This collection contains the papers of Olive Percival (1869-1945), a Southern California author, gardener, book and art collector, photographer, and activist, dating chiefly from 1899 to 1946 and consisting of manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, and ephemera. Some of the subjects represented in the collection are life in Los Angeles, Pasadena, the Arroyo Seco, and Chinatown; descriptions of travel; book and art collecting, and gardening.

Olive May Graves Percival (1869-1945) was an American author, gardener, artist, poet, book collector, photographer, suffragist, designer, and toy and paper doll maker. She was born July 1, 1869, near Sheffield, Illinois, and moved to Los Angeles in 1887 with her mother, Helen Percival, and sisters, living initially in the Women's Christian Temperance Union building at Temple and Broadway and working as a sales clerk at Hamburger's Department Store. In 1891, she began her 38-year career in the insurance industry to support herself and her mother while engaging in her many interests, working initially for fire insurance agents McLellan and Golsh and then, from 1895 until her retirement in 1929, as a sub-agency clerk with the Home Insurance Company.

8 Linear Feet (14 boxes)

The Huntington Library retains the literary rights to the material.

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