Finding Aid to the La Fiesta de Los Angeles Collection MS.207

Finding aid prepared by Anna Liza Posas

Autry National Center, Braun Research Library

234 Museum Drive

Los Angeles, CA, 90065-5030

323-221-2164

rroom@theautry.org

August 2013

Title: La Fiesta de Los Angeles Collection

Identifier/Call Number: MS.207

Contributing Institution: Autry National Center, Braun Research Library

Language of Material: English

Physical Description: 0.75 Linear feet (2 document boxes, 6 oversized boxes)

Date (inclusive): 1894-1947

Abstract: La Fiesta de Los Angeles was an annual multi-day event celebrating Los Angeles and Southern California's cultural heritage. The first celebration was held in April 1894. Canceled during the Spanish-American War, it was revived in 1901 under the new name La Fiesta de las Flores, and it continued through the 1940s. Charles Fletcher Lummis helped organize the early festivals in Los Angeles. This collection consists of event programs, ephemera, financial reports, newspapers clippings and meeting minutes, and by-laws related to the La Fiesta de Los Angeles events from 1894-1947.

Access

Collection is open for research. Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit http://theautry.org/research/research-rules-and-application or contact library staff at rroom@theautry.org.

Preferred citation

La Fiesta de Los Angeles Collection, 1894-1947, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry National Center, Los Angeles; MS.207; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Scope and contents

This collection consists of event programs, ephemera, financial reports, newspapers clippings and meeting minutes, and by-laws related to the La Fiesta de Los Angeles events from 1894-1947.

Historical note

La Fiesta de Los Angeles was an annual multi-day event celebrating Los Angeles and Southern California's cultural heritage. The first celebration was held in April 1894. Canceled during the Spanish-American War, it was revived in 1901 under the new name La Fiesta de las Flores, and it continued through the 1940s. The festival was founded by Max Meyburg and sponsored by the Los Angeles Merchants Association. The Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade became joint sponsors in 1896. The festival celebrated the unique history and culture of Southern California. Advertisements for the 1896 event describe it as including a parade of “Spanish caballeros, Mexican vaqueros, Indians, and Chinese,” a pageant, a carnival of “30,000 maskers,” and a floral parade. The main parade that year included United States Marines, National Guard, local police, Spanish caballeros, Indians brought in from near Temecula, and a Chinese dragon. The fiesta was unusual for an event at the time in its celebration of multiculturalism.

Charles Lummis helped organize the early festivals in Los Angeles. He used his ties with the Isleta Pueblo to include Pueblo Indians in the the 1895 fiesta. He also oversaw the production of the festival's floats and tableaux representing key historical events in the history of the Americas, and provided cultural materials such as costumes and ceremonial items collected in his archeological trips for display and use during the festival. According to Van Vleck's 1895 article, the festival was concerned with creating historically accurate representations of indigenous peoples and events. La Fiesta de Los Angeles was also promoted in Land of Sunshine, which Lummis edited.

References: Grace, Roger M. “Reminiscing: 'La Fiesta’ Is Annual Event in Late Victorian L.A.” Metropolitan News-Enterprise. March 21, 2007. Accessed April 25, 2011. http://www.metnews.com/articles/2007/reminiscing032107.htm.

Padget, Martin. “Travel, Exoticism, and the Writing of Region: Charles Fletcher Lummis and the 'Creation' of the Southwest.” Journal of the Southwest 37 (Autumn, 1995): 421-449. Accessed April 25, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40169930.

Van Vleck, Francis. “La Fiesta de Los Angeles.” Land of Sunshine 2 (April 1895): 83-84.

Processing history

Processing of collection and publication of finding aid made possible by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Use

Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry National Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Autry Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry National Center as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Subjects and Indexing Terms