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Meadows (Don) papers
MS.R.001  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Processing History
  • Biography
  • Chronology
  • Collection Scope and Content Summary
  • Collection Arrangement
  • Separation Note

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
    Title: Don Meadows papers
    Creator: Meadows, Don
    Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.001
    Physical Description: 89.3 Linear Feet (150 boxes and 109 oversize folders) and 3.5 unprocessed linear feet
    Date (inclusive): 1824-1994 and undated
    Abstract: This collection comprises the personal materials, correspondence, writings, and extensive research files of historian and bibliophile Don Meadows. A small group of files documents the writings of Frances Meadows on Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants and other Orange County historical figures. The bulk of this collection consists of geographically organized archival materials, largely printed ephemera, dating from the early- to mid-19th through the late 20th centuries relating to Orange County, other Southern California counties, and Baja California. These materials reflect some of Meadows' historical interests and document a wide range of cultural, social, political, and economic facets of Southern California history. Principal topics covered include: agriculture and ranching; businesses; education; government and politics; health care; museums and cultural institutions; publishing, including newspaper publication; organizations and institutions; prominent people; area promotion, tourism, and advertising; real estate; recreation and entertainment; religion; transportation; water issues; and weather.
    Language of Material: English .

    Access

    The collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

    Preferred Citation

    Don Meadows papers. MS-R001. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
    For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired by gift of Don Meadows and by purchase, 1966 through 1996.

    Processing History

    Preliminary processing by Special Collections and Archives staff from 1996 to 1998. Processing completed by Philip Brigandi and Special Collections and Archives student assistants, 2001. Guide edited by Laura Clark Brown in 1996 and Adrian Turner in 2002.

    Biography

    Don Meadows was a prominent Orange County historian and scholar. Meadows was born in Shoals, Indiana on October 20, 1897 and his family moved to Orange County, California in 1903. He graduated from Pomona College in 1922 and received an M.S. in Ecological Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1931. He worked as a high school biology instructor, which included a position at Avalon High School on Santa Catalina Island. In addition to his teaching career, he also worked as a field supervisor for a biological survey of the Channel Islands, and Park Naturalist at the Big Basin Redwoods and Calaveras Big Trees State Parks.
    Meadows published and co-authored a number of works focusing on Southern California, Orange County, and Baja California history and amassed a substantial library and collection of archival materials to support his research. Various works were devoted to Orange County history, including his Historic Place Names in Orange County and Orange County under Spain, Mexico, and the United States, both published in 1966.
    He maintained close relationships with many significant local historians, including William McPherson, Bill Kimes, Paul Bailey, Burr Belden, Ed Carpenter, and Charles Heiskell, and also interviewed a number of these and other individuals. He was an active member of many historical and bibliographic organizations, including the Zamarano Club, Los Compadres con Libros, Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners, the Death Valley '49ers, E Clampus Vitus, and the Orange County Historical Society.
    Meadows moved to Yuba City, California in 1985, where he died on November 9, 1994. Additional biographical information can be found in Pamela Hallan Gibson, et al., Don Meadows remembered (Orange County: OCDC Press, 1995).

    Chronology

    Missing Title

    1897 Born in Shoals, Indiana.
    1903 Moves with family to Southern California and settles in Orange.
    1912 The Postscript
    1917 Graduates from Orange Union High School.
    1917 Enters Pomona College.
    1918 Begins collecting publications and archival material on California, later expanding this personal research collection to include Baja California.
    1918-1919 Serves in the Naval Reserve during World War I.
    1921 First research trip to Baja California. Returns regularly after ca. 1934.
    1921 Pro patria, a play of early California,
    1922 B.A. Biology, Pomona College.
    1922-1925 Reporter for newspapers in Pomona and Long Beach.
    1925-1960 Printing, science, and biology teacher in Long Beach City schools.
    1926 Marries Frances Matchette (1898-1989).
    1926 Graduate student at Cornell University.
    1927-1934 Teaches on Catalina Island.
    1931 M.S. Ecological Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
    1934 The magic isle, a pageant of Santa Catalina Island,
    1936 President, Lorquin Entomological Society, Long Beach.
    1936-1941 Field Supervisor, Los Angeles County Museum's Channel Islands Biological Survey.
    1946-1952 Park Naturalist, Big Basin Redwoods and Calaveras Big Trees State Parks.
    1950 Sells collection of 20,000 lepidoptera specimen to the United States National Museum.
    1950 Member of Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners.
    1950 Inducted into E Clampus Vitus.
    1951 Baja California, 1933-1950: a biblio-history.
    1952-1954 Founding Director, Long Beach Natural History Museum.
    1954-1957 Member, Board of Consultants for Rancho Los Cerritos Museum, Long Beach.
    1955 The American occupation of La Paz.
    1955-1960 Instructor, California history, Orange Coast College.
    1956-1957 Begins construction of adobe home in Panorama Heights, near Tustin and settles in Orange County.
    1956 Sheriff, Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners.
    1958 Co-founder, Los Compadres con Libros, Orange County bibliophilic association.
    1959 Brand Book #8,
    1961 Active in Orange County Historical Society, later serves on Board of Directors.
    1961 Grand Noble Humbug, E Clampus Vitus, Platrix Chapter, Los Angeles.
    1963 The house of Bernardo Yorba,
    1963 Assists in organization of 1st Baja California Symposium.
    1963 Historical volume and reference works: Orange County. Meadows' contributions later republished as Orange County under Spain, Mexico, and the United States.
    1966 Historic place names in Orange County.
    1966 Orange County under Spain, Mexico, and the United States.
    1967 Southern California Quarterly.
    1968-1969 Member, California Bicentennial Commission.
    1972-ca. 1992 Works on "Orange roots" manuscript, a history of Orange County.
    1972 Sells research library and archival collections to the University of California, Irvine Libraries.
    1972 A California paisano: the life of William McPherson.
    1972 Helps found Orange Community Historical Society.
    1973 A friendly community near the foothills,
    1973-1978 Member, Orange Community Historical Society, Board of Directors.
    1975 Irvine, a city on Rancho San Joaquin.
    1979 Los Compadres, the first twenty years.
    1982 A gathering of tributes to Don Meadows.
    1985 Moves to Yuba City, California. Several groups host celebrations in his honor, including the Los Angeles Corral of the Westerners, and the Orange County and Orange Community historical societies.
    1994 Dies in Yuba City on November 9.

    Collection Scope and Content Summary

    This collection comprises the personal materials, correspondence, writings, and extensive research files of historian and bibliophile Don Meadows. A small group of files documents the writings of Frances Meadows on Mary Refugio Carpenter Pleasants and other Orange County historical figures. The bulk of this collection consists of geographically organized archival materials, largely printed ephemera, dating from the early- to mid-19th through the late 20th centuries relating to Orange County, other Southern California counties, and Baja California. These materials reflect some of Meadows' historical interests and document a wide range of cultural, social, political, and economic facets of Southern California history. Principal topics covered include: agriculture and ranching; businesses; education; government and politics; health care; museums and cultural institutions; publishing, including newspaper publication; organizations and institutions; prominent people; area promotion, tourism, and advertising; real estate; recreation and entertainment; religion; transportation; water issues; and weather.
    Materials include manuscripts and typescripts; notes; publications, such as clippings, newsletters, brochures, articles, reprints and offprints, pamphlets, directories, and catalogs; handbills and broadsides; maps; photographic prints and negatives; postcards; Meadows' personal book collection card catalog; and other printed ephemera.

    Collection Arrangement

    This collection is organized into 5 series.
    • Series 1. Biographical material, 1900-1993. 0.9 linear ft.
    • Series 2. Writings, 1912-1982. 2.9 linear ft.
    • Series 3. Correspondence, 1906-1994. 8.8 linear ft.
    • Series 4. Writings of Frances Meadows, 1926-1989 (bulk 1970-1989). 1.3 linear ft.
    • Series 5. Research and ephemera files, 1824-1994. 63.5 linear ft.
    The collection also contains 1 unprocessed accession:
    Accession 2017.034. Library card catalog from Don Meadow's personal book collection., circa 1920-1980. 3.5 linear feet

    Separation Note

    The Don Meadows papers helped provide the basis for a group of other artificial collections created by Special Collections and Archives, including the following:
    Several additional Orange County regional history manuscript collections were also acquired as part of the Don Meadows papers, including the following:
    The bulk of the publications comprising Meadows' research library was separated from the manuscript materials during processing and cataloged separately in Special Collections and Archives.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Photographic prints -- California -- 20th century.
    Photographic prints -- California -- 19th century.
    Newspapers -- California -- 20th century.
    Cities and towns -- California -- Orange County
    Slides -- California.
    Negatives -- California.
    Daguerreotypes -- 19th century.
    Ambrotypes -- California -- 19th century.
    Postcards -- California.
    Clippings -- California -- 19th century.
    Ephemera -- California.
    Maps -- California.
    Broadsides -- California.
    Campaign paraphernalia -- California.
    Newspapers -- California -- 19th century.
    California -- Politics and government -- History -- Sources.
    California -- Social life and customs -- History -- Sources
    Agriculture -- California, Southern.
    California -- Biography
    California -- History -- Sources
    Cities and towns -- California -- Santa Barbara County
    Cities and towns -- California -- Los Angeles County
    Cities and towns -- California, Southern
    Cities and towns -- California -- San Diego County
    Online Archive of California
    Meadows, Don -- Archives