Louis and Dolores Strahlmann Papers, 1783-1986

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Summary

Creators:
Strahlmann family
Abstract:
This collection consists of the personal papers of Louis and Dolores Strahlmann, as well as research materials they collected in the 1920s-1930s regarding nineteenth century stagecoach lines and the Vallecito stagecoach station.
Extent:
6.5 Linear feet (14 boxes)
Language:
and Collection materials are in English, German, and Italian.
Preferred citation:

Louis and Dolores Strahlmann Papers, MS 239, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of the personal papers and research materials of Louis and Dolores Strahlmann. Personal papers include financial and legal documents, club memberships, and correspondence. Dolores’ papers include eleven of her diaries and several fiction manuscripts. Louis’ papers include some of his academic papers from Harvard, military papers from his service in the Army, and medical papers from his service in Boston, MA and San Diego, CA. Louis’ papers also include pamphlets and emergency procedures for members of the local World War II Civilian Defense group. Several papers come from other members of the Strahlmann family, including Edward Strahlmann, Louise Strahlmann, Hermann Strahlmann, Edmund Mayer, and Max Mayer.

Research materials relate to the history of San Diego County, stagecoach lines, and the Vallecito stagecoach station, and include correspondence with pioneering stage drivers, their descendants, and other researchers, as well as numerous research notes and some original nineteenth-century documents donated directly to the Strahlmanns.

This collection also contains correspondence related to the controversial expansion of Anza-Borrego Park, correspondence related to the restoration of the Vallecito stagecoach station, exhibit cards from a presentation of Strahlmann research materials hosted by the San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department, and finally a series of subject files containing pamphlets, publications, maps, and other items that were of interest to the Strahlmanns.

Biographical / historical:

Louis Strahlman was born in 1892 to Edward Strahlmann and Louise (Mayer) Strahlmann, both natives of Germany. Edward Strahlmann (1840-1933) was a prominent pharmacist in San Diego and co-founder of the Strahlmann-Mayer Drug Company. Louis obtained a medical degree from Harvard in 1917 and then served in the United States Army Reserve as First Lieutenant of the Medical Section through World War I. In 1924 he became a surgeon for the San Diego Police Department, eventually obtaining the rank of Chief Police Surgeon. He served the department until 1946, at which point he retired to devote his full time to private practice. He was a member of numerous medical associations, including the San Diego County Medical Society, the California Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. Louis was also active in the Exchange Club, the San Diego Historical Society, the Imperial Highway Association, the Public Lands Protective League, and the San Diego Police Post of the American Legion, and was a medical contact for San Diego’s Civilian Defense network during World War II. Additionally, he was a member of the German culture societies Orden der Hermann’s Söhne (Order of the Sons of Hermann) and Nordamerikanischer Turnerbund (North American Gymnastic Union). He died on May 12, 1952.

Dolores Strahlmann was born Dolores M. Akers in Washington on March 17, 1892. Her parents were William Akers and Emily L. (Pier) Akers. Dolores came to Southern California in her youth to enter the movie industry. By 1920 she was writing screenplays for La Carmen Productions and newspaper briefs as a special correspondent for the Hollywood motion picture studios. She found occasional work as a dancer or movie stand-in, and by the mid-1920s she was a conductor at the Southern Studio of Dancing in San Diego. She wrote screenplays and Western pulp stories under the names Dolores Brown and Dolores Lopez. Later she was active in the Women’s Auxiliary of the San Diego County Medical Society, the Public Lands Protective League, and the San Diego Historical Society. Dolores died on May 23, 1972.

Louis and Dolores married on August 14, 1926. This was Louis’s first marriage and Dolores’s second. They owned a ranch in Mission Valley, but their primary residence was at 211 West Laurel Street. Through the 1920s and 1930s, they conducted extensive research into the history of San Diego County, stagecoach lines, and the Vallecito stagecoach station. Dolores corresponded with numerous pioneers, their descendants, and other Western researchers and wrote the bulk of their research notes. They collected original artifacts from many of their correspondents and briefly used their home as a museum. As a result of their research they were able to spearhead the restoration of the Vallecito stagecoach station, which was reopened as a museum in the Anza-Borrego State Park.

Acquisition information:
Accession numbers 970115 and 2002.029.
Processing information:

Collection processed by Samantha Mills on February 28, 2013.

Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged into series:

Series I: Strahlmann Family Papers

Series II: Dolores Strahlmann Personal Papers

Series III: Louis Strahlmann Personal Papers

Series IV: Louis Strahlmann Academic Papers

Series V: Louis Strahlmann Military Papers

Series VI: Louis Strahlmann Medical Papers

Series VII: Louis and Dolores Strahlmann Research

Series VIII: Anza-Borrego Park Expansion

Series IX: Stagecoach Exhibits

Series X: Subject Files

Items within each series are arranged by subject.

Physical / technical requirements:

Dolores Strahlmann's Diary #5 is detached from binding, Diary #11 has several pages detached from the binding, and Diary #2 and #3 have smudged pencil text.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.

Preferred citation:

Louis and Dolores Strahlmann Papers, MS 239, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Location of this collection:
1649 El Prado, Suite 3
San Diego, CA 92101, US
Contact:
(619) 232-6203
Website