Connie Rothstein Collection of California Missions, The Mission Play, and Southern California, approximately 1862-2004, bulk 1880s-1920s

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Summary

Abstract:
A collection of photographs and ephemera of California Missions, collected by Southern California educator Connie Rothstein, with an emphasis on the San Gabriel Mission and the history of the city of San Gabriel, California, and the production of The Mission Play by John Steven McGroarty. The collection also includes late-19th and early-20th century photographs of Los Angeles and Southern California, and postcards and ephemera related to the Southern California region. Notable in the collection are 391 stereographs of missions and Los Angeles, including some by photographers William Godfrey and H. T. Payne, A. C. Varela, and Carleton Watkins.
Extent:
42.96 Linear Feet (37 boxes, 2 oversize folders)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Connie Rothstein Collection of California Missions, The Mission Play, and Southern California, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

A collection of approximately 1,500 photographs and various ephemera and publications of California Missions, with an emphasis on the San Gabriel Mission, the history of the city of San Gabriel, and the production of The Mission Play by John Steven McGroarty. The collection also includes late-19th and early-20th century photographs of Los Angeles and Southern California, and postcards and ephemera related to the Southern California region. Notable in the collection are 391 stereographs of missions and Los Angeles, including some by photographers William Godfrey and H. T. Payne, A. C. Varela, and Carleton Watkins.

All of the California Missions are represented in the collection, plus the "sub-missions" or Asistencias of California. The mission photographs include many unusual views and details, and are a mixture of snapshots made by tourists and commercial photographs.

There are many views in and around Southern California, most dating from 1880s-1920s, by various photographers. Specific topics emphasized in and around Los Angeles are: Olvera Street, Chinatown, La Fiesta de Los Angeles celebration; and the Mount Lowe Railway. There are many cabinet cards and stereographs, and six large panoramic photographs of the Los Angeles area.

The ephemera include hundreds of postcards and photographic postcards, scrapbooks, and many small publications on the history of the missions and California, as well as ephemera related to The Mission Play.The Mission Play, first performed in 1912 in Southern California, portrayed the establishment of the California Missions under the leadership of Father Junipero Serra, and the converting of Native Americans into Christianity by Franciscan friars. The San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, dedicated in 1927 in San Gabriel, was built to stage the play. There is a binder of programs and ephemera on the play and its various performances, as well as a group of lantern slides and postcards of the play.

Other topics in the collection are: photographs and ephemera of Monterey, California; Oregon and the Columbia River Highway; and a group of photographs of cowboys and Western culture (mid-20th century).

Biographical / historical:

Connie Rothstein (born 1940) taught elementary through high school and continuation school for 36 years in the San Gabriel School District and was a college instructor for three years at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and California State University, Long Beach. She began collecting historical photographs of missions as teaching materials for her 4th grade pupils, gradually collecting other topics of personal and classroom interest. She built her collection over decades by combing swap meets, flea markets and thrift stores, and acquiring specific items from dealers. Rothstein also devoted her time to civic and community affairs and was sought out for her knowledge of the history of the city of San Gabriel in Los Angeles County.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Connie Rothstein, 2010.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following series and subseries:

  1. Los Angeles and vicinity
  2. San Gabriel, City of
  3. Other San Gabriel Valley
  4. Other California
  5. Oregon and Columbia River Highway
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Adobe houses -- Photographs.
Missions, Spanish -- California -- Photographs.
Chinese -- California -- Photographs.
Cowboys -- 20th century -- Photographs.
Historic sites -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Horsemen and horsewomen -- Photographs.
Hotels -- California -- Photographs.
Parades -- California -- Photographs.
Parks -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Ruins -- Photographs.
Schools -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs.
Schoolchildren -- Photographs.
Stockyards (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Theater -- California -- History.
Ephemera
Lantern slides.
Panoramas.
Photograph albums.
Photographs
Portraits
Postcards
Sheet music.
Stereographs.
Theater programs.
Names:
Pacific Electric Railway Company.
Blanchard, James B., photographer
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer
Lamson, Joseph Harrison, 1840-1902, photographer
Weaver, M. F. (Miles F.), 1879-1932
Places:
Azusa (Calif.) -- History -- Photographs.
California, Southern -- History -- 20th century -- Photographs.
Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Colorado -- Photographs.
Columbia River Highway (Or.) -- Photographs.
El Camino Real (Calif.) -- History. -- Photographs.
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
La Crescenta (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Long Beach (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Los Angeles County (Calif.) -- History -- Photographs.
Monterey (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Olvera Street (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Oregon -- Photographs.
Pasadena (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Portland (Or.)
Redlands (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Bernardino County (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Gabriel River Valley (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Juan Bautista (Calif.) -- Photographs.
San Marino (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Anita Rancho (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Ysabel (San Diego County, Calif.) -- Photographs.

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], Connie Rothstein Collection of California Missions, The Mission Play, and Southern California, 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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