Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
View of the interior of the Melrose Tavern bar in Hollywood, California. Customers are in seats and at the bar with drinks.
photCL_555_06_1518
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Manuscripts
The collection has several strong subject points for the purpose of research including journalism and the writing process and the history of Los Angeles. There are many letters written during World War II that discuss life in America as well as abroad, especially Iwo Jima. The bulk of the collection includes correspondence to Smith from his readers, many of whom were persons of note, and Smith's own subject files of topics often discussed in his columns. The manuscripts include a number of Smith's notebooks as well as drafts of essays and monographs. The ephemera includes appearances of Smith's columns, photographs of Smith's work and family, and printed materials related to Smith's work and family life.
mssSmith, Jack papers
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Visual Materials
Photographs made by Adam Clark Vroman, ca. 1892-1909, spanning various subjects, primarily his bookstore in Pasadena, California, and scenes from his travels. Of particular significance is Vroman's handwritten journal of a trip to see the Snake Dance at Walpi, Arizona, in 1895, written sequentially on the back of 19 mounted photographs. Vroman's traveling companions were Horatio N. Rust, Mrs. Thaddeus (Leontine) Lowe, and Charles J. Crandall, who are shown, along with Vroman, at pueblos, and traveling with supplies and wagons. There are also views of the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest. The California images include scenery and travelers in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mount Wilson, Mount Lowe and the Alpine Tavern, and travelers having a picnic; details of missions; historic adobes of Monterey; Rancho Guajome Adobe in San Diego County; Yosemite and one view of Indians living in Yosemite Valley. Locations depicted in other parts of the United States are: Manitou, Colorado; Oregon, Illinois; Niagara Falls; Grant's Tomb; a bird's-eye-view of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and other miscellaneous views. Vroman travelled to Japan in 1903 and 1909, and eight prints in the collection show Japanese men and women in traditional dress, as well as details of architecture. Vroman appears in a few photographs. There are several portraits of Pueblo Indian men, some identified in Vroman's captions.
photCL 86
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Manuscripts
The archive extends over six decades, from 1803 to 1869. Included in the archive are letters and manuscripts covering William Congreve's career in rocketry. The most notable of these is his diary of the 1807 Copenhagen bombardment, which represents the first truly successful large-scale use of the Congreve war rocket in combat. Other noteworthy manuscripts include a signed draft and a fair copy of a "Report to the Commissioners of the Navy" dated October 1813, in which Congreve summarized his war rocketry activities from 1805 to 1813; a letter dated November 1813 relating to "the expense, or rather the economy of the Rocket System"; bills for materials used in rocket construction; an undated letter to a Captain Elliot discussing the subject of a "rocket cavalry"; letters discussing a plan of "applying Rockets for throwing ropes ashore from shipwrecked vessels"; and letters in which Congreve writes of his achievements and his attitude towards his work. The archive also contains manuscripts and letters relating to some of Congreve's other inventions: naval guns, bombships, and Congreve's design for a paddlewheel boat, which is detailed in a long letter illustrated with Congreve's sketches. Also included are a long series of love letters that Congreve wrote to his wife, Isabella, and another series of long, detailed letters written to Congreve during the last few months of his life by his secretary, R. Drake, discussing, among other things, Congreve's political career as a Member of Parliament, his precarious financial position, the publication of his Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System (1827), and negotiations with the British East India Company for exclusive rights to the Congreve war rocket for use in India. Included in the remainder of the archive is a letter from Congreve's father, William Congreve Sr., to Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), president of the Royal Society, discussing the elder Congreve's responsibilities at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Another series of letters, some written by Congreve, concern a will of which Congreve's aunt, Miss Mary Congreve, was the executrix. There are numerous letters written by Isabella Congreve after Congreve's death in 1828, mostly on financial matters-- Congreve's affairs were left somewhat embarrassed upon his death, and the archive includes several records of bills and promissory notes, both paid and owing. Lastly, there are several letters presumably written by Congreve's descendants, the last dated Feb. 1, 1869.
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Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters, photographs and clippings related to the life and political career of William Gibbs McAdoo. Much of the McAdoo correspondence deals with his public appearances and engagements as a U.S. senator and also his failed attempt at re-election in 1938. Also of interest is McAdoo's involvement with the first Pan-American flight in 1936 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's campaign trip to California in July 1938. There are also materials related to McAdoo's involvement with the Liberty Bond Act during World War I and the construction and management of the Hudson River Tunnels.
mssMcAdoo papers
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Manuscripts
Bateman's detailed letters to Hill over a four-year period from 1697 to 1700 concerning military remittances to the Continent as well as advice and reports on his private investments on Hill's behalf, with technical references to explanations of the wide variety of financial instruments of the 1690s including the new Exchequer Bills, interest bearing bonds, stocks, etc., and filled with specific quotations of prices, interest, discount rates, and dividends. There are passing references to the politics of the relationship between the Bank of England and the British Treasury, to relations between the Old and New East India Companies, to King William's War, and to other administrators and politicians, but the over-riding content is financial. There are also three letters in French from Cornelius Kreps in Ghent to Hill, 1699-1701, also concerning finance, and three accounts of expenses for English soldiers in the hospital at Bylocke, Ghent, 1693-1698.
mssHM 78000-78036
mssCongreve
