Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
A man stands on a plow being pulled by mules, preparing soil for farming, in Westwood, California.
photCL_555_06_2653
Visual Materials
Image of a boy with a harrow pulled by a mule team in a farm field while two girls look on in an advertisement for Eureka Mower Company of Utica, New York; other farming machinery in fields in background.
priJLC_AGR_001770
Visual Materials
View from above of rows of trees in an orchard, with a fig tree in the foreground as seen from the Lake Vineyard House in Pasadena, California. A man with a horse and plow stands between rows of trees near one of the buildings in the distance.
photCL 74 (605)
Visual Materials
Image of a poster advertising Gene Holter's wild animal races and show, including photographic images of men in robes and turbans racing on camelback, an elephant sitting upright with a man balanced on its head and trunk, and three men racing in small carts pulled by ostriches in front of stands fully packed with onlookers; the poster advertises a show at the Orange County, California, fairgrounds.
priJLC_FAIR_003039
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Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last collection of agriculture prints and ephemera contains roughly 2,115 items from approximately 1818 to 1924, with the majority of material dating from 1850 to 1900. The collection consists mainly of advertising prints and ephemera related to crop, hay, livestock, and dairy farming, including the tools, equipment, supplies, and structures used for cultivating soil; raising, harvesting, and storing crops; irrigating land; growing grasses for animal fodder; marking territory lines or separating fields and pastures; and boarding, breeding, feeding, rearing, tending, and selling farm animals. Agricultural machinery and implement companies dominate. Manufacturers and dealers of fertilizer, windmills, and fencing supplies are also represented, as are veterinary medicine, items used to collect or make dairy products, and items used on horses such as blankets, halters, harnesses, horseshoes, nails, saddles, and riding whips. Certificates issued by or pertaining to agricultural societies and organizations are also found here. The collection's prints and ephemera are primarily promotional in nature and provide information about American farming and agriculture-related industries, as well as the evolution of advertising strategies employed by these businesses in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Materials in this collection also provide a perspective on American membership and participation in various agricultural societies and organizations. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of printmaking techniques and trends, as well as information about the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creative process.
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Manuscripts
This collection consists of two series: the Grace Nicholson papers (2,926 items) and addenda (1,444 items). The papers consist primarily of correspondence, while the addenda is primarily notes. Both relate to Grace Nicholson and her work in the fields of Native American and Asian art. There are many letters from Native Americans to Nicholson and extensive diaries and notes that Nicholson kept on her buying trips through Native American territory, especially of the Karok, Klamath, and Pomo Indians. Subject matter includes Native American legends, folklore, vocabulary, tribal festivals, basket making, business in art trade, and living conditions. There is also a considerable amount of correspondence from China, Japan, and Korea between Nicholson and her buyers. Among the subjects covered are Chinese art and architecture, Japanese art, Korean art, Javanese textiles, Siamese art, Philippine art, life and social conditions in Asia, and the business of trading Asian art. Being a well-known dealer in Native American and Asian art, Nicholson was in contact with many artists, such as Frederick Arthur Bridgman, W. Herbert Dunton, Sadakichi Hartmann, Elizabeth Conrad Hickox, Louise Merrill Hickox, Grace Carpenter Hudson, George Wharton James, Lilian Miller, Hovsep T. Pushman, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Millard Sheets. Nicholson also purchased materials for institutions such as the Field Museum of Natural History, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art, the Pasadena Art Museum, and the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, California. Her intimate relationships with Native Americans give particular insight into their lives and culture. Historians and academics sought her out, including Alfred Lewis Kroeber, Charles Fletcher Lummis, and Clinton Hart Merriam. Nicholson also received letters from political figures such as Frederick Webb Hodge, Herbert Hoover, Hiram Johnson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
mssNicholsog
priJLC_AGR_004963