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Guide to the South Pasadena Local History Images Collection
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Title: South Pasadena Local History Images Collection
Dates: Circa 1875-1990
Dates (Bulk): Circa 1890-1940
Collection Number: Consult repository.
Collector:
South Pasadena Public Library
Collection Size:
Approximately 300 items online, from approximately 1200 items in the collection, including photographs, postcards, and printed
ephemera
294 online items
Repository: South Pasadena Public Library
1100 Oxley Street
South Pasadena, CA 91030
Phone: (626)403-7340
Fax: (626)403-7331
URL: http://www.ci.south-pasadena.ca.us/library
Abstract: The South Pasadena Local History Images Collection includes photographs, postcards, brochures and other materials of historical
interest on the City of South Pasadena and its environs from approximately 1875 to 1990, with the bulk of the materials from
1890 to 1940. The images in the collection document South Pasadena's early city life and residents, its historical houses
and landmarks, and its streets, homes, businesses, public buildings, churches and schools. Significant subjects in the collection
include South Pasadena's early city life and development before 1915, its Cultural Heritage Landmarks and other historic architecture,
and the Raymond Hotel and the Cawston Ostrich Farm.
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Local History Librarian of the South Pasadena
Public Library at 626-403-7359.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Selected digitized images from this collection.
Collection is open for reesearch.
Property rights reside with the South Pasadena Public Library. Publication rights are retained by the creators of the records
and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Local History Librarian of the South Pasadena
Public Library at 626-403-7359.
Suggested citation of these records is: [Identification of item], South Pasadena Historic Photographs Collection, South Pasadena
Public Library, South Pasadena, CA.
The collection was created by the South Pasadena Public Library staff as part of the Local History Digital Resources Project
of the California State Library and the Online Archive of California, from 2001 through 2008. For information regarding the
acquisition of particular items, or to discuss donating images to the collection, please contact the Local History Librarian
of the South Pasadena Public Library at 626-403-7359.
The South Pasadena Local History Images Collection includes photographs, postcards, brochures and other materials of historical
interest on the City of South Pasadena and its environs from approximately 1875 to 1990, with the bulk of the materials from
1890 to 1940. The images in the collection document South Pasadena's early city life and residents, its historical houses
and landmarks, and its streets, homes, businesses, public buildings, churches and schools. Significant subjects in the collection
include South Pasadena's early city life and development before 1915, its Cultural Heritage Landmarks and other historic architecture,
and the Raymond Hotel and the Cawston Ostrich Farm.
Formats of the items digitized include photographs, photographic negatives and glass plates, color slides, postcards, printed
ephemera such as souvenir brochures and marketing materials, and manuscript correspondence. Photographs primarily document
early city life and many of South Pasadena's historically and architecturally significant buildings and cultural heritage
landmarks. Postcards, printed ephemera and correspondence items primarily document tourism and travel to South Pasadena,
especially the Cawston Ostrich Farm, the Raymond Hotel, Busch Gardens, and historic houses and buildings.
The bulk of the photographs were taken by commercial photographers, such as Truman Keith, Herbert J. Kenney, Edgar Bowman
and the Graham Photo Company of Los Angeles. Many are associated with original glass plate or film negatives.
Items were selected initially from a wide range of historical collections housed in the South Pasadena Public Library, particularly
the Cawston Ostrich Farm Collection of Herbert J. Vatcher, the South Pasadena Cultural Heritage Commission Collection, the
American Legion Post 140 Collection, South Pasadena city department files, and the South Pasadena Public Library's vertical
files. Additional individual images were donated or loaned by South Pasadena residents. Unpublished guides and indexes to
photographic collections from which items were selected are available at the South Pasadena Public Library. Consult the library
for more information.
These photographs were selected, conserved, digitized and catalogued from various photograph collections in the South Pasadena
Public Library's Local History Collection. The project was part of the California Local History Digital Resources Project
(LHDRP), a multi-year program supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library
Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Leveraging the infrastructure of the CDL
in partnership with Califa, the LHDRP explores a model to aggregate, preserve, and provide permanent public access to local
history materials maintained by California cultural heritage institutions via a single statewide online access point. For
more information about the LHDRP, see
http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/oac/lsta/ .
South Pasadena Public Library began its South Pasadena Local History Images digitization project began with previous LSTA
funding in 2000-2001 and 2002-2003, which allowed the Library to select, conserve and digitize approximately 800 photographs
from its historical collections and from photographs loaned by South Pasadena residents during a "Photo Day" in 2001. Digitization
for the first items was performed by AIM, Inc., of Pasadena, California. These images are available in-house at South Pasadena
Public Library. Of these, approximately 400 have received initial cataloguing on an in-house database.
Under LHDRP grant funding for 2007-2008, an additional 200 images were selected, digitized and catalogued. Digital objects
were created and catalogued from these 200 images and from 100 of the earlier items, using CONTENTdm, a digital asset management
tool shared by LHDRP participants. The cataloging conforms to the CDL's Guidelines for Digital Objects specifications for
descriptive and copyright metadata (see
http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/guidelines/ ).
Digitization for the 2007-2008 images was performed by Northern Micrographics, Inc., using flatbed scanners. For each physical
item, multiple digital image files were created: a TIFF master, two JPEG access images, and a GIF thumbnail image. Digital
image files conform to the CDL's Guidelines for Digital Images (see
http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/guidelines/bpgimages/ ).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection:
South Pasadena (Calif.)--History
South Pasadena (Calif.)
South Pasadena Public Library
Cawston Ostrich Farm
Raymond (Hotel: Pasadena, Calif.)
Historic buildings
Houses
Hotels
Ostrich farms
Ostriches
Tourism
Photographs
Postcards
Brochures
Advertisements
Maps
Letters
Additional information regarding the history of the City of South Pasadena and the South Pasadena Public Library may be found
in the following publications:
Books:
Apostol, Jane.
A Centennial History: 1888-1988. South Pasadena, CA: South Pasadena Public Library, 1987.
Apostol, Jane.
Centennial, 1895-1995: The South Pasadena Public Library, Its First Hundred Years. South Pasadena, CA: South Pasadena Public Library, 1995.
DVDs/Videos:
Stories From Home: South Pasadena, CA. South Pasadena, CA: South Pasadena Public Library, 2003.