San Rafael Ranch Company records, Approximately 1871-1968

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Summary

Abstract:
The collection consists of papers related chiefly to the business affairs of Conway S. Campbell-Johnston and A. Campbell-Johnston and the San Rafael Ranch Company in the Garvanza neighborhood near Pasadena, California, from the 1880s to the early 1900s. The papers include Ranch correspondence, business and real estate papers, Campbell-Johnson estate papers, account books, as well as maps, ephemera, and photographs related to the history of Southern California, and in particular the San Rafael Heights/Garvanza region.
Extent:
2.09 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. San Rafael Ranch Company records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of letters, documents, and maps, including 14 bound volumes, related to the business affairs (1898-1923) of Conway S. Campbell-Johnson and A. Campbell-Johnson, the sons of Alexander Robert Campbell-Johnson. The collection includes property titles, cattle records, property annexation agreements with the city of Pasadena, right-of-way agreements with the Pacific Electric Railway Company, and records of the Church of the Angels in Highland Park, Calif.

The addenda consists of estate papers related to the Campbell-Johnston family, including Conway Seymour Campbell-Johnston, R.A. Campbell-Johnston, A.R. Campbell-Johnston (through Louis Johnston), and Ida Campbell-Johnston; 2 maps of the San Rafael Heights area; programs, printed ephemera, and magazine clippings primarily related to the San Rafael area of Pasadena; miscellaneous newspapers and magazines on Southern California history; and 3 published books, including Progress and Economy by J. Platt (1882) and The dairy of the farm by James Long and J.C. Morton (1885). The addenda also includes 29 photographs of Southern California, including Eagle Rock, the Garvanza Hotel and miscellaneous images of Garvanza, the Mt. Lowe Railroad, the Webster's Hotel dining room in Pasadena, the beach of Hotel Arcadia in Santa Monica, the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel, and the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Biographical / historical:

The San Rafael Ranch was created in 1883, when Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Robert Campbell-Johnston visited the small town of Garvanza, California (near present-day Pasadena), and purchased 2,000 acres of the former Rancho San Rafael from Victor Beaudry. They left the ranch in the hands of their sons and went back to England, but they returned in 1888. The ranch was used for cattle grazing and many buildings were constructed, including the Church of the Angels. The sons ran the ranch until about 1920, when the land was subdivided.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Marguerite Bock on February 8, 1954; Gift of Lawrence Cook on February 8, 1955; Gift of Nicholas Brandt on June 21, 1972; Gift of Steve Brandt on July 1, 2000.
Processing information:

Processed by Huntington staff. In 2013, Katrina Denman created the finding aid.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following series:

  1. Business and Property Papers (Box 1)
  2. Abstracts of Title and Maps (Box 2)
  3. Account Books (Box 3)
  4. Manuscripts, Printed Items, and Ephemera (Box 4)
  5. Photographs (Box 5)
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. San Rafael Ranch Company records, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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