Anne T. Kent California Room Collection

Marin County Free Library staff
Marin County Free Library
Anne T. Kent California Room
Civic Center Branch
Marin County Free Library
3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 427
San Rafael, California, 94903
Phone: (415) 499-7419
Email: ljthompson@co.marin.ca.us
URL: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/LB/Main/crm/index.html?CFID=5786663&CFTOKEN=79706500
Copyright 2006
Marin County Free Library


Descriptive Summary

Title: Anne T. Kent California Room Collection
Dates: c.1875-Present
Bulk Dates: 1885-Present
Collection number: Consult repository
Collector: Marin County Free Library
Collector: Anne T. Kent California Room
Collection Size: Approx. 10,000 books; 9,000 photographs; 400 oral histories; 500 maps; 225 linear feet of documents, clippings & ephemera. 900 online items
Repository: Marin County Free Library
San Rafael, California, 94903
Abstract: Archive dedicated to collecting and preserving information on local, regional and state history with a strong emphasis on the history and culture of Marin County. Special collections include: The Dr. Leo Stanley Collection on San Quentin Prison; The Stinson Family Collection; The Kent Family Collection; Frank Lloyd Wright and the Marin County Civic Center; Mountain Play Collection; California Motion Picture Corporation Collection.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the Marin County Free Library. Literary rights are generally retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce, please contact the Anne T. Kent California Room Librarian.

Preferred Citation

Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library, San Rafael, California.

Acquisition Information

Collected by the Anne T. Kent California Room, 1935-present.

Project Information

260 (of the approx. 900) items on the Online Archive of California and Calisphere were digitized from the Kent Family and the Dr. Leo Stanley Collections of the Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library, as part of a one-year project funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), administered in California by the State Librarian, from July 2005 through June 2006, in order to provide an additional access point to primary graphic resources documenting the history of Marin County. Over the course of the grant year, 200 photographs were digitized by Northern Micrographics and 60 were digitized by the Anne T. Kent California Room. Metadata was created for these images by the California Room staff using CONTENTdm software provided by the grant. In addition, the grant funded the purchase of an Epson Perfection 4990 scanner; an Epson Stylus Photo R800 ink jet printer; and archival polyester sleeves and preservation enclosures for 5000 loose photographs.
Digitized materials on the history of Marin County and Northern California, including a portion of our oral history collection, can also be accessed on the Anne T. Kent California Room Digital Archive at californiaroom.marinlibrary.org.
Topics covered in the digital archives include: The 1906 Earthquake and Fire; Bear Valley Country Club (Pt. Reyes), c.1893-1895; Bear Valley Ranch (Pt. Reyes), 1940s; Bill Shannon's Villa, San Rafael, c.1895-1918; California Motion Picture Corporation, c.1914-1918; Camp Taylor (Samuel P. Taylor Park), 1889; Frank Lloyd Wright & the Marin County Civic Center; Golden Gate Bridge Construction, 1933-1937; Kentfield: Charles Bach Collection, c.1895-1930; Kentfield: Kent Family Collection, c.1880-1930; Marin County Free Library, 1927-Present; Marin County: Lothers & Young Collection, 1920s; The Mountain Play (Mount Tamalpais), 1913-1972; Muir Woods National Monument: Kent Family Collection, c.1908-1925; Marin County Railroads, c.1875-1941; San Quentin Prison: Dr. Leo Stanley Collection, c.1910-1930; San Rafael Illustrated & Described, 1884; San Rafael & Marin: Howitt Family Collection, 1913-1914.

Administrative History

The Anne T. Kent California Room was created by Marin County Librarian, Virginia Keating, in the mid-1930s.
The room is named after Anne T. Kent, who, in the 1920s, was instrumental in establishing the Marin County Free Library System and in 1974, with Carla Ehat, established the California Room oral history program.
Since 1962, the California Room has been housed in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin County Civic Center, with materials relating to the Civic Center, forming one of its special collections.

Scope and Content of Collection

Archive dedicated to collecting and preserving information on local, regional and state history with a strong emphasis on the history and culture of Marin County.
Special Collections:
  • The Dr. Leo Stanley Collection on San Quentin Prison: Personal journals, travel diaries, manuscripts, prison records, medical papers, photographs, clippings, and ephemera. Dr. Stanley was the prison doctor at San Quentin Prison from 1913 to 1951.
  • The Stinson Family Collection: Papers focus on the family's property holdings at Bolinas and Stinson Beach. Family photograph albums include views of the Stinson Beach area.
  • The Kent Family Collection: Photographs & ephemera pertaining to the Kent Family who settled in Marin County in 1871 and who had extensive land holdings in the Ross Valley and the Mt. Tamalpais area. Also, papers and writings of Congressman, William Kent, and his wife, Elizabeth Thatcher Kent, who donated the land which became Muir Woods National Monument to the federal government in 1908.
  • Frank Lloyd Wright & the Marin County Civic Center: Books, documents and photographs on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, with a special emphasis on the Marin County Civic Center.
  • Mountain Play Collection: Mountain Play Association scrapbooks, 1913-1972; Mountain Play Association minutes, 1914-1957; clipping files; photographs; ephemera. An annual Mountain Play has been performed on Mt. Tamalpais since 1913.
  • California Motion Picture Corporation: 99 glass plate negatives of stills; photograph albums belonging to actor, George Skaff; clippings; ephemera. The California Motion Picture Corporation (CMPC) was located in the Sun Valley neighborhood of San Rafael, Marin County, 1914 - 1921. The studio produced 15 feature-length silent films, most of which were lost in a 1931 vault explosion.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.

Names

Bradley, Ernest
Butler, George E., 1943-
California Motion Picture Corporation
California State Prison at San Quentin
California State Prison at San Quentin--Little Olympics
College of Marin
College of San Rafael
Holohan, James B.
Howitt Family
Johnson, Ben, 1853?-1904
Johnston, James A., 1874-
Kent Family
Kent, Albert Emmett, 1890-1933
Kent, Albert Emmett, 1830-1901
Kent, Anne Thompson
Kent, Elizabeth Thacher, 1868-1952
Kent, Thomas
Kent, Thomas T., 1892-
Kent, William, 1864-1928
Marin County Free Library
Mission San Rafael Arcangel
Mount Tamalpais Military Academy (San Rafael, Calif.)
Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad Co.
North Pacific Coast Railroad Company
North Shore Railroad
Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company
Olympic Club (San Francisco, Calif.)
Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946
San Francisco Presbyterian Orphanage
Stanley, Leo L. (Leo Leonidas), 1886-1976
Sunny Hills Children's Garden
Tamalpais Centre
Taylor, Samuel Penfield, 1827-1886
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959

Places

Angel Island (Calif.)
Belvedere (Calif.)
Bear Valley (Marin County, Calif.)
Bolinas (Calif.)
China Camp
Corte Madera (Calif.)
Fairfax (Calif.)
Greenbrae (Calif.)
Kentfield (Calif.)
Lagunitas (Calif.)
Larkspur (Calif.)
Marin City (Calif.)
Marin County (Calif.)
Mill Valley (Calif.)
Muir Woods (Calif.)
Novato (Calif.)
Olema (Calif.)
Point Reyes National Seashore (Calif.)
Point Reyes Station (Calif.)
Ross (Calif.)
San Anselmo (Calif.)
San Francisco (Calif.)
San Quentin (Calif.)
San Rafael (Calif.)
Santa Venetia (Calif.)
Sausalito (Calif.)
Stinson Beach (Calif.)
Tamalpais, Mount (Calif.)
Taylorville (Calif.)
Tiburon (Calif.)
West Marin (Calif.)

Topics

Agriculture
Architecture
Athletes
Athletic clubs
Boxers
Buildings--Earthquake effects
Businesses
Camping
Children playing outdoors, 1900-1910
Clubs and Organizations
Community Centers--California
Conservation
Crime and Criminals
Cross-dressers
Dairy Industry
Earthquakes
Exhibitions
Ferries
Golden Gate Bridge
Grape Festival--Marin County (Calif.)
Hamilton Air Force Base (Calif.)
Highways
Historic Homes and Buildings
Libraries
May Day
Mountain Play
Mt. Tamalpais
Moving Pictures
Oral Histories
Parks
Pistol shooting
Prisoners
Recreation
San Francisco Earthquake, Calif., 1906
Resorts
Ranching
Ranches
Railroads
Schools
Tourism
Track and field
Transportation

Genres and Forms of Materials

Maps
Books
Clippings
Ephemera
Glass negatives
Illustrations
Letters (correspondence)
Manuscripts
Maps
Pamphlets
Photograph albums
Photographic postcard
Photographs
Postcards
Posters
Programs
Scrapbooks