Guide to the Frontier Village Collection, 1961-1980
The machine readable finding aid for this collection was created by Diana Kohnke and reviewed by Stacy Mueller.
San José Public Library, California Room
San José Public Library
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
California Room
150 East San Fernando Street
San José, CA 95112
Phone: (408) 808-2167
Email: cal.sjpl@sjlibrary.org
URL: http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/special/ca/
© 2009
California Room, San José Public Library. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Frontier Village Collection,1961-1980
CR-2009-02-09
California Room, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
- Contact Information
-
California Room
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
150 East San Fernando Street
San José, CA 95112
Phone: (408) 808-2167
Email: cal.sjpl@sjlibrary.org
URL: http://www.sjlibrary.org/research/special/ca/
- Date Completed:
- June 22,2009
- Processed and encoded by:
- Diana Kohnke
© 2008 San José Public Library, California Room. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Title: Frontier Village Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1961-1980
Collection number: CR-2009-02-09
Creator:
Frontier Village
Collection Size:
4 boxes
19 oversized box
3 map boxes
10.5 linear feet
Size of Unprocessed Materials:
3 boxes
2 oversized box
1 binder of slides
3.5 linear feet
Repository:
San José Public Library, California Room
Abstract: This collection is comprised of administrative records, employee manuals, photographs, clippings, various printed matter,
plans and drawings, and scrapbooks of Frontier Village amusement park. Exactly when this collection was donated by Frontier
Village is unknown. The collection has been with San José Public Library since the early 1990s and probably since the early
1980s.
Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Although San José Public Library's California Room does physcially own all archival materials in its possession, it does not
necessarily own the intellectual property rights (copyright) associated with all items (Title 17, Chapter 2, Section 202,
"Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of material object). Publishing materials from our holdings requires written
permission from the San José Public Library, along with proper credit given to our institution. For permission to publish
or reproduce, please contact the Lead Librarian of the California Room. Users may reproduce materials for teaching, research,
and private study in accordance with fair use on the condition that they give proper credit to the California Room, San José
Public Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Frontier Village Collection, California Room, San José Public Library
Acquisition Information
This collection was created by Frontier Village amusement park and was donated to San José Public Library sometime after its
closure in the 1980s.
Processing Information
Processing and guide prepared by Diana Kohnke. Guide encoded by Diana Kohnke, 2009.
Organizational History
Frontier Village was a western-themed amusement park which opened on October 21, 1961 and closed on September 28. 1980. It
was located on approximately 30 acres of what had previously been part of the Hayes' estate (an estate owned by a prominent
political and newspaper publishing family in the Santa Clara Valley) on Monterey Highway in San José, California. It was started
by Joseph Zukin Jr., a Palo Alto entrepreneur and small businessman, after he and his family visited Disneyland in 1959. Zukin
was inspired by Disneyland's family-friendly atmosphere, its thematic divisions, and the fact that nothing like the park existed
in northern California.
The look and design of Frontier Village is owed to Laurie (Laurence) Hollings, an experienced Hollywood set designer and amusement
ride designer. Some of Hollings' previous work included nature habitats at the California Academy of Sciences, sets and designs
for San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, and several Western movies filmed at Columbia and Paramount Studios. As Hollings
imagined it, the park would be a "sort of tongue-in-cheek approach to the Wild West." To this end, Frontier Village utilized
stock characters to create the illusion of a wild western frontier town replete with a Deputy Marshal who was the "key character"
and also the PR face of the park. The marshal's job was to entertain and tend to guests. Additionally, in the mock gun fights
which were staged ever hour on Frontier Village's Main Street, the marshal was "the hero" who saved the town from dangerous
outlaws.
In terms of the layout, Frontier Village consisted of a central square with a railroad encircling the entire park over bridges
and canyons, a village with shops, numerous rides and an outdoor stage for live performances. Among the attractions at the
park was a small animal preserve, Rainbow Falls (a fishing pond where guests could catch and bring home trout to eat), an
old school house, a stagecoach run, burro pack rides, an antique train, an archery range, a jail, a general store, a Hollywood-style
stunt show, a shooting gallery, and western-themed rides like the Lost Dutchman Mine, the Flying Scooter, and the Apache Whirlwind.
In 1973, without the funds to expand, the park was sold to Rio Grande Industries. Rio Grande Industries planned to expand
the park onto 60 more acres of the Hayes estate. However, these plans were disrupted when families in the area protested.
"The legal hassles with the nearby homeonwers, the skyrocketing San Jose land value, plus increasing competition from . .
. Mariott's Great America in nearby Santa Clara, California" all contributed to Frontier Village's eventual closure. "The
land that the park occupied was eventually made into a city park called Edenvale Garden Park, where some remains of Frontier
Village still exist."
Former employees and fans of Frontier Village have created a website devoted to Frontier Village. In addition to this, beginning
in 2001 annual picnics began to be held each summer at Edenvale Garden Park to commemorate Frontier Village.
Bibliography and references cited
Fong, Elliott.
Frontier Village History.
Rembering Frontier Village Web site.
http://www.frontiervillage.net/pages/history.html (accessed June 22, 2009).
Jabaut, Gloria.
Frontier Village . . . in the beginning.
Pioneer papers(California Pioneers of Santa Clara County.) San Jose, CA: California Pioneers of Santa Clara County, 2006.
Sawyer, Eugene T.
History of Santa Clara County California. Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1922.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection consists of materials relating to the creation and operation of Frontier Village amusement park. The collection
contains blueprints on the parks proposed expansion, drawings of some of its costumed characters, maps, employee guides, correspondence,
news clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, and other printed matter. There is also a substantial amount of unprocessed materials
which include video reels of commercials for Frontier Village, video tapes, 16mm film reels, audio reel to reel tapes, Frontier
Village buttons, public relations' stock releases, fact sheets, magazine features, promotions, news releases, and a Dennis
the Menace book in which Dennis the Menace takes a trip to Frontier Village. In addition to this, there are numerous photographs
including 8 x 10's (along with their negatives) of Frontier Village gunfights, marshals, rides, and buildings; boxes of Frontier
Village slides categorized by subjects such as printed matter, gunfighters, employees, Kitty Hawk, etc.; and negatives of
various size.
Arrangement
This collection consists of four series and two sub-series: Series I. General Administrative Files, 1961-1980; Series II.
Scrapbooks, 1961-1980; Sub-series 1. Loose Material From Scrapbooks, 1961-1980, and Sub-series 2. Consolidated Scrapbooks,
1961-1980; Series III. Photo Albums, 1960s-1970s; and Series IV. Plans and Drawings, 1960s-1970s. Series I is arranged alphabetically
by format and chronologically where possible. Series II is arranged sequentially by scrapbook number, alphabetically by format
where possible, and chronologically where possible. Series III is contained in one flat box and Series IV is arranged in three
map boxes. Series V is comprised of unprocessed materials and has not been arranged.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Frontier Village (Amusement Park: San José, Calif.).
Amusement parks--California--San José
Frontier Village (San José, Calif.:Amusement park)--Employees.
Frontier Village (San José, Calif.:Amusement park)--Planning.
Amusement parks--Employees--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Frontier Village (San José, Calif.: Amusement Park)--Valuation.
Box/Folder 1/1-1/15
Series I.
General Administrative Files,
1961-1980
Physical Description:
15 folders
Scope and Content Note
The contents in this series are arranged alphabetically. This series contains appraisal reports, reports on proposed expansion
of Frontier Village, and various employee and merchandise guides.
Box/Folder 1/1
Appraisal Report,
1966-1967
Box/Folder 1/2
Costume Character Guides,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/4
Employee Identification Card List,
1969-1980
Box/Folder 1/5-1/7
Entertainment Guide
1960s
Box/Folder 1/5
Entertainment Guide 1 of 3,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/6
Entertainment Guide 2 of 3,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/7
Entertainment Guide 3 of 3,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/8
Expansion Documents,
1977-1978
Box/Folder 1/10
Facts on Expansion - Supplemental,
December 27, 1977
Box/Folder 1/11
Food Service's Guide,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/12
Groundkeeper Guide,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/14
Picnic Employees Guide,
1960s
Box/Folder 1/15
Ride Operator's Guide,
1979
Box/Folder 2/16-22/18
Series II.
Scrapbooks,
1961-1980
Physical Description:
50 folders
18 scrapbooks
Scope and Content Note
This series consists of scrapbooks as well as the loose items pulled from them. The loose items were removed from the scrapbooks
for preservation purposes. Each scrapbook has been assigned an identification number (Scrapbook 1 through Scrapbook 18) and
each page within the scrapbooks has been numbered. Items pulled from the scrapbooks have been identified both in terms of
the scrapbook they came from and the page number within the scrapbook from which they came. The contents in this series are
arranged sequentially by scrapbook number and alphabetically by format. Whenever possible these items have also been arranged
chronologically. There are two sub-series in order to accommodate the loose items pulled out of the scrapbooks: Sub-series
1: Loose Material from Scrapbooks, 1961-1980 and Sub-series 2: Consolidated Scrapbooks, 1961-1980.
Box/Folder 2/16-2/65
Sub-series 1.
Loose Material From Scrapbooks,
1961-1980
Physical Description:
50 folders
Scope and Content Note
This sub-series contains loose clippings, correspondence, and other printed matter related to Frontier Village. These items
were pulled from the original scrapbooks as stated above and are arranged alphabetically by format and sequentially by scrapbook
from which the item was removed.
Box/Folder 2/16
Scrapbook 1-Clippings,
1961
Box/Folder 2/17
Scrapbook 1-Correspondence,
1961-1962
Box/Folder 2/18
Scrapbook 1-Printed Matter,
1960s
Box/Folder 2/19
Scrapbook 2-Correspondence,
1963
Box/Folder 2/20
Scrapbook 2-Printed Matter,
1962-1964
Box/Folder 2/21
Scrapbook 3-Printed Matter,
1963-1964
Box/Folder 2/22
Scrapbook 4-Correspondence,
1973-1976
Box/Folder 2/23
Scrapbook 4-Printed Matter,
1974
Box/Folder 2/24-2/25
Scrapbook 7-Correspondence
1961-1967,
1974
Box/Folder 2/24
Scrapbook 7-Correspondence 1 of 2,
1961-1966,
1974
Box/Folder 2/25
Scrapbook 7-Correspondence 2 of 2,
1966-1967
Box/Folder 2/26
Scrapbook 7-Printed Matter,
1965-1967
Box/Folder 2/27
Scrapbook 8-Printed Matter,
1970s
Box/Folder 3/28
Scrapbook 11-Clippings,
1963-1964
Box/Folder 3/29-3/30
Scrapbook 11-Correspondence,
1963-1965
Box/Folder 3/29
Scrapbook 11-Correspondence 1 of 2,
1963
Box/Folder 3/30
Scrapbook 11-Correspondence 2 of 2,
1963-1965
Box/Folder 3/31
Scrapbook 11-Printed Matter,
1962-1964
Box/Folder 3/32
Scrapbook 12-Clippings,
1965
Box/Folder 3/33
Scrapbook 12-Correspondence,
1965
Box/Folder 3/34
Scrapbook 12-Printed Matter,
1964-1965
Box/Folder 3/35
Scrapbook 13-Clippings,
1966
Box/Folder 3/36
Scrapbook 13-Correspondence,
1966
Box/Folder 3/37
Scrapbook 13-Printed Matter,
1966
Box/Folder 3/38
Scrapbook 14-Clippings,
1967,
1969
Box/Folder 3/39-3/40
Scrapbook 15-Clippings,
1969-1973
Box/Folder 3/39
Scrapbook 15-Clippings 1 of 2,
1969-1973
Box/Folder 3/40
Scrapbook 15-Clippings 2 of 2,
1971-1972
Box/Folder 3/41
Scrapbook 15-Correspondence,
1973
Box/Folder 3/42
Scrapbook 15-Printed Matter,
1970-1973
Box/Folder 3/43
Scrapbook 16-Clippings,
1973-1974
Box/Folder 3/44
Scrapbook 16-Printed Matter,
1973
Box/Folder 4/45
Scrapbook 17-Clippings,
1975-1976
Box/Folder 4/46
Scrapbook 17-Printed Matter,
1975
Box/Folder 4/47-4/64
Scrapbook 18-Clippings,
1979-1980
Box/Folder 4/47
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 1 of 18,
Febrary 1979,
May 1979
Box/Folder 4/48
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 2 of 18,
May 1979-July 1979
Box/Folder 4/49
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 3 of 18,
June 1979
Box/Folder 4/50
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 4 of 18,
July 1979
Box/Folder 4/51
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 5 of 18,
July 1979-August 1979
Box/Folder 4/52
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 6 of 18,
August 1979-September 1979
Box/Folder 4/53
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 7 of 18,
September 1979-Octboer 1979
Box/Folder 4/54
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 8 of 18,
October 1979
Box/Folder 4/55
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 9 fo 18,
November 1979
Box/Folder 4/56
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 10 of 18,
November 1979-December 1979
Box/Folder 4/57
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 11 of 18,
August 1979-May 1980
Box/Folder 4/58
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 12 of 18,
November 1979-February 1980
Box/Folder 4/59
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 13 of 18,
February 1980
Box/Folder 4/60
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 14 of 18,
March 1980-April 1980
Box/Folder 4/61
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 15 of 18,
April 1980-May 1980
Box/Folder 4/62
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 16 of 18,
May 1980-June 1980
Box/Folder 4/63
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 17 of 18,
June 1980
Box/Folder 4/64/
Scrapbook 18-Clippings 18 of 18,
May 1980-June 1980
Box/Scrapbook 5/1-22/18
Sub-series 2.
Consolidated Scrapbooks,
1961-1980
Physical Description:
18 boxes
Scope and Content Note
This sub-series consists of scrapbooks which contain assorted news clippings, correspondence, and printed matter relating
to Frontier Village. They are arranged sequentially by scrapbook number.
Box 8
Scrapbook 4 (Frontier Wonderland Club),
1973-1977
Box 11
Scrapbook 7 (Frontier Wonderland Club),
1963-1968
Box 12
Scrapbook 8 (Frontier Wonderland Club),
1962-1972
Box 23
Series III:
Photo Albums,
1960s-1970s
Physical Description:
1 oversized box
Scope and Content Note
This series contains two albums of photographs relating to Frontier Village.
Box 23
Frontier Village Photograph Albums,
1960s-1970s
Box/Item 24/1-26/8
Series IV:
Plans and Drawings,
1960s-1970s
Physical Description:
3 map boxes
Scope and Content Note
This series contains plans and drawings relating to the rides, costumed characters, attractions, layout and landscape of Frontier
Village.
Separated Materials Note
These materials are located in oversized map boxes which are located in the California Room's general collection at the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Library. The map box numbers identify the arrangement within the California Room's other map boxes. These
numbers are distince from the box numbers which designate the boxes in the overall arrangment of the Frontier Village Collection.
Box/Drawing 24/1-24/13
California Room Map Box 9
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/2
Wanted Posters (three posters rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/4
Paul Blackweell Drawing,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/5
Coke Wagon (two drawings rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/6
Vending Cart,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/7
Restrooms (two drawings rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/8
Entrance Sign (two drawings rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/9
Indian Island,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/10
Arrow Flyer Track Layout,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/11
Turnpike Ride Sign,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 24/12
Birthday Grove (two drawings rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/1-25/10
California Room Map Box 10
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/2
Kitty Hawk Ride,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/3
Roundup Ride,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/6
School House,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/7
Stampede Ride,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/8
Petting Zoo (two drawings rolled together),
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/9
Stagecoach and Stagecoach Depot,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 25/10
Antique Auto Sheds,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 26/1-26/8
California Room Map Box 11
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 26/1
Hot-Dog-On-A-Stick Building,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 26/2
Camera and Art Shop,
1960s-1970s
Box/Plan 26/3
Grading Plan,
1960s-1970s
Box/Plan 26/7
Landscape Plan,
1960s-1970s
Box/Drawing 26/8
Ice Cream Gazebo,
1960s-1970s
Series V:
Unprocessed Materials
1960s-1970s
Physical Description:
2 boxes,
2 oversized boxes,
1 binder of slides
Scope and Content Note
This material has not been processed or indexed. It contains various public relations documents, video tapes, audio tapes,
photographs, negatives, slides, and ephemera relating to Frontier Village. This material is located in the California Room's
Vault 2 at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.
