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Whittier family collection
mssWhittier
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Table of contents
Title: Whittier family collection
Dates: 1831-2015
Bulk Dates: 1890-1980
Collection Number: mssWhittier
Creator:
Whittier (family)
Extent:
78 boxes and 1 folder
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of company records, correspondence, ephemera, photographs, and audio/visual material related to the
Whittier family and company.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please go to following
web site .
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.
Whittier family collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of the Whitter Family Council, a California unincorporated association, 2016.
Mericos H. Whittier (1867-1928) was an American real estate developer and a pioneer in the early California petroleum industry.
Whittier was born on March 11, 1867 in Caribou, Maine. He was the son of Charles Green Whittier (1841-1912) and Ruth Emmons
Keech (1841-1930).
Whittier married Joanna E. Williams (1872-1923) in 1899. The couple had four children: Donald Williams Whittier (1901-1983)
who married Violet Andrews (1901-1970) in 1926 and later, Helen Rohne (1900-1973); Leland Keech Whittier (1903-1984) who married
Laura Pike (1902-1979) in 1925; Nelson Paul Whittier (1904-1991) who married Olive Elizabeth Hasbrouck in 1930 and later,
Lucy Thorne in 1977; and Helen Louise Whittier (1907-1984) who married Hoke Lawrence Woodward (1900-1994) in 1928.
Andrews and Crane family history
George Gregg Crane (1835-1919) was married to Adeline Huntley Crane (1836-1914). The couple had two children: Amy and Abbie
(1868-1943). George Gregg Crane was considered a pioneer in horticulture. Adeline Huntley Crane was a charter member of the
Universalist church in Santa Paula, California.
Abbie Crane married Lewis Whiting Andrews (1889-1955) in 1892. Lewis Whiting Andrews was a Los Angeles attorney, real estate
developer, and community activist. He was a member of the law firm Andrews, Toland, and Andrews in Ventura, California. He
was also an early real estate developer in the Wilshire district. Abbie was a member of the Los Angeles Ebell Club, Los Angeles
Country, California, and Bel-Air Bay Club. The couple had four children: Ellen Andrews (1892-1983) who married Charles Lovel
Wright; Horace Crane Andrews (1896-1962); Violet Andrews (1901-1970) who married Donald W. Whittier; and Lewis W. Andrews,
Jr. (1904-1942).
Ellen Andrews was first engaged to Leclaire D. Schulze, a pilot in the United States Army, who was tragically killed when
his parachute failed to deploy. She later married Wright, who was president and chairman of the board of the Union National
Bank in Pasadena, California.
Violet and Donald W. Whittier filed for divorce in 1939. The couple had four children: Joanne, Mary Ellen, Patricia, and Donald
A.
"Max" Whittier and Burton Greene, along with four other families, were instrumental in starting Belridge Oil Company in 1911.
The obscure oilfield in Kern County, California was the largest independent oil producer in the state. Leland K. Whittier
would later sell the company to Shell Oil Company. The purchase price was nearly $3.7 billion, the largest corporate acquisition
in United States history at the time. "Max" Whittier was also the co-founder of Beverly Hills, California.
After the sale of Belridge Oil Company, the Whittier family created several entities to support oil production and financial
services. There were three entities created: 1. The Whittier Trust Company; 2. Whittier Energy Corporation; 3. M.H. Corporation.
For a more detailed description of these companies, please see Box 10 (5). The Whittier family also established numerous
foundations including: L.K. Whittier Foundation, Confidence Foundation, I have a Dream Foundation – Los Angeles, and the Helen
Woodward Animal Care Center.
The collection is roughly divided into three series: 1. Company; 2. Family; and 3. Audio/visual, photographs, and oversize.
Series 1: Company. This series consists of correspondence, documents, business records, photographs, and ephemera related to "Max" Whittier's
early business ventures in real estate and the oil industry. Items of interest from Whittier's early career in oil include:
Inca Oil Company daily drilling reports from 1906 through 1910 and Coalinga Star Oil Company reports from 1918 through 1920.
There are a few early letters from oil companies such as Eagle Oil Company, Uncle Sam Oil Company, and Virginia Oil Company
to Whittier from 1900 through 1902. In a letter from Virginia Oil Company, the company rejects Whittier's offer to sale portions
of Kern oil land for $1,500 an acre: "This is a little beyond our limit at the present time. We do not care to take ahold
of any land at that figure" (Box 6, 8). Whittier's letter books may also prove to be interesting as they capture the years
1906 through 1911, right before the founding of Belridge. There are also many documents and printed matter related to the
sale of Belridge Oil Company to Shell Oil Company in 1979. These items include: clippings, proxy statements, prospectus, documents,
and filing forms submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There is also some material related
to the Whittier's numerous foundations and philanthropic efforts. The photographs spans from early snapshots in the oil fields
to more recent Whittier functions in the 1960s.
Series 2: Family. This series consists primarily of correspondence, genealogies, printed matter, and photographs related to the Whittier and
Andrews family. The earliest letter in this collection is from Lewis Whiting Andrews' grandfather, Samuel Andrews, written
in 1854. The letter has strong religious undertones as he writes to his sister about his love for brother, William P. Andrews.
There is also a great deal of correspondence from the Crane and Andrews family. Abbie L. Crane and Lewis W. Andrews' life
together is documented in these letters that span from the late 1800s through early 1900s. There are also letters from Leclaire
D. Schulze to Ellen L. Andrews, who she was engaged to prior to his sudden death in 1927. Although there are very few early
Whittier family correspondence, there are some letters to and from Donald W. Whittier and his daughter, Joanne Whittier Blokker.
Additional correspondence is found in Box 27. These letters are primarily related to Ellen Andrews' family research. Note:
There is a lot of overlap in this portion of the collection. The photographs in this series consist of portraits and snapshots
related to both the Andrews and Whittier family.
Series 3: Audio/visual, photographs, and oversize. The material found in this series is a combination of the both company and family related matter. The Whittier Family Oral
History Project compact discs are found in Boxes 53-54 and the paper transcripts are found in Boxes 74-75. An electronic version
of the paper transcripts is available on the
Huntington Digital Library (HDL).
The VHS tapes include Whittier family movies, philanthropy, and miscellaneous television programs. There are also some fragile
ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass plate negatives, and/or tintypes in Box 66. Note: Many of photograph albums and scrapbooks
are fragile and contain loose items. In addition, most of the oversize photographs are duplicates of those found in Series
2.
Note: Most of the scrapbooks were originally housed in 3-ring binders that have been discarded. The contents of these scrapbooks
are housed in plastic document sleeves and have not been relocated to other parts of the collection. Original correspondence,
photographs, and printed matter may be found in these scrapbooks, along with duplicates.
Arrangement
The Whittier family collection is roughly arranged by genre.
Existence and Location of Copies
Several audiovisual items in the collection were digitized in 2018. Links are available in the container list.
Andrews, Abbie Crane
Andrews, Lewis Whiting
Whittier, Donald Williams
Whittier, Leland Keech
Whittier, Mericos, 1867-1925
Whittier, Nelson Paul
Woodward, Helen Whittier
Yaw, Ellen Beach, 1869-1947
Andrews family
Crane family
Whittier family
Belridge Oil Company
California Star Oil Company
Inca Oil Company
Rodeo Land and Water Company
Shell Oil Company
Nonprofit organizations
Petroleum industry and trade--California
Real property--California
Beverly Hills (Calif.)
Kern County (Calif.)
Business records
Clippings (information artifacts)
Documents
Genealogies (histories)
Letters (correspondence)
Photographs
Scrapbooks