Manuscripts, signed by European rulers and nobles and dating mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, collected by the family of writer Jarvis Barlow and his father Dr. Walter Jarvis Barlow, both of Southern California. The bulk of the collection, titled "Autografi dei Sovrani," was probably assembled in Italy in the 18th century. Materials include letters signed by King Louis XV of France, King Philip IV of Spain, two queens of Spain (Mariana de Austria and Marie d'Orleans), Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, Charles, Duc d'Orleans, and Spanish writer Francisco de Quevedo in his capacity as an official of the Spanish court. Also included is a clipped autograph of French Emperor Napolean III. Many of the 17th century materials were originally sent to Italian artist and architect Juan Bautista Crescencio (1595-1660) and to Cardinal Alexander Crescencio (fl. late 17th century).

The precise background of the Barlow manuscript collection is unknown. According to the Friends of the UCSD Library Newsletter of March 1970, Mrs. Jarvis Barlow of Carlsbad, California, donated the collection to the UCSD library in 1970. The materials had been "in the family of her late husband for some generations." Her husband, Jarvis Barlow, was a California writer, editor of the magazine Pan, and author of the book Once in an Orange Grove (1941). His father, Dr. Walter Jarvis Barlow of Sierra Madre, California, was a prominent physician who settled in Los Angeles in 1895. The elder Barlow founded the Barlow Sanitorium for tuberculosis treatment, served as a professor of clinical medicine and Dean of the Medical Department at UCLA, and founded the Barlow Medical Library, later the library of the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

0.40 linear feet (1 archives box)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

Collection is open for research.