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California Botanic Garden, Santa Monica Mountains, Photographs
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photCL 208
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library Photo Archives
Title: Photographs of California Botanic Garden, Santa Monica Mountains
Creator:
Dick Whittington
Studio
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 208
Physical Description:
2.34 Linear Feet
(2 boxes)
Date: approximately 1928
Abstract: Photographs of the California Botanic
Garden, which operated 1928-1935 in Mandeville Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles
County.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
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.
[Identification of item]. Photographs of California Botanic Garden, Santa Monica Mountains,
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Dawson's Book Shop, 1979.
The California Botanic Garden was an 800-acre botanical garden and plant laboratory
established in 1928 in the Mandeville Canyon area in the Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles
County. The garden was founded by businessman and naturalist H. C. Oakley, who along with
partners, established a non-profit foundation to purchase the land. Elemer D. Merrill, the
University of California dean of the College of Agriculture, served as director and
president of the foundation. Facing financial setbacks after the crash of 1929, the garden
closed in 1935. Much of the property would later become part of the city of Brentwood and be
developed for real estate.
This collection consists of 63 photographic prints and 87 black-and-white transparencies
documenting the California Botanic Garden in approximately 1928, the year it opened to the
public in Los Angeles County. The prints are 8 x 10 inches and are stamped with the credit
of the "Dick" Whittington Studio, and depict overviews of the garden, walking paths, a
waterfall, and a variety of plantings throughout the canyon, along with administrative
offices, visitors, and a portrait of president Elmer D. Merrill. The film transparencies
appear to show opening day festivities, 1928, with tree plantings, speakers and guests, and
students with posters promoting the garden. The actress Mary Pickford, a supporter, poses in
a few images. Contact prints of the transparencies were made by the Library and are
available to view in Box 1.
Processed by Huntington Library staff, circa late-20th century. In 2020, Suzanne Oatey
created a finding aid derived from a collection file.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Botanical gardens -- California -- Los Angeles County
Brentwood (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Santa Monica Mountains (Calif.)
Photographs
Transparencies