Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
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Descriptive Summary
Title: Behrendt Manuscript Collection
Dates: 1538-1939
Collection Number: GC 1325
Creator/Collector:
Behrendt, Samuel
Extent: (Boxes: 7 legal; 1 flatbox; 2 ov and 1 ov folder; L.C.)
Repository:
Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, California 90007-4057
Abstract: A collection of historical papers, primarily of legal documents, forms, pamphlets, booklets and serial publications relating
to Southern California and the United States. The dates range from ca. 1538-1939, with its bulk dates between 1850-1920.
Language of Material: English
Access
Research is by appointment only
Publication Rights
Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Behrendt Manuscript Collection. Collection Number: GC 1325. Seaver Center for Western History Research,
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Biography/Administrative History
Sam Behrendt was a successful insurance salesman in Los Angeles in the teens and twenties. As early as 1924 he operated the
Behrendt-Levy Company, which underwrote about 75% of the movie industry's insurance. He was a second-generation Angeleno,
as his father was German-born Los Angeles pioneer of 1852, Caspare Behrendt.
Scope and Content of Collection
A collection of historical papers, primarily of legal documents, forms, pamphlets, booklets and serial publications relating
to Southern California and the United States. The dates range from ca. 1538-1939, with its bulk dates between 1850-1920.
There are two original letters by Spanish Franciscan missionaries: one by Junipero Serra (1713-1784) and the other by Fermin
Francisco De Lasuen (1736-1803); documents from the Californio ranching era including those by Pio Pico and Bernardo Yorba.
There are publications pertaining to places and events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, such as commemorative souvenirs and
telephone directories. There are ephemeral items relating to the Civil War Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan. There is a
small number of autographs for prominent people, and one faded bill of sale for six slaves from New Orleans. Also are legal
documents, both blank forms and ones filled in, such as real estate deeds, a bankruptcy proceeding, liquor licenses, and shipping
bills of lading originating from United States and foreign locales.
There are items on the early motion picture industry including ephemera for the opening of Universal Studios and publications
by the film company, Selig Polyscope. Most of the map items have been integrated into the General Map Collection (GC 1310).
Photographic items have been separated into Sam Behrendt Collection, ca.1870-1920 (P-10) and the Portrait Collection (P-78).
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