Parks (Marion) Papers, 1894-1949 and undated, bulk 1926-1940

Summary

Title:

Marion Parks Papers

Dates:

1894-1949 and undated, bulk 1926-1940

Creators:

Parks, Marion

Abstract:

The Marion Parks Papers relate to the history of Southern California and include local history files, vintage pamphlets and brochures, correspondence files, and a collection of photographs taken by Parks of parades, historical pageants, and other events in and around Los Angeles. The bulk of the collection covers the period 1926-1940.

Extent:

5.6 Linear Feet (3 records boxes, 4 document boxes, 2 shoe boxes)

Language:

Languages represented in the collection: English .

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Marion Parks Papers (H.Mss.0618). Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The papers of Marion Parks, a personality in Los Angeles during the early 1900s, relate to the history of Southern California. Parks described herself as "a California historian." Her principal contributions in this capacity were a series of still-useful booklets published while she was publicity writer for Security-First National Bank, and the organization of colorful historical pageants (in the Spanish style) in several California towns. Her local history files contain typescripts of her own writings as well as quantities of vintage pamphlets and brochures, mostly from 1930s. Correspondence files date from about the 1920s to the 1940s. The collection also includes 197 photographs taken by Marion Parks of parades, historical pageants, and other events in and around Los Angeles that were probably taken in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Biographical / historical:

Chronology of the Life of Marion Parks

Date	Event
circa 1904	Born in Pasadena.
1920	Graduated from Pasadena High School.
1920-21	Attended Occidental College.
1925	Received B.A. degree with honors in history from University of California, Los Angeles.
1926-1927	Worked in the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art where she was in charge of historical loan exhibition.
1927-1928	Assistant secretary of the Southwest Museum and editor of the museum publication The Masterkey. Also involved with the Casa de Adobe, a replica of an early California ranch house with fiesta programs and publicity.
1929-1934	Publicity assistant, researching and writing booklets and magazine articles and giving speeches before organizations on California history for the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles.
1931	Assistant secretary for La Fiesta de Los Angeles, a 10 day fiesta celebrating the 150th anniversary.
1931	Founding member and vice president of Los Fiesteros de Los Angeles.
1932	Member of the Board of Directors and secretary of the Historical Society of Southern California.
1934	Member of the advisory committee of five for Southern California for the Historical Architecture Buildings Survey, a federal project.
1936	Married Nelson H. Partridge, Jr.

Acquisition information:

Gift of Don Meadows, 1985.

Processing information:

Collection processed by Vicky Hutzinger in March 1997. Finding aid and containter list expanded and revised by Kelley Bachli in September 2006.

Arrangement:

The papers have been arranged into six series, one of which has been further arranged in subseries. The series and subseries arrangement of the records are as follows:

• Series 1: Research materials on individuals, 1920-1939 and undated
• Series 2: Personal materials, 1894-1949 and undated
• Series 3: Ephemera and research materials on cities and places in California, 1907-1940 and undated
• Series 4: Marion Parks and Edwin Carpenter Correspondence, 1911-1944 and undate
• Series 5: Marion Parks Photographs, circa 1927-1932
• Subseries 5.1: Staged events, unknown location
• Subseries 5.2: Event at the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.3: Parade, downtown Los Angeles
• Subseries 5.4: Pope's visit to the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.5: Rodeo in the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.6: Parade in the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.7: The Mission Play
• Subseries 5.8: Performance in historical costume, unknown location
• Subseries 5.9: Event in the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.10: Beach
• Subseries 5.11: Native American performance
• Subseries 5.12: Wedding
• Subseries 5.13: Night-time electrical parade in the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Subseries 5.14: Los Angeles celebration, La Fiesta 1781-1931
• Subseries 5.15: Air show
• Series 6: Marion Parks Research Note Cards

Accruals:

No additions to the collection are anticipated.

Physical location:

Please consult repository.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Separated material:

The Charles Lummis Photographs, originally part of the Marion Parks Papers, were separated out into a standalone collection.

A selection of printed material was also removed from the collection and cataloged separately:

• El Mirasol Hotel and Bungalows. Santa Barbara, California: Schauer Printing Studio, Inc., undated.
• Griffith Park Greek Theater Dedicatory Program. [Los Angeles]: September 25, 1930.
• Los Angeles Opera and Fine Arts Magazine15, no. 1 (September 1937).
• Museum Graphic, Los Angeles Museum1, no. 1, 3 (September 1926, January 1927)
• Travelers Record 30, no. 6 (September 1894).
• Pacific Mutual News (October 1929).
• Los Angeles Historical Review (October 1929).
• Real Life Illustrated (November 1906).
• P.H.S. Circus. Los Angeles: Murray the Printer, May 16, 1919.
• The Cub: Monthly News Bulletin Native Daughters of the Golden West (March 1935, June 1937).
• In Honor of the Official Visit of Anna C. Thuesen, Grand President, Native Daughters of the Golden West and Commemorating the Forthcoming Fiftieth Grand Parlor Over which She Will Preside. Santa Barbara, California: March 16, 1936.
• Guide to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Santa Barbara, California: June 1939.
• The Toreador, Issued Monthly by the University Club of Los Angeles (June 1930, February 1933).
• The Santa Barbara Guest (July 1939).
• Official Souvenier and Program: Ballon School Circus. Edited by H. C. Hahlbeck. Arcadia, California: February 22, 1919.
• Standard Oil Bulletin (February 1934).
• Los Angeles Public Library Monthly Bulletin 14, no. 8 (February 1920).
• The Woman's City Club Magazine [Los Angeles] 4, no. 4, 7, 8 (December 1926, March-April 1927).
• Old Spanish Days Fiesta. Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara News Press, August 1937.
• Southern California Business 2, no. 3,4 (April 8, April 22 1940).
• Beverly Hills: A Calendar of Events in the Making of a City. Los Angeles: Title Guarantee and Trust Company, 1938.
• Inglewood: A Calendar of Events in the Making of a City. Los Angeles: Title Guarantee and Trust Company, 1937.
• Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, City of Los Angeles, California, for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1931. Los Angeles: 1931.
• Our Country: An Undefended Treasure Land, Reprinted from the Scientific American. Munn and Co., Inc., 1915.
• California through San Diego, Invites the World: California Pacific International Exposition. [1935].
• Gala Souvenier Magazine and Program. [Santa Barbara]: Lobero Theatre, [1926?].
• St. Anthony's Seminary Conducted by the Franciscan Fathers. Santa Barbara, California: [St. Anthony's Seminary], [1923?].
• El Mirasol Hotel. Reprint from San Francisco News Letter, Saturday, May 26, 1917 ed. Schauer Printing Studio, [1917?].
• A Beginning in Bodily Training for the Schools of Riverside County. Riverside, California: Walters and Clark, Printers, undated.
• California Journal of Development, Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, undated.
• [Clift, Frederick C. ?]. El Mirasol Hotel. Santa Barbara, California: Schauer Printing Studio, Inc., undated.
• Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, and Velma Ruess. Beverly Hills, California: Midway between Los Angeles and the Sea. Beverly Hills, California: Carl A. Bundy Quill and Press, undated.
• Bissel, Ervanna Bowen. The Island Trail in the Blaksley Botamic Garden Affiliated with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Reprinted from the Gardeners' Chronicle of America. Undated.
• Byrd, Jane Carroll. A Brief History of St. Vincent's Institution and St. Vincent's Orphanage Auxiliary 1918-1927. Santa Barbara, California: Schauer Printing Studio, Inc, undated.
• Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. St. Vincent's Institution Model Adjustment School for Girls. Santa Barbara, California: 1936.
• Fox Arlington Theatre. "The Cross and the Sword" a Romance of California for the Benifit of the Santa Ines Mission Restoration Fund. December 4, 1933.
• Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce. Mission La Purisima Concepcion. Lompoc, California: La Purisima State Park, undated.
• Los Amigos de Santa Inez. "La Verbena De Santa Inez" Pagent--Fiesta Commemorating the Junipero Serra Sesquicentennial. Mission Santa Inez, September 16, 1934.
• McIsaac, Colin H. Santa Barbara Mission: Early Days in California. Santa Barbara, California: Schauer Printing Studio, Inc., 1929.
• Porter, John C. Address of James E. Shelton, Esq., on the Occasion of a Luncheon in the Los Angeles City Hall. [Los Angeles]: July 23, 1930.
• Somerville, Henry. St. Vincent De Paul (Apostile of Organized Charity). New York: The Paulist Press, 1916.
• St. Vincent's Orphanage Auxilary. Annual Report St. Vincent's Orphanage Auxilary 1920-1921. [1921?].
• Whitelaw, Frank J. On the Road to Beverly Hills: The Hub of the Playground of the World. [Los Angeles]: The Clason Map Co., undated.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

California -- History
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Description and travel
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- History
Correspondence
Diaries
Photographs
Printed ephemera

About this collection guide

Date Prepared:

© 2024

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-07-12 13:56:23 -0700 .

Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Marion Parks Papers (H.Mss.0618). Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, California.

Location of this collection:

Claremont Colleges, Honnold/Mudd Library

800 N. Dartmouth Ave.

Claremont, CA 91711, US

Contact:

(909) 607‑3977

specialcollections@claremont.edu

Website