Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Keller (Henry Workman) Papers
mssKellerh
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Henry Workman Keller papers
Creator:
Keller, Henry W.
Identifier/Call Number: mssKellerh
Physical Description:
22 Linear Feet
(46 boxes, 20 volumes, 1 roll)
Date (inclusive): 1827-1966
Date (bulk): 1910-1957
Language of Material: English.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. Ruth (Keller) FitzGerald via Ann FitzGerald, Conservator, Oct. 22, 1981.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Henry Workman Keller papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Arranged in the following series: 1. Personal papers (including correspondence, trust
papers, photographs, and documents related to real estate holdings in California); 2.
Business records of the Thousand Acre Ranch in Colusa County, Calif.; 3. Business records of
the San Isidro Ranch Company and materials related to land in Mexico; 4. Mining in Mexico,
including business records of the San Manuel Mines Company and several subsidiary companies;
5. Citrus processing companies and the Automobile Club of Southern California.
In order to maintain the integrity of the collection, the original groupings of material
have been preserved. Many of these are bound together and contain letters and documents to,
from, or about the folder title. If the material is bound together it is listed as one item,
although it may contain hundreds of letters.
Henry Workman Keller, Los Angeles financier, was born on April 15, 1869, the son of Matthew
Keller (q.v.) and Eliza Agnes (Christie) Keller. His father had been born in Ireland,
emigrated to the United States in 1832, then went to Mexico for about 12 years. He returned
to the United States and in 1851 settled in Los Angeles, becoming one of its pioneer
vintners and businessmen. When ten years old, Henry Keller was sent to school in France; two
years later his father passed away. At the age of thirteen he became the ward to Isaias W.
Hellman, long a friend of his father's and president of the Farmers & Merchants Bank.
Henry inherited the Malibu Ranch and at the age of eighteen entered the cattle business. In
1891 he sold the Malibu Ranch to Frederick K. Rindge and retained only a small section in
Solstice Canyon for himself. In 1894 he married Mary Adelaine Boehme, daughter of George
Boehme of Santa Monica. They had eight children: Ruth FitzGerald, Donald Keller, Frederick
Keller, Kenneth Andrew Keller, John Mathew Keller, Katherine O'Brien, Marian Francis, and
Marjorie Cannell.
For many years Henry W. Keller was associated with the Automobile Club of Southern
California. He was president in 1937, vice-president in 1938, and, for 30 years, chairman of
its most important committee, Roads and Highways. He was highly honored for his work with
Mexican officials in planning Mexico's West Coast Highway, which is now the western link of
the Pan American Highway from Arizona to Mexico City. Keller was a director of the Farmers
& Merchants Bank from 1918 to 1940, a member of the California State Fish and Game
Commission, involved in many varied financial enterprises--real estate, agriculture, and
mining in both California and Mexico.
The collection consists of the personal and business papers of Los Angeles businessman
Henry Workman Keller (1869-1958) and is comprised of approximately 7985 pieces. Many of the
papers are bound together in files so that one item may contain up to 500 or more letters.
It includes papers related to land in California and Mexico, agriculture (including
materials on the prune and rice industries, irrigation and flood control) in Colusa County,
California, and mining (including copper, lead and zinc mines) in Mexico. There are also
materials related to the citrus fruit industry, the Automobile Club of Southern California,
and the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Correspondents represented in the collection
include: Harry Chandler, John Page Crutcher, Edward Fletcher, Llewellyn A. Luce, John G.
Mott, Epes Randolph, Ygnacio Sepúlveda, Henry H. Timken, and William L. Valentine.
Businesses with which Henry Workman Keller (1869-1958) was association which are represented
in the collection include: the San Isidro Ranch Company, the Thousand Acre Ranch Company,
and the San Manuel Mines Company and its subsidiaries.
Significant persons represented by 10 letters or more
- Chandler, Harry
- 11 letters (1910-1938)
- Crutcher, John P.
- 12 letters (1933-1943)
- Fletcher, Edward
- 121 letters (1910-1935)
- Luce, Llewellyn A.
- 25 letters (1943-1951)
- Mott, John G.
- 13 letters (1912-1917)
- Randolph, Epes
- 12 letters (1911, 1921)
- Sepulveda, Ygnacio
- 10 letters (1910-1915)
- Timken, Henry H.
- 18 letters (1911-1920)
- Valentine, William L.
- 12 letters (1910-1939)
Important or interesting items
- American Mexican Claims and Settlements - letters to and from the U.S. Department of State, legal firms, and Mexican officials regarding the expropriation of the land of the San Isidro Ranch Company. Box 19 (6-9), Box 20 (1-5), and Box 33 (4)
- Articles of Incorporation of the San Isidro Ranch Company. Box 21 (2)
- Damsites - location of water supply sources for the city of San Diego from property across the border on the San Isidro Ranch Company property. Box 22 (8)
- San Diego & Arizona Railway Company - water supply sources for the railroad from the property of the San Isidro Ranch Company. Box 30 (6)
- Land papers for Rancho San Isidro Ajolojol, the earliest being 1827 while Upper and Lower California were one, with an original diseño map. Box 27 (28)
Note: There are many papers of Henry W. Keller in the Matthew Keller Collection, as well as
papers of Matthew in the Henry Keller Collection, so both sources should be consulted in
studying either person.
Former call number: mssKeller, Henry papers.