Samuel L. Kreider Papers, 1925-1952

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Summary

Creators:
Kreider, Samuel L.
Abstract:
Samuel L. Kreider (1882-1953) was a businessman and active community member in Los Angeles, California, who participated in many civic organizations including the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Automobile Club of Southern California, World Traders of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles High School Alumni Association. He served as Chairman of the Mission Restoration Fund and was a member of the Historical Society of Southern California who published articles about early California history. This collection contains Kreider's historical essays, notes, and personal reflections about Southern California from the 1880s-1940s. The papers also include meeting minutes, documents, historical notes, and correspondence related to the Santa Barbara Mission and the Santa Barbara Mission Restoration campaign, 1925.
Extent:
4 folders
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Samuel L. Kreider Papers, 1925-1952, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.93; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Background

Scope and content:

The Samuel L. Kreider Papers include Kreider's historical writings, notes, and reflections of life in Southern California, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Kreider's papers also include a hand-drawn survey map of the American Cemetery from 1878 and correspondence, fund raising materials, notes, meeting minutes, and news clippings related to the Santa Barbara Mission and the Santa Barbara Mission Restoration Fund, 1925-1950.

Biographical / historical:

Samuel Lanner Kreider (1882-1953) was born in San Francisco, California on July 4, 1882, to Frank L. and Minnie M. Kreider. The Kreider family moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1887. Samuel Kreider graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1899. Kreider was a businessman engaged in trade before switching careers several times. He served as the Executive Secretary at the Citizens Public School Committee, Promotion Director for the Pasadena Community Playhouse, and as a Master of Ceremonies at the KFAC radio broadcast. In 1939, he returned to the shipping business before working in the federal General Accounting Office in Los Angeles. He also participated in many civic organizations. He served as President of the Los Angeles High School Alumni Association, Secretary of the Scribes Club, and was a member of the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Automobile Club of Southern California, and World Traders of Los Angeles. Throughout his life, Samuel Kreider maintained an interest in historical research. He was an active member of the Historical Society of Southern California and published research articles about California history in the Southern California Quarterly. He also served as the Chairman of the Campaign Committee for the Santa Barbara Mission Restoration Fund, which worked to rebuild the Santa Barbara Mission after it was badly damaged by a 1925 earthquake.

Samuel Kreider was married to Florence Moore Kreider (1878-1963). She was described as a "prominent clubwoman" (see "In Memoriam") who was actively involved with the Historical Society of Southern California, served as President of the Friday Morning Club, and was a founding member and Treasurer of the Charles F. Lummis Memorial Association.

References

"California, Los Angeles, Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery/Crematory Records, 1884-2002", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6CQN-41MM : Fri Mar 08 22:54:08 UTC 2024), Entry for Florence Moore Kreider, 22 Oct 1963.

Pelayo, Monica, Samuel L. Kreider Papers, [Finding Aid]. 2010. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Retrieved November 6, 2024 from https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c800077j/

Dixon, Elizabeth, editor. "In Memoriam." Fall 1963. Newsletter, the Historical Society of Southern California. https://thehssc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HSSC-Newsletter-2-2-Fall-1963.pdf

Hubbell, Thelma Lee, and Gloria R. Lothrop. "The Friday Morning Club A Los Angeles Legacy." Southern California Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 1, 1968, pp. 59–90. JSTOR, Retrieved November 5, 2024 from https://doi.org/10.2307/41170153.

"United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K4H-6LZB : 11 February 2023), Florence Moore Kreider.

The Santa Barbara Mission was founded in 1786 by Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen as part of the Spanish attempt to establish control over Alta California. Chumash-speaking peoples had lived in the Santa Barbara area for roughly eleven thousand years before Europeans colonizers came to the area. Thousands of Chumash people were conscripted or coerced into indentured servitude in the Santa Barbara Mission system, where they built the chapels and worked in agricultural and livestock production.

The Santa Barbara Mission chapel has been rebuilt several times. A modest first chapel was built in 1787 with a grass roof and earth floor. A larger adobe chapel with a tile roof replaced the first chapel in 1789. In 1793-1794, an even larger third chapel built of adobe and tile replaced the second. The Ventura Earthquake of 1812 (with a magnitude of 7.2) destroyed the third chapel and it took 5 years to replace it (from 1815-1820) with a fourth chapel built from stone. On June 29, 1925, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck the Santa Barbara area and caused significant damage to downtown Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Mission. Prominent Southern California community members formed the Santa Barbara Mission Restoration Fund to raise the money necessary to rebuild the Mission. The project cost $400,000 and was completed in 1927.

References

Deana Dartt-Newton, and Jon M. Erlandson. "Little Choice for the Chumash: Colonialism, Cattle, and Coercion in Mission Period California." American Indian Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3/4, 2006, pp. 416–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4139021. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Geiger, Maynard. The History of California's Mission Santa Barbara: From 1786 to Present. Dexter Press, [1970].

Snell, Charles. 1967. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Santa Barbara Mission. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/66000237_text Accessed 8 Nov. 2024

Acquisition information:
The Samuel L. Kreider Papers were originally part of a larger 2018 donation from the Historical Society of Southern California which were separated and established into a unique collection.
Processing information:

Processing and finding aid completed by Molly Smith, 2024.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four folders.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library and Archives at the Autry. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

Samuel L. Kreider Papers, 1925-1952, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.93; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Location of this collection:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027, US
Contact:
(747) 201-8448
rroom@theautry.org
Website