

  Side-by-side stereograph image of a vineyard of full grape vines. The vineyard stretches a distance to a grove trees, and then mountains.

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  Landscape selections at "Fair Oaks."

  Visual Materials

  Side-by-side stereograph images of a row of men and women, one holding an infant, seen from a distance. They stand in front of a brick, one-story house with trees in front and back. In the foreground, a flat, dirt area with scattered scrub and weeds.

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  Fair Oaks Ranch material

  Manuscripts

  The collection consists of 450 items from 1875 to 1929, and includes letters, manuscripts, business documents, and 32 maps and drawings related to the business interests of James Filmore Crank and the development of Los Angeles County. Of particular note is the collection's focus on city and interurban railways, including the Los Angeles Cable Railway Co., Pacific Railway Co., Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad Co., and Los Angeles Development Co. There are also materials related to the wine industry (Sierra Madre Vintage Co. and Lamanda Park, California), the Fair Oaks Ranch in Pasadena, the Azusa Land and Water Co., and education in California private schools during the late nineteenth century. Correspondents in the collection include: John Dustin Bicknell, Albert Filmore Crank, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Joseph H. Hoadley, Collis Potter Huntington, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Edwin Burritt Smith.

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  Ranch House

  Visual Materials

  Front wraparound porch, lawn, and landscaping of the James F. Crank residence on Fair Oaks Ranch. House is mostly obscured by large shade trees. A peacock sits in the lower right of the lawn.

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  [Road through orchard.]

  Visual Materials

  This collection consists of one photograph album with 48 photographs and 35 loose photographs (as well as some duplicates), with images depicting the Fair Oaks Ranch in Altadena, California, during the late 19th century. The ranch, owned by businessman and rancher James F. Crank, encompassed a vineyard, winery, and citrus orchards, along with a lavish residence and grounds. Subjects include interior and exterior views of the residence, landscaped grounds, trees, and plant life; members of the Crank family; ranch workers, including Chinese laborers, working in the orchards and vineyard, harvesting and packing fruit, drying apricots, and loading fruit onto horse-drawn carts; workers' quarters; the operations of the winery and distillery; and also a handful of sweeping views of the San Gabriel Mountains and the Altadena and Pasadena areas taken from vantage points on the property. The photographer of the album is unknown; some of the cabinet cards and stereographs have imprints from area photographers: C. McMurtrey (Item 80), C.B. Ripley (Items 73-74), and A.C. Varela (Items 76-78). Photographs in the album are cyanotype prints; the loose photographs include cyanotypes, cabinet cards, and stereographs.

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