Visual Materials
Charles F. Lummis at work
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Charles F. Lummis sitting at his desk, writing
Visual Materials
View of Lummis sitting at a desk with a telephone and papers. A bookshelf and books are behind him. Indian pottery bowls are on a shelf above the desk.
photPF 3909
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Lummis, Charles F
Manuscripts
Correspondence regarding Charles Lummis, El Alisal, and the Southwest Museum. Correspondents include California State Senator John Phillips, Harry Chandler, Jacob Baum, L. D. Hotchkiss, and R. W. Trueblood. File of L.D. Hotchkiss, R.W. Trueblood, and Jacob Baum.
mssLAT
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Charles F. Lummis : a brief biography
Manuscripts
Biography of Charles Fletcher Lummis (1859-1928), prominent journalist, poet, photographer, and activist of the American west and founder of the Southwest Museum. The biography begins with Lummis' childhood in Massachusetts, where he was rigorously educated by his father following his mother's early death. It then traces his attendance of Harvard, his 1885 transcontinental walk from Cincinnati to Los Angeles (as recorded in Lummis' book A tramp across the continent, 1891), his work as city editor of the Los Angeles Times, his 1886 coverage of General George Crook's participation in the Apache Wars, Lummis' paralysis and temporary blindness, his life with the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, and his founding of the Southwest Museum. References are also made to Lummis' relationships with his first wife Dr. Dorothea Rhodes, Theodore Roosevelt and Boies Penrose at Harvard, Harrison Gray Otis, Leonard Wood, Adolph F. Bandelier, Henry Herbert Knibbs, and members of his "Lion's Den" literary circle. Carbon copy of typewritten manuscript with handwritten notes.
mssHM 72915
William Knowland and group of men in Y. C. Hong's office
Manuscripts
Senator Knowland in Y. C. Hong's office, seated at the desk, surrounded by a large group of men.
mssHong Family papers
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Charles F. Lummis photographs of El Alisal, family members, and other subjects
Visual Materials
This collection of photographs by Charles F. Lummis consists of 383 glass plate negatives and 5 autochromes (glass plate color photographs), dating from approximately 1888-1923. A large portion of the images document the construction of Lummis' stone residence, El Alisal, in what is now Highland Park, Los Angeles, which he began building in 1898 and finished in 1913. Exterior and interior progress views show details of construction, such as a window Lummis made of a collage of glass photographic plates. Lummis also photographed the land he bought for his house, which shows a largely untouched Arroyo Seco dotted with oak trees and a few other houses. The collection also contains numerous portraits of Lummis' four children with his second wife, Eve, seen at various ages: Turbesé (born 1892), Amado (born 1894), Jordan "Quimu" (born 1900), and Keith (born 1904). Other portraits include Eve Lummis and several notable Western writers and artists: John Muir, Charles M. Russell, Ed Borein, John T. Doyle, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Julia Bracken Wendt, and Thomas Moran. The five autochrome portraits of art collector and dealer Grace Nicholson show her in different poses, wearing a pink fancy dress and hat, and in a Chinese robe. Based on the different format and professional appearance of the Nicholson images, there is some doubt as to whether Lummis took them or they just came into his possession. Lummis is seen in several self-portraits, at various ages, 1877-1909, and in some family groupings. A few images are photographs of photographs or paintings. Lummis also appears in some scenes at Rancho Camulos, Ventura County, with members of the Del Valle family. Various other subjects include: Lummis' earlier home on Forester Avenue, Los Angeles (1890s); California missions; Eve Lummis and others at Isleta pueblo, New Mexico, where she taught school; Native Americans from Isleta at El Alisal with Lummis' family; and miscellaneous unidentified scenes. The bulk of glass plates are 5 x 7 inches, with some 8 x 10 inches, and many have names or dates written at the bottom in Lummis' hand, with his initials.
photCL 72
