Historical Society of Southern California Volume 27, Issue 3 Fall 2015 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAN HSSC Board of Directors M ESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Officers Kenneth Marcus President Let me take this opportunity to thank site; bringing in new members on the Linda Mollno you for your continued membership to HSSC board ; and holding a series of First Vice-President the HSSC and to mention some of the events to meet the interests of our exciting events we’ve organized for members. In addition to the confer- Paul Spitzzeri 2016. I’d especially like you to mark ence, major events this year included Second Vice-President your calendars for our upcoming con- Admission Day at the Old Mill with Donna Schuele ference on Saturday, April 16, 2016, Avery Chief Curator of Rare Books at Secretary which will address the theme of Jour- the Huntington Library Alan Jutzi as nalism in Southern California. It will speaker; hosting writer Nat Read as Lara Godbille be at Occidental College, building on Treasurer George A.V. Dunning speaker at the the success of our first conference Homestead Museum; and organizing Directors there in April 2015 (thanks to the ef- tours of the library and archives of Nick Curry forts of Oxy alum and former board Mission San Fernando and Lopez Ado- Paul Bryan Gray member and President John Pohlmann be in the San Fernando Valley. All of Andrew Krastins Eileen Wallis and former board member Steve our board members were involved in Ann Walnum Hackel) on the theme of Religion and preparing for and/or taking part in Culture of the Southwest. Further these events, and I thank them for their events will be the George A.V. Dun- dedication, ideas, and enthusiasm. ning lecture, Admission Day at the Old Mill, and tours to local sites—we In addition to providing a series of The Southern Californian is would love to hear from you on what published quarterly by the events for our members, we contribute HSSC, a California non-profit kinds of tours you would like to see. to the intellectual life of southern Cali- 501(c)3 organization. We will also be having a booth for the fornia in other ways. We will continue first time in years at the Festival of to maintain the flagship of the Society: Books at USC on April 9-10, 2016, so the Southern California Quarterly, please come out and support the which is the oldest, continuously- HSSC! operating historical journal in Califor- Executive Director nia. Our editor, Merry Ovnick, and Amy Essington It has been an eventful year: moving book editor, Allison Varzally, have Email: executivedirector from Lummis House; hiring a new Ex- done impressive work in furthering the @thehssc.org ecutive Director, Amy Essington, and scholarship of historians on a diverse an accountant, Jose Granados, to over- array of subjects. Now that the journal see our finances and further the Socie- has been available online for several ty’s mission; housing much of our col- years (and has moved from JSTOR to lection of photographs, paintings, man- Highwire), the number of “hits” or the uscripts, artifacts and books in tempo- accession of articles has greatly in- rary storage at the Homestead Museum creased, and we hope to continue that in the City of Industry; passing a new success next year. set of bylaws; designing a new web- (Continued on page 7) thehssc.org Page 2 Volume 27, Issue 3 HSSC EVENT: A DMISSION DAY AT THE OLD MILL The Historical Society of European and early Ameri- Guerra Collection (1962) Southern California and the can sources. He had little and the Joseph Lancaster Old Mill Foundation jointly interest in the history of th Brent papers (1966), among celebrated the 165 anniver- California and the West. others.The head librarian sary of California’s state- The magnificent collection from 1972 to 1990, Daniel hood on the evening of Sep- of southern California mate- Woodward, authorized the tember 9, 2015. In what is rial now held by the Hun- deposit of the early Los becoming a tradition, the tington Library was brought Angeles Superior Court two groups met for a Mexi- to it by a series of head li- archives at the Huntington can buffet in the Pomegran- brarians. George Watson Library. This massive and ate Patio of the historic Old Cole, the first head librari- richly historical archive was Mill in San Marino to honor an, came to San Marino in assembled, transported, and El Molino Viejo Admission Day. 1920 at the opening of the catalogued by the late cura- Huntington Library. He tor, William Frank. It is A large number of those served in that capacity until known at the Huntington attending were attracted by 1924. Cole realized that the Library as the Los Angeles the after-dinner speaker, library’s location demanded Area Court Records. Alan Jutzi. A popular figure a collection of local history among historians and biblio- documents and began at- The most recent head librar- philes, he has been associat- tempts to gather them. ians, William A. Moffett, ed with the Huntington Li- 1990 to 1995, and David brary for over forty years. A series of southern Califor- Zeidberg, 1995 to present, During much of his career, nia acquisitions were made have kept a staff of Hun- down to the present time, he by Cole’s successor, Leslie tington Library employees has held the position of Bliss, head librarian from to locate and acquire docu- Avery Chief Curator of Ra- 1926 to 1958. Under his ments related to southern re Books at the Huntington direction, the Huntington California history. Within Library. The subject of his Library considerably ex- the last few years, numerous talk was “The Huntington panded its southern Califor- papers and collections have Library and Southern Cali- nia holdings by donation or been added. The staff was fornia History: A Recollec- purchase. Some of the ma- sometimes aided by the late tion by Alan Jutzi.” jor additions included the historians Doyce Nunis and Welcome from HSSC Benjamin Davis Wilson President, Kenneth Marcus Martin Ridge. Alan began by pointing out Collection (1933), the Abel that Henry Huntington orig- Stearns papers (1937), the Alan Jutzi has long been a inally based his library on James De Barth Shorb pa- central figure in the ongoing pers (1950), and the Cave collection of southern Cali- Johnson Couts papers fornia history by the Hun- (1958). The well-known tington Library. His well- historian Robert Glass Cle- received talk was most in- land assisted in obtaining formative and entertaining. documents of interest for A great part of the library’s the Huntington Library dur- holdings can be attributed to ing the 1940s and 1950s. his efforts. Few men are able to create such an endur- After 1958, head librarians ing legacy. succeeding Leslie Bliss con- tinued efforts to increase the library’s southern California By Paul Bryan Gray holdings. Robert Dougan, head librarian from 1958 to Special thanks to Michelle Clark for the photos . Alan Jutzi 1972, took in the De la thehssc.org Southern Californian Page 3 W ELCOME NEW BOARD MEMBER AND T REASURER:LARA GODBILLE Lara Godbille has served as ceived her Ph.D. from She was assistant curator for the Director of the U.S. Na- Claremont Graduate Uni- the exhibit: “Expressions in vy Seabee Museum in Port versity. Lara curated both the Gallery,” which was of Hueneme, California, since traditional and digital exhi- the Getty’s “L.A. as Sub- 2003. She has always bitions for the travelling ject” project that highlighted worked as the Curator and exhibit: “A Patchwork His- the archives from the central Archivist at the museum. tory of the San Fernando corridor of Los Angeles. Lara also worked as a lec- Valley,” an exhibition trav- The exhibition showed at turer in the history depart- eled to Chatsworth Histori- the Watts Labor Community ment at California State cal Society, Burbank Histor- Action Committee in Watts, University, Northridge at ical Society, and Little California. Channel Islands. She re- Landers Historical Society. W ELCOME NEW BOARD MEMBER AND S ECRETARY:DONNA SCHUELE Donna Schuele is currently filiated Scholar at the Cen- Court Historical Society. an Adjunct Assistant Profes- ter for the Study of Women Donna worked as an associ- sor, Department of Political at the University of Califor- ate editor for the Southern Science at California State nia, Los Angeles. Donna California Quarterly. She University, Los Angeles. earned a Ph.D. and a J.D. has presented papers and She was a lecturer in De- from Boalt Hall, University published articles, book partment of Criminology, of California, Berkeley. chapters, book reviews, and Law and Society and Ad- Donna was executive direc- essays on legal history and junct Instructor, School of tor and Director of Pro- women’s history. Law at the University of grams and Publications of California, Irvine, for eight The California Supreme years. Donna is also an Af- W ELCOME NEW BOARD MEMBER: E ILEEN WALLIS Eileen Wallis is an associate 1880-1930 (University of Created No Great Surprise professor and chair of the Nevada Press, 2010) and Upon the Street’: Abortion, history department at Cali- several articles about Cali- Medicine, and the Regulato- fornia State Polytechnic fornia and Western history ry State in Progressive-Era University, Pomona. Eileen including,“‘ Keeping Alive Los Angeles” in Frontiers: teaches California History, the Old Tradition’: Spanish- A Journal of Women’s Stud- Southern California History, Mexican Club Women in ies (2013). Eileen earned Women’s History, and Pub- Southern California, 1880- her Ph.D. at the University lic History. She is the author 1940” in the Southern Cali- of Utah.