Carey Family papers, 1890s-2000s, bulk 1920s-1960s

Collection context

Summary

Abstract:
This collection consists of correspondence, official records, photographs, scrapbooks, clippings, audiovisual materials, memorabilia, and ephemera related to the professional careers and personal lives of actors George Fuller Golden (1868-1912), Harry Carey, Sr.(1878-1947), Olive Carey (1896-1988), Paul Fix (1901-1983), and Harry Carey, Jr. (1921-2012). Materials date from the 1890s through the 2000s, though the bulk of the collection dates from the silent motion picture era in the 1920s, through the "talkies" of the 1930s and 1940s and into the television era of the 1950s and 1960s.
Extent:
21.49 Linear Feet (9 document boxes, 1 half document box, 8 cartons, 9 flat boxes, plus audiocassettes, videocassettes, motion picture film reels, DVDs, CDs)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Carey Family papers, FMST Mss 10. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The Carey Family papers document the professional and personal lives of three generations of the Golden-Fix-Carey family, from the 1890s through the 2000s. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1920s through the 1960s, covering the film and television careers of Harry Carey, Sr. (1878-1947), Olive Carey (1896-1988), Paul Fix (1901-1983), and Harry Carey, Jr., (1921-2012). The collection also includes earlier materials related to stage career of American vaudevillian performer George Fuller Golden (1868-1912), father of Olive Carey, dating from the 1890s through 1912.

While focused on the activities of one family of performers, the collection is truly multi-generational and comprehensive in its scope, spanning nearly one hundred years of popular entertainment, from the vaudeville stage to motion picture film in all its forms, and from motion picture film to television.

Material includes correspondence, documents, manuscript drafts of screenplays and books, photographs, scrapbooks, clippings, audiovisual items including home movie films, audiocassettes, and videotape recordings, memorabilia, and ephemera. Personal and family records often overlap with their professional activities, as the Carey's socialized and engaged with other actors and artists, including John Wayne, John Ford, Ben Johnson, John Mitchum, and others. A sizeable amount of material relates to the Carey's Ranch and The Harry Carey Trading Post Store in Saugus, California, a popular tourist destination in the 1920s. The ranch and trading post store were destroyed in the 1928 St. Francis Dam flood.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Patricia (Lily) Carey, 2024.
Physical location:
Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Carey Family papers, FMST Mss 10. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062