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
Image not available
Visual Materials
The majority of the Ana Bégué de Packman collection consists of portraits of Southern California rancho families and their descendants, as well as photographs of the town of San Juan Capistrano and its environs, including Mission San Juan Capistrano and the adobe houses surrounding the mission. Also included are photographs, correspondence, maps, ephemera, and newspaper clippings related to Southern California ranchos and the Spanish-Mexican families who owned them, as well as Los Angeles during the late 1800s. Photographers include: Charles C. Pierce, Charles J. Prudhomme, Charles C. Puck, and Edward Vischer. A small number of the California rancho families are pictured in both professional and amateur portraits, with a focus on the Dominguez, Machado, Sepulveda, and Yorba families. Other portraits include those of Los Angeles mayors and pioneers, such as Matthew Keller, Cameron Erskine Thom, and Elijah H. Workman. Photographs of Mission San Juan Capistrano show the mission complex in ruins, with views of the church, courtyard, bell tower, and outside workspaces. The interior of the restored Serra Chapel are also shown, with an emphasis on the altarpiece and its statuary. Other missions that are shown in the collection are Missions Santa Barbara, San Antonio de Padua, and San Gabriel Arcangel. Another emphasized portion of the collection concerns adobe houses, specifically ones that are or had been located in the western and southern parts of San Juan Capistrano. Among these adobes are the Blas Aguilar Adobe, Casa de Los Rios, the Burruel Adobe, the Manuel Garcia Adobe, and the Domingo Yorba Adobe. Other Southern California adobes that are also included are the Yorba-Slaughter Adobe, the Dana Adobe, and the Workman-Temple Homestead. Oversized photographs show La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles (Plaza Church) and the statue of Felipe de Neve in Los Angeles Plaza. An interesting photograph of Plaza Church shows Don Antonio F. Coronel surveying the church exterior. Another photograph relating to the Los Angeles area is one of the Beverly Hills Centennial Parade with Eugene W. Biscailuz, Leo Carrillo, and William Boyd on horseback. Of particular interest are two tintypes related to photographer Charles J. Prudhomme. The first is of his mother, Maria Merced Tapia de Prudhomme, and the other is of Prudhomme's daughter. The rest of the collection contains correspondence, maps, notes, ephemera, and negatives. Noteworthy items from these materials include: a manuscript letter written by Manuel Dominguez; postcards from Bruce Condé (Alfonso de Bourbon Conde) to Ana Bégué de Packman; death notices for Isaac Williams and Henry Mellus; a glass plate negative of Horton House in San Diego; a film negative of Juan Bandini and his daughter Ysidora; and an index book with the names of rancho families written in Packman's hand. Photographs with corresponding film negatives are: (12), (26), and (29).
photCL 400 volume 33
Visual Materials
View of mission campanario, or bell wall. Small sign on left tells visitors not to ring the bells.
photCL 444 (18)
Visual Materials
View of ruins of old chancel
photCL Pierce 03100
Visual Materials
View of ruins of the church at Mission San Juan Capistrano.
photCL 435
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Visual Materials
Contains one undated image depicting the Mission in ruins.
photCL 280
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Visual Materials
A collection of approximately 1,500 photographs and various ephemera and publications of California missions, collected by Southern California educator Connie Rothstein, with an emphasis on the San Gabriel Mission, the history of the city of San Gabriel, and the production of "The Mission Play" by John Steven McGroarty. The collection also includes late-19th and early-20th century photographs of Los Angeles and Southern California, and postcards and ephemera related to the Southern California region. Notable in the collection are 391 stereographs of missions and Los Angeles, including some by photographers William Godfrey and H. T. Payne, A. C. Varela, and Carleton Watkins. All of the California Missions are represented in the collection, plus the "sub-missions" or Asistencias of California. The mission photographs include many unusual views and details, and are a mixture of snapshots made by tourists and commercial photographs. There are many views in and around Southern California, most dating from 1880s-1920s, by various photographers. Specific topics emphasized in and around Los Angeles are: Olvera Street, Chinatown, La Fiesta de Los Angeles celebration; and the Mount Lowe Railway. There are many cabinet cards and stereographs, and six large panoramic photographs of the Los Angeles area. The ephemera include hundreds of postcards and photographic postcards, scrapbooks, and many small publications on the history of the missions and California, as well as ephemera related to "The Mission Play." Other topics in the collection are: photographs and ephemera of Monterey, California; Oregon and the Columbia River Highway; and a group of photographs of cowboys and Western culture (mid-20th century).
photCL 496