Special Collections Finding Aids

Guide to the Mark Mills Papers, 1939-2010

Catherine Trujillo et al. — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:33:53 PDT

The papers of Architect Mark Mills are comprised of correspondence, legal documents, photos, architectural drawings and plans, marketing and public relations materials for his practice, and presentation drawings. Architectural plans and drawings for single-family residences, ranging from 1950-1995 make up the bulk of the collection.

Guide to the Louis Family Papers, 1879-2009

Catherine Trujillo et al. — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:47:51 PDT

The Louis Family Papers contains nineteenth- and early twentieth-century business records and personal papers of the Louis family, a prominent and pioneering mercantile family in San Luis Obispo, California. Born in China, Wong On (Ah Louis) migrated to the United States in 1861 and opened a Chinese mercantile store in San Luis Obispo in 1874. Included are the records of Louis’ children, of which Howard Louis’ records comprise the bulk. The collection is comprised of approximately 20 linear feet of family correspondence, financial and legal records, and business correspondence and financial records. The collection was donated in 2010.

Guide to the Kathleen Goddard Jones Correspondence, 1918-2002

Laura Sorvetti et al. — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:57:33 PDT

Papers of environmental activist Kathleen Goddard Jones, including correspondence, photographs, a manuscript, and newspaper clippings, primarily relating to her years as a student and in her first marriage.

Guide to the San Luis Obispo County Regional Photograph Collection, 1850-1980

Laura Sorvetti et al. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:08:12 PDT

The San Luis Obispo County Regional Photograph Collection contains photographs, artwork, and postcards of San Luis Obispo city and county. The collection, comprised of both amateur and professional work, captures daily life and popular scenes and locations in the county. The bulk of the collection focuses on early twentieth-century San Luis Obispo. The collection encompasses several donations and purchases.

Guide to the Central Coast Farm Labor Organizing Collection, circa 1960-2003

Teresa Van Doren et al. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:08:11 PDT

The Central Coast Farm Labor Organizing Collection contains materials relating to migrant farm workers on the Central Coast of California, including oral histories, reports, correspondence, strike ephemera, and secondary sources. Photographs taken by Manuel Echavarria documenting the United Farm Worker movement and used in the exhibit “¡Viva la Causa! A Decade of Farm Labor Organizing on the Central Coast” are included in the collection.

Guide to the Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection, c. 1941-1980

Teresa Van Doren — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:55:58 PST

Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection contains materials recording Waller’s years as a prisoner of war (POW) in the Pacific Theater, from September 1941 to August 1945. The materials include photographs, an excerpt from a book, an annotated map, and a transcript of an oral history compiled by Waller and Sandy McKennon in 1980. The oral history chronicles the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and their treatment of POWs through Waller’s account of enlisting in the army, being stationed in hospitals in Corregidor and Bataan in the Philippines, encountering prisoners from the “Bataan Death March,” being relocated to a coal mining camp in Omine, Japan, viewing the drop of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and release in 1945.

Guide to the Norman Clyde-Robert C. Pavlik Collection, 1906-2009

Teresa Van Doren et al. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:10:10 PST

The Norman Clyde-Robert C. Pavlik Collection contains the research notes, correspondence, interview notes, vital records, background materials, and secondary sources compiled and created by Pavlik in the course of writing his 2008 biography, Norman Clyde: Legendary Mountaineer of California’s Sierra Nevada. Also included are original Norman Clyde materials given to Pavlik as he researched the mountaineer’s life and career. Multiple drafts and galleys of the book, together with correspondence with Pavlik’s publishers are also included.

Guide to the William F. Cody Papers, 1924-1975

Nancy E. Loe et al. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:45:52 PST

The papers of California architect William Francis Cody, FAIA, contain student work, architectural drawings and plans, office records, marketing and public relations materials for his practice, presentation drawings, photographs, correspondence, and project files from the architect's estate. Architectural plans and drawings, which date primarily from 1946 when Cody began working in Palm Springs to the mid-1970s, are predominant in the collection.

Guide to the William F. Cody Papers 2, 1918-1980

Nancy E. Loe et al. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:45:51 PST

The William F. Cody Papers 2 (MS 163) contains personal papers, student work, awards, architectural drawings and plans, office records, marketing and public relations materials, presentation drawings, photographs, correspondence, and project files from the architect's estate, acquired through purchase from his daughter in 2008-09.

Guide to the Carleton Winslow, Sr. Papers, 1910-1946

Ken Kenyon et al. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:09:24 PDT

This collection contains the correspondence, photographs, project files, and drawings of architect Carleton Winslow, Sr., who is known for his work on the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, the Los Angeles Public Library headquarters building, as well as churches and residences in Southern California and Santa Barbara.

Guide to the Little Leather Library Collection, 1920-1924

Ken Kenyon — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:26:46 PDT

The Little Leather Library Collection consists of 101 books, 3-1/4” x 4,” published by the Little Leather Library Corporation of New York. The miniature books are brownish green in color, of imitation leather, and characteristic of the Redcroft edition published between 1920-1924. There were over 100 miniature book titles published in the various editions of the Little Leather Library, but it is not known if all of these titles were included in the Redcroft edition. The collection was donated in 2008.

Guide to the Horner Architectural Photography Collection, c. 1920s

Denise Fourie — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:46:40 PST

The Horner Architectural Photography Collection contains 307 vintage, black and white mounted photographs taken by Benjamin Bean Horner (1893-1971), an architect who practiced in Southern California, primarily Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The photographs are from the 1920s; the majority of the images are of historic structures in England and California.

Guide to the Pan-American Exposition Photograph Collection, 1901

Nancy E. Loe et al. — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:30:36 PST

Contains 36 photographs of the Pan-American Exposition, including candid snapshots of the Midway and various concessionaires, street views of the Exposition, and prominent buildings, including the Electric Tower. The photographer is unknown. Also included are two souvenir books: One Hundred Views of the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo and Niagara Falls: An Up-to-Date Souvenir Booklet for the Visitor, the Resident and for Universal Transmission to Show Something of the Great Exposition and of the Queen City of the Lakes; With a Brief Descriptive Guide to these Great Attractions; with Suggestions for Pleasure Trip by Lake and Land and Pan-American and Niagara Falls Views, both published in 1901.

Guide to the Hearst Ranch and Cayucos Photograph Collection, c. 1890-c.1930

Denise Fourie — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:30:35 PST

The Hearst Ranch and Cayucos Photograph Collection contains nine vintage snapshots and 1 mounted print believed to have been taken by longtime Central Coast resident Clayton Leonard Morss (1891-1967). Includes black-and-white snapshots of construction of the Hearst Ranch in San Simeon, California, in the 1920s, and albumen prints of the town of Cayucos, California in the 1890s, both in San Luis Obispo County. Most of the photos have been removed from an album.

Guide to the Ezra Stoller Collection, 1947, 1987

Nancy E. Loe et al. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:51:32 PST

Collection contains 9 mounted vintage images by famed architectural photographer Ezra Stoller of the Clark residence in Lake Placid, New York, taken in 1947.

Guide to the Neutra Notebook Collection, c. 1950

Nancy E. Loe — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:10:21 PDT

Collection contains a bound volume with holographic notes, probably in the hand of noted architect Richard Neutra's son, Dion, relating to the proposed relocation of the family’s architectural practice to Glendale, California, c. 1950. Neutra is referred to in the third person throughout (generally as "RJN"), and his wife, Dione, is referred to as "Mother" at least once in the text, which comprises the first 6 remaining leaves of the notebook (chiefly rectos only, in pencil; with a pencil sketch on verso of second leaf). The remainder of notebook is blank except for the last 5 leaves, which contain sketches of televisions and radios. Also included in the collection is a typescript of the last letter Dione Niedermann wrote to Richard Neutra before their wedding, dated December 16, 1922.

Guide to the McMillan-Wreden California Condor Collection, 1953

Nancy E. Loe — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:10:17 PDT

Contains correspondence between naturalist and environmental activist Ian McMillan and rare book dealer and rancher William P. Wreden and other conservationists and government officials on the conservation of the California condor. Wreden owned the Pinole Land and Cattle Company near McMillan’s ranch in eastern San Luis Obispo County. The two men corresponded on environmental advocacy efforts on behalf of California condors in 1953.

Guide to the Laumann Yosemite Collection, c. 1908, 1923

Ken Kenyon — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:10:16 PDT

The Laumann Yosemite Collection consists of photographic prints and glass plate negatives of two of the Laumann family’s visits to Yosemite National Park and the Sierra, the first in c. 1908 and the second in 1923. Photographs taken by Frank E. Laumann include familiar landmarks such as El Capitan, Mirror Lake, Vernal Falls, Half Dome and Hetch Hetchy as well as Laumann family and friends. The Laumann family donated the collection in 2006.

Guide to the Camille Solon Drawings Collection, 1900-1952

Denise Fourie et al. — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:10:07 PDT

This collection contains approximately 225 landscape sketches by English muralist and ceramist Camille Solon. Items in the collection include re-worked pencil sketches of rural locations and landscapes in Britain and northern California, where he lived most of his adult years. Despite his extensive work at San Simeon, this collection contains only one pencil sketch from the Hearst estate. A few watercolors and some conté crayon sketches with ink are also included in the collection. Donated in 2001.

Guide to the San Luis Obispo County Historic Lithographs Collection, 1883

Denise Fourie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:33:52 PDT

This collection contains 48 sheets of hand-tinted lithographs, each approximately 11 ¾ x 8 ½ inches, depicting 61 different ranches, residences, hotels, commercial and civic buildings throughout San Luis Obispo County in 1883. These lithographs illustrated the History of San Luis Obispo County, California, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, produced in 1883 by publishers Thompson and West of Oakland, California.