A collection of professional and personal material related to Charles F. Saunders, California horticulturalist and author.

Charles Francis Saunders (1859-1941) was a horticulturalist and author. Saunders was born in Pennsylvania of Quaker ancestry; he was educated at the Friends Central School in Philadelphia, where he edited "The United Friend" from 1894 to 1897, engaged in commerce from 1875 to 1903, and studied botany. His interest in botany dated from 1888, when he formed part of a small nature walking group which included Elizabeth Moore Hallowell, an artist and botanist, whom Saunders married in 1902. The couple traveled to California that same year, where they tell in love with the desert, and decided to move to Southern California, which they did in 1906, settling in Pasadena. Thereafter, Saunders dedicated himself to nature study, the desert, and California history, especially of the Native Americans and early missions. He wrote articles and books, illustrated by Elizabeth Saunders, about California flowers: "In a Poppy Garden" (1904), and "California Wildflowers" (1905). Elizabeth Saunders died in 1910, and he continued writing on California and the Southwest, extending his publications to the Native Americans and the missions: "The Indians of the Terraced Houses" (1912) and "Under the Sky in California" (1913), as well as other books about trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. In 1921, Saunders married Mira Barrett Culin (1876-1968) who was a writer about gardens and a resident of Pasadena. They shared many interests, including gardens, botany, the Southwest, and photography. They traveled extensively throughout California and the Southwest, photographing all of the California Missions, Native Americans, and the regions' natural wonders and flora. Charles Saunders died in 1941, and Mira continued to write and publish articles about plants, as well as working for women's rights, Native American rights, and pacifist movements before her death in 1968.

7.92 Linear Feet (18 boxes)

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