Leonard J. Rose Family Photograph Collection, Approximately 1850-1979, bulk 1888-1941

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Summary

Creators:
Rose, L. J. (Leonard John), 1827-1899.
Abstract:
This collection contains 152 photographs of the family of Leonard John Rose (1827-1899), the Rose family's ranch and vineyard "Sunny Slope" in San Gabriel, California, their residences, and horses owned by the family, chiefly dating from the late 19th century.
Extent:
3.03 Linear Feet (3 boxes, 1 folder)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Leonard J. Rose Family Photograph Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of 152 photographs of the family of Leonard John Rose (1827-1899); the Rose family ranch and vineyard, "Sunny Slope," in San Gabriel, California; residences; and horses owned by the Rose family, chiefly dating from the late 19th century.

An earlier archivist divided the collection into "volumes" 1 and 2, though the photographs in "volume 1" are loose. Only volume 2, Items 1-35, are bound in an album. The prints range from late 19th-century cabinet cards to copy prints of 19th century photographs. The latest photographs are two 1979 color snapshots of Mrs. John Gallagher, and among the earliest images is a reproduction of a portrait of L. J. and Amanda Rose on their wedding day, ca. 1850 (Volume 2, Item 7).

Many of the photographs are cabinet card studio portraits of family members, especially the children of L.J. and Amanda Rose, including Nina Rose Wachtel (and her husband John V. Wachtel), Guy Rose, Mabel Rose Dixon, Maud Rose Easton. Many of the card photographs have imprints of Los Angeles photography studios including Steckel & Lamson and T.G. Schumacher. Among the photographs of the Sunny Slope Farm are stereographs by W.M. Godfrey (Volume 1, Items 13a and 14-14a) and stereographs and unmounted prints by Carleton Watkins (Album 1, Items 17-29 and 75 and 76). Notably, there are three photographs of interiors of the Rose residence on Grand Avenue in Los Angeles, which include displays of the types of card photographs included in this collection (see Volume 1, Items 48 and 50, and Volume 2, Item 49).

Biographical / historical:

Leonard John Rose (1827-1899) was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1827. His family moved to the United States in 1839, where they lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then moved to Waterloo, Illinois. Rose attended Shurtliff College in Illinois. He became a mercantilist, trading goods up and down the Mississippi River, and opened a general store. Leonard John Rose married Amanda Markel Jones in Iowa in 1851.They had ten children: Annie (Sanderson), Nina R. (Wachtel), Daisy (Montgomery), Maud (Easton), Mabel (Pike), Harry Ezra Rose, Leonard "Leon" John Rose Jr., Guy Rose, and Roy Rose. After a child died in the 1850s, Rose sold his store, organized an emigrant train, and left Iowa for California in 1858. Native Americans assaulted their party by the Colorado River in New Mexico; the family spent close to two years in Santa Fe.

In 1860, Rose arrived in Southern California where he bought a 2000-acre estate in the San Gabriel Valley called "Sunny Slope." On his property, Rose cultivated grapes, oranges, walnuts, produced wine and brandy, and bred trotter horses. Despite his economic successes, Rose fell into debt and sold Sunny Slope in 1887, beginning a term as California State Senator for Los Angeles that same year. Rose committed suicide in 1889, survived by his wife, Amanda Rosa, and eight sons and daughters. His son, Guy Rose, became renowned plein air painter.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Mrs. Markel Gallagher, February 1980.

Album 2, Items 71-73, gift of William J. Coffill, July 2015.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

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]. Leonard J. Rose Family Photograph Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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