The collection contains letters, documents, including 190,000 reports, 1200 maps, 500 photographs, and 8200 pieces of printed material related to the life and career of Ralph Arnold. Subjects represented in the collection include: mining, petroleum, and seismology in the Western United States as well as Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and South America; political papers from 1914 to 1956, mostly concerning the campaign of Herbert Hoover for president; family and personal papers from 1836 to 1961 of Arnold and his father, Delos Arnold, containing source material on Pasadena and Southern California local history. The collection also contains Arnold's field books, including those made at Stanford University with the U.S. Geological Survey from 1900 to 1909.

mssArnold

Image not available

Owen and Jason Brown at their cabin. Copy neg on file

Visual Materials

This collection contains photographs, negatives, and some ephemera chiefly collected by California conservationist and editor William H. Thrall (1873-1963) for use in Trails magazine. Thrall served as managing editor of the publication from 1934 to 1939, which was produced to encourage the use of mountain trails and outdoor recreation in Los Angeles County. The collection includes approximately 1200 prints (Boxes 1-4); 68 glass negatives (Boxes 7-8); approximately 2300 film negatives; 150 slides; and miscellaneous documents and ephemera, and a folding pocket camera. The photographs primarily date from the 1930s, but also include copy prints (and some originals) of late 19th and early 20th photographs. The images depict mountain and forested landscapes and outdoor recreational activities including hiking, skiing, and camping, chiefly in the San Gabriel Mountains and surrounding mountains of Southern California. Many of the photographs include individuals involved in recreational activities as well images of historical mountain pioneers. The photographs chiefly consist of 4.5 x 2.75 inch snapshots and 8 x 10 and 6 x 10 inch prints, by photographers including Dan P. Alexander, Carl H. Bauer, Harlow Dormer, C. C. Vernon, and Thrall. There is also a group of glass plate negatives and film negatives, including a group of unprinted film negatives that appear to be personal photographs with views of nature, groups of people, family scenes, buildings, boating, and trips, in the 1930s-1950s (Box 15). The film negatives have handwritten numbers presumably assigned by Thrall. Many of the prints appear in Trails magazine, which was published quarterly by the Mountain League of Southern California from Winter 1934 to Spring 1939 (Volume 6, No. 1). In Autumn 1941, the Southern California Outdoor Federation began publishing a new edition of Trails Magazine (without Thrall as editor), but only two issues were published (Volume 2, Nos. 1-2).

photCL 481

Jason and Owen Brown standing outside log cabin on Brown's Trail

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

You might also be interested in

Jason, Owen, and Ruth Brown Thompson outside log cabin

Various views of Jason and Owen Brown, some with sister Ruth Brown Thompson, standing outside house

Large group standing outside house, with John Brown, Jr., Jason, and Owen Brown at center, 1887

Three Brown brothers - Jason, John Brown, Jr., and Owen - standing outside house with cows and goats

6. Brown, Jason and Owen (John Brown's Sons) near a cabin on Brown's Trail

Owen and Jason Brown at their cabin. Copy neg on file