Moreland Stevens Family Papers
MSS-2002-09-20
Monika Lehman, updated and edited by Lauren DeCelle in 2019
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
2014
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
special.collections@sjsu.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Moreland Stevens Family Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS-2002-09-20
Physical Description:
1.0 Box
(1 linear ft.)
Date (inclusive): 1861-2001
Abstract: The Moreland Stevens Family Papers consists of newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, art and artifacts donated by the
Stevens family. The bulk of this collection is 1890 - 1930.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Moreland Stevens Family Papers documents the lives of Charles Edwin Stevens and Alice Biddle Moreland, as well as contains
the art and artifact donations of Moreland Stevens. This collection tracks Edwin Stevens' personal life and professional life
as a stage and silent film actor during the early 20th century and Alice Biddle Moreland's trip to Asia in the 1880s. The
collection includes various paintings and artifacts that had been collected by the Stevens family through the generations.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into three series: Series I: Alice Biddle Moreland Photo Journal, Series II: Edwin Stevens Papers,
and Series III: Art and Artifacts.
All series are arranged chronologically.
Preferred Citation
The Moreland Stevens Family Papers, MSS-2002-09-20, San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has been assigned to San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission
to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections & Archives. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections & Archives as the owner 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. Copyright restrictions
also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
Processing Information
Processed by: Monika Lehman
Reviewed by: Danelle Moon
Date completed: 2014
Accessions processed by: Lauren DeCelle, September 2019
Biographical / Historical
Edwin Stevens was born in San Francisco in 1860. He was a film and theater actor from the 1890s to the 1920s, and later directed
and wrote screenplays. He starred in over 45 films, and died at the age of 63 in 1923.
Alice Biddle Moreland, related to Edwin Stevens by marriage, was born in Oregon in 1854. She is Oregon State University's
first female graduate, completing her degree in three years, graduating at age sixteen. She married a professor named William
Moreland in 1870 and together they had a daughter named Esther. Years later, Esther Moreland Leithold wrote her mother's biography
"And This Is Our Heritage."
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Theater Programs
University of Oregon
Travel
silent films
Actors
Women -- Education (Higher) -- 20th century
Motion pictures
Theater Periodicals
Stevens, Moreland L.
San José State University. Library. Special Collections & Archives
Series I. Alice Biddle Moreland Photo Journal
1880
Physical Description: 1 Box
Scope and Contents
Series I contains a photographic album of Alice Biddle Moreland's travels through Asia, specifically China and Japan, in the
1880s. Many of the photographs have been colored, and some are panoramic photographs.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date.
Series II. Edwin Stevens Papers
1876-2001
1976- 1977
Scope and Contents
Series II documents Edwin Stevens' personal and professional life as a stage and silent film actor. The series includes his
personal letters to his family, photographs, newspaper clippings, negatives of the film "The Yellow Menace," and a short biography
written by his great grand-nephew Moreland Leithold Stevens. Also included are two issues of "The Theater", a magazine for
playgoers, from 1908. The bulk of the series is from 1900-1923.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date.
Box 1, Folder 1
Edwin Stevens Photographs
1876-1922
Box 1, Folder 2
Edwin Stevens Newspaper Clippings
1890-1971
Box 1, Folder 3
Edwin Stevens Family Letters
1911-2001
Box 1, Folder 4
Edwin Stevens Periodicals
1908
Series III. Art and Artifacts
1861-1937
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically.
Scope and Contents
This series consists of framed paintings and framed and loose prints.
Box 1, Folder 5
One Framed Certificate of Agriculture, Horticulture, and Mechanics Society of the Northern District of California
September 1861
Box 1, Folder 5
Watercolor by Donald David, "Mt. Diablo"
1937
Box 1, Folder 5
Woodblock print "Criptomeria Avenue" by Hiroshi Yoshida
1937?
drawer 01-18, Folder 6
Print of The City of San Francisco in 1878, Birds Eye View From the Bay Looking South-West
General
Reproduced from an original lithograph published by Currier and Ives in The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.
drawer 01-18, Folder 6
Print of San Francisco in 1847
General
Reproduced from an original lithograph in The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.
