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Guide to the Richard Egan Manuscript Maps of Orange County
MS-R072
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Table of contents
Title: Richard Egan manuscript maps of Orange County,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1878-1879
Collection number: MS-R072
Creator:
Egan, Richard, 1842-1923
Extent:
1 linear foot
(1 box)
5 digitized images
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Abstract: Four manuscript survey maps and one plat map depicting areas of
Orange County and attributed to the noted surveyor and judge Richard Egan. One map is dated
1878 and 1879 by Egan. The other maps are undated and unsigned but it is likely that he drew
them during these years. These maps primarily depict subdivisions of non-rancho tracts of
land occupying what is now Orange County, with the addition of some topographical details.
Language:
English.
Selected digitized images from this collection.
Collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish,
please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Richard Egan Manuscript Maps of Orange County. MS-R72. Special Collections and Archives,
The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Purchased and donated by the Friends of the UCI Libraries in 1995.
Processed by Adrian Turner in 2000.
A surveyor and judge by trade, Egan was dubbed by the actress Helena Modjeska as the "King
of Capistrano." He was a Los Angeles County supervisor from 1885 to 1889 and also served on
a commission to develop the Orange County public highways. An Irish immigrant, he had
arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and eventually moved to San Juan Capistrano
after amassing a sizeable fortune. He was active as a surveyor during much of the 1870s.
Egan died in 1923.
For further biographical information, see Samuel Armor,
History of
Orange County California with biographical sketches
(Los Angeles: Historic Record
Company, 1921), 373-374. See also Pamela Hallan-Gibson,
Two hundred
years in San Juan Capistrano: a pictorial history
(Norfolk, Va.: Donning Co.,
1990).
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Four manuscript survey maps and one plat map depicting areas of Orange County and
attributed to the noted surveyor and judge Richard Egan. One map is dated 1878 and 1879 by
Egan. The other maps are undated and unsigned but it is likely that he drew them during
these years. These maps primarily depict subdivisions of non-rancho tracts of land occupying
what is now Orange County, with the addition of some topographical details.
Three maps depict non-rancho lands bordered by several ranchos, including one map with some
geographical and man-made features in the western section of Boca de la Playa. One map
illustrates the land occupying Rancho San Joaquin (including the present site of the
University of California, Irvine). The plat map depicts the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.
Egan's signature can be found on the survey map of lands bordering Rancho Niguel. The other
maps are drawn in the same, consistent hand. All maps are drawn on thin canvas. The lines
are created entirely in black ink, with numbers in red and highlights in blue and red
pencil.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Mission San Juan
Capistrano--Maps.
Orange County (Calif.)--Archival resources.
Rancho Boca de la Playa (Calif.)--Maps.
Rancho San Joaquin (Calif.)--Maps.
San Juan Capistrano (Calif.)--Maps.
Maps--California--Orange County--19th
century.
Maps--California--San Juan Capistrano--19th
century.
Plats--California--San Juan Capistrano--19th
century.
Surveyors--California--Orange
County.