Preliminary Guide to the Hobart O. Skofield Papers

Preliminary arrangement and description by D. Tambo

Department of Special Collections

Davidson Library

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Phone: (805) 893-3062

Fax: (805) 893-5749

Email: special@library.ucsb.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html

Preliminary Guide to the Hobart O. Skofield Papers, ca. 1910s-1991 [bulk dates 1930s-1970s]

Collection number: Printers Mss 1

Department of Special Collections

Davidson Library

University of California, Santa Barbara

Processed by:: Preliminary arrangement and description by D. Tambo
Date Completed:: Feb. 28, 2008
Encoded by:: A. Demeter

Descriptive Summary

Title: Hobart O. Skofield Papers

Dates: ca. 1910s-1991

Bulk Dates: 1930s-1970s

Collection number: Printers Mss 1

Collection Size: ca. 30 linear feet (26 cartons, 10 oversize boxes, and 2 open-reel audio tapes).

Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Abstract: Two series: personal/family materials re Hobart O. Skofield, his father Ray L. Skofield, and a large number of genealogical files; and a printers/presses series, with a large amount of material relating to Skofield's association with the Rudge printing firm, as well as long-term correspondence with other prominent printers and research/subject files on numerous mostly-American presses and printing interests.

Physical location: Boxes 1-2, 27-36 (Annex 2); Boxes 3-26 (SRLF); Audiovisual (Annex 2).

Languages: English

Access Restrictions

None. Collection is stored off-site; advance notice required for retrieval.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred Citation

Hobart O. Skofield Papers. Printers Mss 1. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Acquisition Information

Multiple gifts from Hobart Skofield, ca. 1948-1991.

Biography

Hobart O. Skofield (known as Sko):

1902: Born, New York City.

1920: graduated from Choate School (boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut).

1924: graduated from Amherst College (Amherst, Massachusetts).

ca. 1924-1926: father got him a job Banker's Trust (16 Wall Street, New York), but realized he didn't want to be a banker and got interested, instead, in fine printing.

1926-1931: Apprentice compositor at the Printing House of William Edwin Rudge; left because of Depression and economizing measures in the firm. Became interested in history of the book and printing during this time.

1931: Moved to Santa Barbara, joining family [father Ray L. Skofield, stepmother, and nurse companion]. Family returned to New York in fall 1931; HOS stayed on and maintained the family ranch on/by Las Canoas Road.

1937: formed partnership with A. Edwin Fisher, who had a small printing shop on Anacapa St. (in SB), but left it a few months later. Went back to work on the ranch.

Sept. 1940: Enlisted in local National Guard, the 144th Field Artilllery.

Feb. 1941: Ordered to active duty; sent to Fort Lewis, Washington; there three-four years, training recruits.

1944-1945: sent to Europe, landed at Normandy, through Germany and Austria; discharged.

1945: Returned to Santa Barbara; worked at Schauer's printing studio (SB).

1946: Father asked HOS to quit Shauer's job and help with developing the ranch (more an acreage than working ranch).

1948: Donated 500 books from his personal collection, which formed the core of what came to be known as the Hobart O. Skofield Printers Collection. This constituted the second special collection that the library had, the first being the William Wyles Collection.

Mid-1960s: Began UCSB consultantship.

1976: The Printers Collection had grown to more than 10,000 volumes.

Feb. 5, 1991: Died, Santa Barbara, California.

Scope and Content Notes

Arrangement

The collection contains the following series:

Personal/Family - Biographical material re Hobart O. Skofield and his father Ray L. Skofield; b/w photographs and slides, many relating to HOS in WWII; and a large number of Skofield family genealogical files. Boxes 1-17.
Printers/Presses - Alphabetical files, bibliographical, and correspondence files with a large amount of material relating to Hobart O. Skofield's association with the Rudge printing firm and its alumni, as well numerous other mostly-American presses and printers. Boxes 18-26.
Oversize - mainly maps and other material relating to the Skofield property; also some personal, genealogical, and a 1958 framed commendation to the Rancheros Vistadores, from the California State Assembly. Boxes 27-36.
Audiovisual - Two audiotapes dealing with Sko's life, his printing and collecting interests.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Skofield, Hobart O.

Small presses--United States.

William Edwin Rudge (Firm)

Related Materials at UCSB

Skofield [Hobart] Oral History, 1982. Recollections of Skofield, re his years as an apprentice with the Printing House of William Edwin Rudge, experiences with the Rancheros Vistadores, and development of what is now the Skofield Printers Collection. (OH 6). Edited version: Hobart Skofield with David E. Russell, Reminiscences of a Printer's Devil (Santa Barbara: Davidson Library Oral History Program, 1982), 90 pages.

Skofield [Hobart O.] Portfolio, ca. 1926-1931. Two volumes, containing approximately 217 items representing printing specimens collected by Hobart O. Skofield. Call Number: Special Coll., Printers Collection Z232.S5 A4 1926. Tape # AS13602/R7, in container list, includes information about the portfolio.

Skofield [Hobart O.] Printers Collection. Named after Hobart O. Skofield, who also donated several thousand printed items (most cataloged separately) and who established an endowment to support the collection, currently there are more than 30,000 volumes, with an emphasis on the book arts, bookplates, California presses (such as Arion, Black Sparrow, Book Club of California, Grabhorn, Flying Fish, Paul Elder, and Yolla Bolly presses), fine printing, history of the book, writing and printing, miniature books, papermaking, Santa Barbara presses (including Capra Press, Mary Heebner's Simplemente Maria Press and Harry and Sandra Reese's Turkey Press), small and private presses (such as Doves, Gehenna, Granary, Hogarth, Janus, Kelmscott, Nonesuch, Pennyroyal, Perishable, and Roycroft presses), and typography. Also, related manuscript collections relating to Hobart O. Skofield, Mudborn Press, John Henry Nash, Ninja Press (Carolee Campbell), Pear Tree Press, Bruce Rogers, Rowny Press, and Rudge Press.

Personal / Family

Biographical

Scope and Content Note

Personal and family

Skofield, Hobart O. [HOS]

Box 1

Amherst College - Biographical Record, 1973

Box 1

Correspondence - mostly to his father, also some newspaper clippings, incl. WWII experiences on the European front), 1941-1945

Box 1

"A Few Notes Concerning Ancient Writing," by H. O. Skofield (Mount Vernon, N.Y.: At the Academic Press, 1931)

144th F.A. [Field Artillery] Regiment

Box 1

General - mostly correspondence from former members of the 144th, ca. 1945-1947

Box 1

Association - former members of the 144th

Box 1

Typescript recollections, written by unidentified member of the unit - mentions HOS at points such as New York leave, just before departing for Europe and the war

Box 1

Oral History - transcripts, ca. 1982

Box 1

Rancheros Vistadores

Box 1

Rudge [Printing House of William Edwin Rudge, New York City] - correspondence and other re HOS' time with the firm and period following it, ca. 1931-1936

Box 1

Skofield Park

Box 1

Skofield Property - Santa Barbara

Skofield, Ray L. [RLS] (b. 1871; d. 1958)

Box 1

Aviation - scrapbook with newspaper clippings and photographs (incl. one of Charles Lindbergh); correspondence, schedules, and other relating to transcontinental flights taken by aviation enthusiast RLS, including the purported first telegram sent from an airplane (June 27, 1929), 1927-1939

Box 1

Newspaper clippings, including obituary

Box 1

Skofield Family - Ermine Skofield Reynolds

Photographs

Prints (most black/white)

Box 1

Beilenson, Anthony and Dolores - with HOS, on visit to UCSB Libraries, Feb. 14, 1987

Box 1

Fiesta (incl. Will Rogers), 1928, n.d.

Box 1

Glick, Milton - with HOS and Chris Brun, 1971

Box 1

144th F.A. [Field Artillery Regiment] Association

Box 1

Paper Mill Trip - Dard Hunter's Mill, Lime Rock, CT, May 1930

Box 1

Rancheros Vistadores - incl. Ed Borein, Walt Disney, ca. 1959, n.d.

Box 1

Rudge - William Edwin Rudge and employees, including HOS, 1930

Box 1

Skofield, Hobart O. - portraits and other, n.d.

Box 1

Skofield Family - mainly Ray L. Skofield's mother (HOS grandmother), pre 1920

Box 1

Skofield Park - Acquisition and Dedication, 1959

Box 1

UCSB Library - Rudge exhibit, HOS, and Special Collections, 8th floor, 1966

Box 1

UCSB Library - Rudge exhibit, 1969

Box 1

UCSB Library - Rudge exhibit, with HOS, Chris Brun, and Fred Rudge, n.d.

Box 2

WWII - with the 144th F.A., 1944-1945

Box 2

Zamarano Club - at Covarrubias Adobe, Santa Barbara, June 14, 1969

Box 2

Unidentified

Box 2

Negatives (black/white) - Map of an Automobile Trip

Box 2

Negatives (color) - unidentified (domestic/family, not WWII), n.d.

Box 2

Slides (color) - boxed, incl. Santa Barbara area, California, horses, 144th F.A. [Field Artillery Regiment], ca. 1941-1943, 1946-1948

Genealogical Research

Binders - arranged by alpha/numerical code devised by HOS

Box 3

A-D99

Box 4

E1-G29

Box 5

G30-J; unsorted

Box 6-7

Unsorted (incl. some loose papers)

Files

Box 8

A1-F13

Box 9

F14-H16

Box 10

H17-J10

Box 11

A-Ma

Box 12

Ma-Z

Box 13

Reynolds-Schmidt

Box 14

Public Records (deeds and other)

Files - Cards (boxed, each arranged alphabetically)

Box 15

Given [family]

Box 15

Skofield [family]

Box 15

Skofield collaterals

Notebooks - Family histories and other

Box 16

Adams Family of York, Maine

Box 16

Curtis Genealogy, by C. N. Sinnett

Box 16

MacLaughlin Family

Box 16

Maine Census - 1790

Box 16

Maine Genealogical Inquirer

Box 16

Maine, Harpswell

Box 16

Harpswell, Maine Marriages Recorded, 1754-1843, by Rev. Elisha Eaton and his son Samuel Eaton

Box 16

Historic Harpswell, Maine and Its Historic Congregational Church, by Rev. Charles N. Sinnett

Box 16

Maine Vital Records

Box 16

[Merryman] Walter Merryman of Harpswell, Maine and His Descendants, by Rev. Charles Nelson Sinnett

Box 16

The Pennells of Brunswick - Shipbuilders, by George A. Erswell, Jr.

Box 16

Skofield Family Tree

Box 16

Skofield, Hobart O. - Genealogical Memoranda, Aug. 1, 1963-Sept. 22, 1968

Box 16

Skofield, Ray L. - Lineages of

Box 16

[Skolfield] Clement Skolfield Descendants, C-3

Box 16

[Skolfield] Ebenezer Skolfield & Descendants

Box 16

[Skolfield] Jacob Skolfield & Descendants

Box 16

Skolfield Clippings

Box 16

Spear Family

Box 17

Unsorted - correspondence, photocopies/photostats, re genealogical research mainly done in collaboration with cousin Esther Skolfield Schmiedt of Berkeley, CA; intended by HOS to be filed with other genealogical records

Printing / Presses

Alphabetical

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence, print specimens, prospectii, research notes, and related material on presses, individuals, and printing interests [similar files in the Rudge Collection (Printers Mss 1) and Presses and Printers Collection (Printers Mss 31)], most ca. 1960s-1980s.

Box 18

"A"

Box 18

Abbatoir Press

Box 18

Adler, Elmer

Box 18

Albertus Magnus Press

Box 18

Albion Press

Box 18

Allenholme Press

Box 18

American Institute of Graphic Arts

Box 18

American Printing History Association

Box 18

American Type Founders Company

Box 18

Ampersand Club

Box 18

Angel Alley Press

Box 18

Annenberg, Maurice

Box 18

Antioch College Co-ops

Box 18

Archetype Press

Box 18

Arif Press

Box 18

Arion Press

Box 18

Artichoke Press

Box 18

Arundo Press

Box 18

Association of American University Presses

Box 18

Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

Box 18

"B"

Box 18

Baker, George H.

Box 18

Barrows Mussey

Box 18

Baskin, Leonard

Box 18

Battery Park Book Co.

Box 18

Beilenson, Edna, Peter, and family - Peter Pauper Press

Box 18

Bennett, Paul A.

Box 18

Bernhard, Lucian

Box 18

Birrell & Garnett

Box 18

Blumenthal, Joseph (Joe)

Box 18

Bohn, Ralph L.

Box 18

Book Club of California

Box 18

Book Den (Santa Barbara)

Box 18

Book Plates

Box 18

Bradford, Ralph

Box 18

Bremer Presse

Box 18

Brewer, Luther A.

Box 18

Bromer Booksellers

Box 18

Bromley, George F.

Box 18

Brown University

Box 18

Bunny Press

Box 18

Burke, Clifford

Box 18

"C"

Box 18

California Missions - Books

Box 18

Carpenter, Kenneth & Patricia

Box 18

Castle Press

Box 18

Caxton Club

Box 18

Center for Typographical Language

Box 18

Chappel

Box 18

Chiswick Book Shop

Box 18

Christmas - bibliographical information about Christmas books; cards, engravings, etchings, and related

Box 18

Cliff Dwellers

Box 18

Coal Trade Journal

Box 18

Cohen, Herman - re W. E. Rudge

Box 18

Colt Press

Box 18

Columbiad Club

Box 18

Cowell Press (Cowell College, University of California, Santa Cruz)

Box 18

Cranium Press

Box 18

Crown Point Press

Box 18

"D"

Box 18

Dahlstrom, Grant

Box 18

Daniel Press

Box 18

Davis, John M. K.

Box 18

Dickman, O. A. - re Rudge association

Box 18

Dingbat Gossip

Box 18

Distaff Side

Box 19

Duenewald, Ralph M.

Box 19

Duncan, Harry

Box 19

Dworczyk, Raymond

Box 19

"E"

Box 19

Ellis, Richard W.

Box 19

Elm Tree Press

Box 19

Elmete Press

Box 19

Enschedé

Box 19

Ephemera

Box 19

Equinox Press

Box 19

Erickson, E. O. [Eric]

Box 19

Eucalyptus Press

Box 19

Evans, M. B.

Box 19

Exhibitions

Box 19

"F"

Box 19

Farquhar

Box 19

Field, Eugene

Box 19

First Edition Club

Box 19

First Press - Santa Barbara

Box 19

Folio Society

Box 19

Freedman, Ted

Box 19

"G"

Box 19

Garden View Press

Box 19

Gautier, Theophil

Box 19

Glad Hand Press

Box 19

Glick - Milton B., Evelyn, and Bill

Box 19

Glick [Milton B.] - HOS Oral History - transcript, 1973

Box 19

Goodspeed's Book Shop

Box 19

Goudy, Frederic W.

Box 19

Grabhorn Press

Box 19

Grabhorn - Hoyem

Box 19

Grace Hoper Press

Box 19

Graphic Group

Box 19

Gravesend Press

Box 19

Griddle Press

Box 19

Grolier Club

Box 19

Guthrie, James

Box 19

"H"

Box 19

Haldeman - Julius Co.

Box 19

Handwriting

Box 19

Harris, Paul S.

Box 19

Harris, Paul Stuart

Box 19

Hart, Ruth and James

Box 19

Hawthorn House

Box 19

Hebert, Marian - Santa Barbara artist

Box 19

Heritage of the Graphic Arts

Box 19

Herity Press

Box 19

Hermes Free Press

Box 19

Higgins-McArthur Co.

Box 19

Historic Press of Tubac

Box 19

Hoffman, Richard

Box 19

Howell, John

Box 19

Hubbard, Elbert

Box 19

Hunter, Dard

Box 19

[Huntington] Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery

Box 19

Hutner, Martin W.

Box 19

"I"

Box 19

Imprint Society

Box 19

International Bookfinders

Box 19

In Our Time (Eugene O'Neill)

Box 19

Ives, Vernon A.

Box 20

"J"

Box 20

"K"

Box 20

Kafka, Francis J.

Box 20

Kahoe, Walter

Box 20

Kelmscott Press

Box 20

Kemble Collections

Box 20

Klinefelter, Walter

Box 20

Koch, Theodore W.

Box 20

Korle, Alice

Box 20

"L"

Box 20

Labyrinth Editions

Box 20

Lerner, Abe

Box 20

Leslie, Robert Lincoln

Box 20

Lime Kiln Press

Box 20

Limited Editions Club

Box 20

Loos, Melvin

Box 20

Lowry, Walker

Box 20

"M"

Box 20

Mackenzie-Harris Corp.

Box 20

Maya

Box 20

Mayhew Press

Box 20

"Mc"

Box 20

McMurtrie, Douglas C.

Box 20

Meadow Press

Box 20

Meridan Press

Box 20

Merrymount Press

Box 20

Meyer, Walter and Paul

Box 20

Monotype, Langston

Box 20

Morgan, Ernest

Box 20

Miscellaneous Antiquities

Box 20

Mussey, J. B.

Box 20

"N"

Box 20

National Amateur Press Association [NAPA]

Box 20

New Directions

Box 20

New York Printers

Box 20

Noble, Mrs. George (Carol Hollister)

Box 20

Nonesuch Press

Box 20

Nonpareil Press

Box 20

"O"

Box 20

October House

Box 20

Overbrook Press

Box 20

"P"

Box 20

Pacific Coast Printing Co. (Santa Barbara)

Box 20

Peregrine Press

Box 20

Perishable Press

Box 20

Peter Pauper Press

Box 20

Philpott, Arlen

Box 20

Pinch-Penny Press

Box 20

Pinion Press

Box 20

Plantin Press

Box 20

Platen Press

Box 20

Pleadwell, Frank L.

Box 20

Poltroon Press

Box 20

Poor Richard Press

Box 20

Porcupine Press

Box 20

Pre-Columbian Press

Box 20

The Press at Colorado College

Box 20

The Press in Tuscany Alley

Box 20

Press of A. Colish

Box 20

Printing

Box 20

Printing Dates

Box 20

Printing History Association of Southern California

Box 20

Printing - Specimens

Box 20

Private Press of the Haywoods

Box 20

Private Press of the Indiana Kid

Box 20

Procter

Box 20

"Q"

Box 20

Quail Press

Box 20

"R"

Box 20

Raintree Press

Box 20

Rampant Lions Press

Box 20

Rau, Jack

Box 20

Rebis Press

Box 21

Rigby, Irving F. - Rudge Reminiscences

Box 21

Ritchie, Ward

Box 21

Rogers, Bruce

Box 21

Rollins, Carl Purington

Box 21

Rounce & Coffin Club

Box 21

Rowfant Club

Box 21

Roxburghe Club

Box 21

Rudge

Box 21

Rudge Chapbook

Box 21

Rudge - Douglas Correspondence

Box 21

Russell, Thomas C.

Box 21

"S"

Box 21

Sade, Donatien Alphonse François

Box 21

San Francisco Bay Area

Box 21

Scarab Press

Box 21

Schaefer, Caroline

Box 21

Schauer, David Howard

Box 21

Schedule and Report - UCSB Libraries news

Box 21

Scripps College Press

Box 21

Shapiro, Karl

Box 21

Shapiro, S. R. (book dealer)

Box 21

Shoestring Press

Box 21

Small Press Club of Marin

Box 21

Spare Moments Press

Box 21

Steiner-Prag

Box 21

Stinehour Press

Box 21

Stonewall Press

Box 21

Stricker, Thomas Perry

Box 21

Sumac Press - E. G. Wulling

Box 21

Sutcliff, Judy

Box 21

"T"

Box 21

Tamalpais Press

Box 21

Tanner, Wesley

Box 21

Taylor & Taylor

Box 21

Thomas C. Russell (San Francisco printer and publisher)

Box 21

Thompson, Edmund B.

Box 21

Thompson / Collamore

Box 21

Turkey Press

Box 21

Typophiles

Box 21

"U"

Box 21

Untide Press

Box 21

University of California, Davis

Box 21

University of California, Los Angeles

Box 21

University of California Press

Box 21

University of California, Santa Barbara - College of Creative Studies

Box 21

University of California, Santa Barbara - Library

Box 21

University of Hawaii Press

Box 21

Updike, D. B.

Box 21

Urban Printers

Box 21

"V"

Box 21

Village Press

Box 22

"W"

Box 22

W. T. Genns

Box 22

Wall, Bernhardt

Box 22

Waller, Pickford

Box 22

Ward, Lynd

Box 22

Ward Ritchie Press

Box 22

Warwick Press

Box 22

Wattle Grove Press

Box 22

Weaker Moments

Box 22

White Birch Press

Box 22

White, Carl Milton

Box 22

Whittaker, Alice

Box 22

Wilson, Adrian

Box 22

Wood, Starr

Box 22

Woodcuts

Box 22

"X-Y-Z"

Box 22

Yolla Bolly Press

Box 22

Young, Gary

Box 22

Young, Noel

Box 22

Zamorano Club

Box 22

Zapf, Hermann

Box 22

Zauberberg Press

Box 22

Zenger, John Peter

Box 22

Miscellany

Bibliographical

Scope and Content Note

Card files and notebooks; arranged by topic

Notebooks

Christmas Books

Box 22

Bibliographical and Other Reference Material in the UCSB Library relating to Christmas Books

Box 22

Checklist of Christmas Books at UCSB

Box 22

Christmas and New Year Gift Books

Box 22

Christmas Books (3)

Box 22

Miscellaneous Checklists of Christmas Books

Box 22

Press Checklists and Want Lists

Card Files

Box 23

Christmas Books

Box 23

Rudge

Box 23

Rudge's Sons / WER III

Box 23

Typophiles and Type Catalogs

Correspondence

Scope and Content Note

Mainly with fellow printers, often about aspects of Rudge history; also with dealers and Chris Brun, Head of Special Collections at the time, re building the Printers Collection.

Box 24

1928, 1930, 1944, 1949, 1960s-1974

Box 25

1975-1979

Box 26

1979-1987, 1991

Oversize

Scope and Content Note

[at Annex 2]

Personal / Family

Box 27

General - incl. photos (Skofield Park), Joseph Pennell sketches

Box 28

Genealogy - rolled items

Box 29

Rancheros Vistadores - framed commendation from the California State Assembly, 1958

Box 30

Sko property and genealogical information - rolled items

Box 31

Sko property - rolled and other

Box 32

Sko property - rolled topo maps

Box 33

Sko property - rolled maps in telescoping box

Printers / Presses

Scrapbooks (materials re the following; cataloged as Printers Z232 S5 A2)

Box 34

Book 1: Skofield and William Edwin Rudge

Box 34

Book 2: Peter Beilenson, Peter Pauper Press, and Walpole Printing Office

Box 35

Book 3: Edmund B. Thompson and Hawthorn House Press

Box 35

Book 4: Milton Glick, Harbor Press, Richard Ellis and the Georgian Press, Miscellany

Box 36

Print specimens, mainly John Henry Nash

Audiovisual

Scope and Content Note

Open reel tapes

Tape No. A13602/R7

Discussion of items in portfolio (Printers Z238 G6) and in scrapbook (Printers Z232 S5A2), Jan. 5, 1968

Tape No. A13603/R7

Skofield-Rudge article for Soundings, Feb. 26, 1970