Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Zamorano Club, Los Angeles.
- Extent:
- 140.0 boxes 24 misc. items
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Zamorano Club Papers, Occidental College Library, Los Angeles, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains boxes and several separate items. It is semi-cataloged. The entire collection deals with The Zamorano Club of Los Angeles.
The boxes include information about members, various pieces of correspondence to and from members, financial and bank records, meeting invitations and keepsakes, and items pertaining to special events, publications, and individuals.
The member files contain nomination materials and personal items relating to specific members as well as some information regarding their deaths (obituaries and funeral programs).
The individual collections contain the personal correspondence and papers of C.K. Adams (a railway official and founding member of The Friends of the UCLA Library) and Homer Crotty (a prominent lawyer and one of the six Zamorano Club members who compiled The Zamorano 80).
The general correspondence, which spans 1928 to the 2000s, mainly contains letters written by various club members. Subjects include club issues of the day, subjects discussed in Board of Governors meetings and members' meetings, issues pertaining to annual joint meetings of the Zamorano Club and the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, and other matters. Noteworthy subjects include the formation of the club in the late 1920s, the change in location of meetings, and the decision to allow women into the club in 1990.
Financial records range from the 1930s to the 1980s and include bank statements, cancelled checks, tax information, checkbooks, bills, and account books.
Meeting minutes range from the 1920s to the 2000s and include both minutes from the members' meetings and the Board of Governors meetings. Some minutes are contained in original binders kept by secretaries and various members, and others are arranged into folders and organized by year.
The Bancroft Index items include the index itself and correspondence relating to the index. This index, created by several club members, contains the names included in George Bancroft's History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent published in 1884.
Miscellaneous items following these boxes contain smaller collections and specific subjects pertaining to the club. Notable items include information about The Zamorano 80, an inventory of books in the club library, various founding and legal documents (including the articles of incorporation and membership laws), recommendations for desired members, information regarding the Blumberg book theft in 1990, and papers relating to Hoja Volante (the club newsletter).
Artifacts and ephemera include official club objects such as the Zamorano tie, paperweight, and embosser. Noteworthy items include several Chinese woodblocks and information pertaining to them.
Joint meeting keepsake boxes include one or two copies of keepsakes from joint meetings. These range from 1953 to the present. Marked copies of guides for these keepsakes may be found in the sections following the hard copy of this finding aid: Keepsakes: 'The First Half Century' 1928-1978 and Keepsakes: 'Thirty Years: Fin de Siecle' 1978-2008. A series of boxes of general keepsakes and publications (not from joint meetings) is also included, and these are also marked in the two bibliographies. These bibliographies should be marked accordingly if keepsakes and publications listed in them are added.
Oversize boxes include the correspondence and papers of William Webb Clary (a founding member of the club), papers and essays written by members of the club, member rosters (including addresses and telephone numbers) for the years spanning 1929 to the 1990s, and oversized keepsakes and publications.
A few items from the library apparently remained unsold after the 1999 sale. They may be recognized by the presence of the Zamorano Club Library bookplate. Those that are Zamorano Club publications and keepsakes have been incorporated into the "General Keepsakes and Publications" and the "Joint Meeting Keepsakes" series. The rest, along with some miscellaneous items that lack the bookplate, have been placed in the "Zamorano Club Library" series.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Zamorano Club is a Southern Californian organization for bibliophiles and manuscript collectors. It was founded in 1928, and sponsors lectures and publications on book-related topics. The Club was named in honor of Agustín V. Zamorano (1798-1842), a provisional governor of Alta California and the state's first printer. It is club tradition to present keepsakes to members at meetings, resulting in a variety of printed mementos ranging from pamphlets to small books; sometimes the items are reproductions of historical documents.
The Zamorano Club has had its meetings at various places since its founding, including the University Club, the Treasure Room within USC's Doheny Library, and other locations. As of January 2009, the club meets at the Women's City Club of Pasadena. In May 1991, coincident with the move from USC, it was decided to put the club's archive, library, and publication overstock in storage at Occidental College Library. Subsequently the Board of Governors decided to dispose of the library, and the books were accordingly sold at Pacific Book Auction Galleries (sale 180, 15 February 1999). The proceeds from the sale were placed in the club's endowment fund.
Early members include A. Gaylord Beaman (insurance), Garner A. Beckett (cement manufacturer), William W. Clary (attorney), Arthur M. Ellis (attorney), W. Irving Way (bookman), Robert O. Schad (Curator of Rare Books, Henry E. Huntington Library), and Robert E. Cowan (Librarian of William Andrews Clark Library). Lawrence Clark Powell (former UCLA University Librarian), Ward Ritchie (fine press printer), Henry Wagner (bibliographer), and other distinguished collectors and scholars have been members of the Zamorano Club as well.
Adapted from the finding aid for Zamorano Club Collection, 1920-2000 (William Andrews Clark Memorial Library)
- Acquisition information:
- The collection has been stored at the Occidental College Library since 1991. Material was donated by individual members of the Zamorano Club as well as by the club itself.
- Processing information:
-
Catherine N. Wehrey, August 20, 2011
- Arrangement:
-
1. Items have been arranged chronologically or alphabetically wherever possible. However, in an effort to retain the original organization of certain club members' correspondence (i.e. C.K. Adams and Homer Crotty), some items were left in their original order.
2. Most items were placed in individual categories (i.e. Correspondence, Financial, etc.) in an attempt to broadly distinguish their subject matter.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The entire collection is open for qualified researchers, with the exception of materials noted below. Please contact Special Collections, Occidental College Library regarding access procedures.
Access to the following materials are restricted to the archivist, current Governors of the club, and past Governors who were in office at the time of creation: the past ten years of Board of Governors Meeting Minutes and Financial Records, the last box in the Member Files Series.
- Terms of access:
-
In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the Zamorano Club.
The Zamorano Club retains the literary rights to the material.
- Preferred citation:
-
Zamorano Club Papers, Occidental College Library, Los Angeles, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1600 Campus RoadLos Angeles, CA 90041-3314, US
- Contact:
- 323-259-2852