California State and Local History

Special Projects

City of Rancho Cucamonga Project | Workman and Temple Homestead Series

Bissell, Clara L.

See Bissell, Clara L. in
Claremont Colleges (Includes Miriam
Colcord Post.

Boynton, Charles L. and Boynton, Edmund C.

Reminiscences about their Boyhood in Pasadena and Los Angeles and their
Student Days at Pomona College. 1962.

Charles Boynton, China missionary; Edmund Boynton, manager of a teacher’s agency.
They describe their family’s train trip from Vermont to Pasadena in 1887 and their
boyhood in Pasadena and Los Angeles. They discuss student days at Pomona College
at the turn of the century and various prominent professors. They recount their
experiences with earthquakes in California.

Interviewers: Caroline Beatty, Oral History Program; Priscilla Neff, Claremont
Graduate School.

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Chase, Waldo F. (b. 1862)

Clergyman, Musician

Clergyman, Musician, Teacher. 1962.

Reverend Chase describes his boyhood in San Francisco and Oakland and his arrival
in San Diego in 1869. Tells about schooling, social life, churches, musical organizations,
trips into back country while living in San Diego from 1869 until 1897. Describes
trips to Boston and Berlin in years as music teacher at Marlborough School in
Los Angeles.

Interviewer: John H. Kemble, Professor of History, Pomona College, Claremont
Graduate School.

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Cooke, W. Henry (b. 1892)

Professor

1968.

Professor of History, Emeritus, Claremont Graduate School. Pomona class of
1920. This interview deals with Dr. Cooke’s interest, intercultural relations,
an outgrowth of his participation in UNESCO during the 1940’s. He was on the Committee
on Community Relations of the Los Angeles Welfare Council, which dealt with the
problems of blacks moving into “Little Tokyo” and the conflict when the Japanese
returned. Dr. Cooke then focused on the problems of the Mexican-American in the
Claremont area and he discusses his work with the Intercultural Council to assist
them.

Interviewer: Georgenia Irwin, Oral History Program.

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Cornell, Ralph D. (b. 1890)

Landscape Architect

Half a Century as a Southern California Landscape Architect. 1970.

Graduate of Pomona College (1914) and of Harvard University School of Landscape
Architecture (1917). In cooperation with the University of California at Los Angeles
Oral History Program’s development of a manuscript on Mr. Cornell’s career, an
interview was conducted with Mr. Cornell on his relationship to the colleges in
Claremont as student and landscape architect.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Oral History Program.

Restricted Interview. Contact us for more information. Top of page.

Courtney, Dr. Howard P. (b. 1911)

Missionary Theologian

The First Foreign Missionaries of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. 1978.

Born in Frederick, Oklahoma, Howard Courtney went with his family to southern
California where they became associated with Aimee Semple McPherson and the International
Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He attended the denomination’s college in Los
Angeles and graduated in 1932. From 1944 to 1950 Dr. Courtney assumed the post
of Supervisor Director of Foreign Missions. Since that time Dr. Courtney had held
several important posts within the Church and has published several theological
works. This interview deals with Howard Courtney’s experience as head of the foreign
missions division of the Church and also with the missionary program of the Foursquare
Church.

Interviewer: Kermit L. Staggers, doctoral student, Claremont Graduate School.

Restricted Interview. Contact us for more information. Top of page.

Fogg, Philip (b. 1903)

Business Executive

Executive, Engineer, Teacher. 1962.

Chairman of the Board, Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation. Comments on
service under Dr. Millikan at Caltech as teacher of Business Economics, Registrar,
and Chairman of Admissions Committee. Account of development of electronics firm;
Consolidated Electrodynamics; association with Herbert Hoover, Jr., designing
and manufacturing of geophysical equipment, test instruments, control devices,
and computers; solution of problems of research and corporate finance, including
merger with Bell and Howell.

Interviewer: John B. Rae, Professor of History, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont
Graduate School.

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Foley, Edward T. (b. 1887)

Business Executive

Memoirs. 1964.

Mr. Foley studied at St. Thomas College and Oxford. He tells about the part
he played in the family construction firm, Foley Brothers. Part I discusses Mr.
Foley’s experiences at Oxford (1906-1907); the Irish War of Independence; his
service in World War I; and as the leader in diversifying Foley Brothers after
the War. Part relates Foley Brothers’ operations in the Persian Gulf during World
War II; the operation of ranches in California; and further business ventures
in South America.

Interviewer: John Niven, Professor of History, Claremont Graduate School.

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Haines, Charles C. (b. 1880)

Judge

Interview on the Occasion of the Sixtieth Anniversary of his Graduation
from Pomona College. 1962.

Lawyer, Superior Court Judge (San Diego). Describes his boyhood in Chula Vista,
student days at Pomona College (class of 1902), Presidents Baldwin and Ferguson,
and legal training at Berkeley. Major portion is an account of his participation
as a lawyer in the Imperial Valley water litigation.

Interviewers: John H. Kemble, Professor of History, Pomona College, Claremont
Graduate School; William B. Himrod, lawyer and Pomona College graduate (1908);
Caroline Beatty, Oral History Program.

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Hart, Elsie Blumer (b. 1873)

California Pioneer

Memories of Early Southern California Days. 1962.

Graduate of University of California (1895); wife of John W. Hart, lawyer.
Tells of trip from England to live in Sierra Madre because of her father’s health
and comments on the history of the Sierra Madre area while she was growing up
there. Tells of student life at Berkeley (1891-1895). Describes horticultural
career of her brother-in-law, Edwin G. Hart, in the development of citrus and
avocado industry in Southern California, and his part in establishing the city
of San Marino and its school system.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Oral History Program.

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Himrod, William B.

See Himrod, William B.
in Claremont Colleges.

Hunter, Joseph

See Hunter, Joseph in Industry.

Lawler, Oscar

See Lawler, Oscar in Law.

Loeb, Joseph (b. 1883)

Attorney, College Trustee

Los Angeles Attorney. 1965.

Member of a prominent Los Angeles family; partner in the law firm of Loeb &
Loeb; member of the Board of Fellows, Claremont Graduate School. Discusses: his
grandfather, Harris Newmark, a wealthy Los Angeles merchant, including an account
of his sale of the Santa Anita Ranch to E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin; his law practice,
which involved the movie industry and dealt with many prominent Los Angeles business
firms; his services on the California State Board of Education (1943-1956) as
an appointee of Earl Warren.

Interviewers: David W. Davies, Librarian, Honnold Library; Enid H. Douglass,
Oral History Program.

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Miyatake, Toyo (b. 1895)

Photographer

A Life in Photography: The Recollections of Toyo Miyatake. 1978.

Toyo Miyatake left his native Japan in 1909, and arrived in Los Angeles at
the age of 14. Young Miyatake had a talent for art, but decided that he could
make a better living as a photographer and set up his own studio in Little Tokyo
in 1923. During his long photographic career, Mr. Miyatake has known such personalities
as the famous Japanese dancer Michio Ito, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston. In 1941,
Mr. Miyatake smuggled a camera into Manzanar internment camp, with the idea of
preserving a documentary picture of daily life for the Japanese during this period
of American history. Mr. Miyatake discusses his career in Little Tokyo and his
experiences when interned.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Oral History Program.

Interview a product of Joint Project with Los
Angeles Public Library where a copy is also deposited.

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Mukaeda, Katsuma (b. 1890)

Attorney, Community Leader

Memoirs. 1975.

Born in Kumamoto, Japan. Mr. Mukaeda emigrated to Southern California in 1908
where he studied law and received his degree from the American University School
of Law (Los Angeles) in 1932. He reminisces about his youth in Japan and early
experiences in Southern California. Mr. Mukaeda emerged as a community leader
in Little Tokyo and Southern California and he discusses his role in handling
labor negotiations, business ventures, and Japanese cultural and community activities.
He relates what happened during his internment in World War II and how, afterwards,
he resumed his life as a respected leader in Little Tokyo. Mr. Mukaeda worked
with James Blaisdell in establishing the Society for Oriental Studies at the Claremont
Colleges.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Oral History Program. Copy also deposited at
the Blaisdell Institute.

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Pignatelli, Princess Conchita (b. 1888)

Journalist

Member of Sepulveda and de la Guerra Families, California Journalist. 1963.

Daughter of Ygnacio Sepulveda and Erlinda de la Guerra of prominent Spanish
families in Southern California, born and educated in México City, where
her father worked for the Wells Fargo Company and attended the interests of William
Randolph Heart. Married Prince Pignatelli of Italy. Served thirty years as columnist
for Hearst’s Los Angeles Examiner. Recounts her parents’ stories of California
ranch life and life in México City during the revolution against Diaz (1911)
when her family was well acquainted with Mexican leaders; Relates her experiences
as a columnist: Italy under Mussolini; Spain under Franco; Japan under MacArthur;
character portrayal of William Randolph Hearst.

Interviewers: John Niven, Professor of History, Claremont Graduate School;
David W. Davies, Librarian, Honnold Library; Hubert Herring, Professor of Latin
American Civilization, Emeritus, Pomona College, Claremont Graduate School; George
Jagels, member of the Board of Fellows, Claremont Graduate School.

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Richardson, Almon T. (b. 1889)

Newspaper Publisher

Newspaper Publisher. 1962.

Publisher, Pomona Progress Bulletin. Tells of student days at Pomona College
(class of 1903) and experiences as a young newspaperman–Theodore Roosevelt’s
visit to Claremont in 1903, meetings with Presidents Taft and Cleveland, and Hiram
Johnson’s address in Pomona. Discusses: newspaper rivalry in Pomona at the turn
of the century; influence of the Southern Pacific Railroad; establishment of the
Los Angeles County Fair; ascendancy of the city of Pomona.

Interviewers: John H. Kemble, Professor of History, Pomona College, Claremont
Graduate School; Caroline Beatty and Spencer Olin, Oral History Program.

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Rosecrans, William (b. 1889)

Philanthropist

Recollections of Life on the Rosecrans Ranch. 1963.

Property management, oil development, philanthropist. Mr. Rosecrans talks in
detail about his boyhood, ranch life in Southern California at the turn of the
century, and his grandfather (General William Rosecrans).

Interviewers: John Niven, Associate Professor of History, Claremont Graduate
School; Spencer Olin, Oral History Program.

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Russell, Hubbard (b. 1885)

Cattle Rancher

Cattle Rancher. 1962.

Mr. Russell relates his father’s experiences ranching on the Jesus Maria and
Zaca Ranches, where he was raised. Recounts his experiences in the “pioneer days”
of cattle ranching in California and Arizona and describes problems in marketing
cattle and relations between cattlemen and the big packing houses. Tells of delivering
cattle from Imperial Valley to American Army units on the Mexican border at the
time of the Pancho Villa raids and of the discovery of oil on his Cuyama Ranch.

Interviewers: John Niven, Associate Professor of History, Claremont Graduate
School; David W. Davies, Librarian, Honnold Library; Mark W. Durley, Jr., Claremont
University Center.

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Sinclair, Upton (b. 1878)

Writer

Reminiscences about Some of his Novels and about his Political Career. 1963.

Comments about the writing of these novels: Manassas, The Jungle, The Brass
Check, Oil!, Boston, The Metropolis, Sylvia, The Flivver King, the Lanny Budd Series. Discusses the muckrakers, the establishment of the Intercollegiate Socialistic
Society, his relations with the Socialist Party, and the EPIC (End Poverty in
California) campaign in 1934.

Interviewers: John Niven, Associate Professor of History, Claremont Graduate
School; David S. Sanders, Associate Professor of English, Harvey Mudd College,
Claremont Graduate School; David W. Davies, Librarian, Honnold Library; John A.
Vieg, Professor of Government, Pomona College, Claremont Graduate School; Spencer
Olin, Oral History Program.

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Smith, Arthur Maxson (b. 1871)

College Professor

Member of the first Graduating Class, Pomona College. 1962.

Member of Pomona College’s first graduating class (1894) discusses his student
days at college, graduate work at the University of Chicago and Harvard, work
at Punahou School (Hawaii) to make it a conventional preparatory school, and service
as Pomona’s first Professor of Philosophy (1904-1909). Vividly describes a trip
he made by himself to the top of Mount Baldy when sixteen.

Interviewers: Frederick Sontag, Professor of Philosophy, Pomona College, Claremont
Graduate School; Caroline Beatty and Spencer Olin, Oral History Program.

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Swanson, A. E. (b. 1897)

President, Sun-Maid Raisin Growers

Sun-Maid Raisin Growers of California. 1964.

Grew up in Kingsburg, California and in 1927 became associated with Sun-Maid,
being elected to its board in 1935 and made president in 1944. The story of Mr.
Swanson’s activities in the raisin industry, as grower and member of the cooperative
raisin association in the San Joaquin Valley, and the industry’s importance to
the local economy. Tells the reason for forming a raisin cooperative and gives
a detailed account of its organizational and financial basis.

Interviewer: E. Todd Clark, doctoral student, Claremont Graduate School.

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Voorhis, Horace Jeremiah (b. 1901)

Congressman, Educator

Series of six interviews. 1970–1971.

Mr. Voorhis received his A.B. from Yale in 1923 (Phi Beta Kappa) and was the
first to be awarded an M.A. from the Claremont Graduate School. For ten years,
1928-1938, he was Headmaster of the Voorhis School, a school for homeless boys.
In 1936, he served as Congressman from the 12th District until 1946, when he was
defeated by Richard Nixon. For the next twenty years, Mr. Voorhis was Executive
Director of the Cooperative League of the United States until his retirement in
1967.

Interviewers: Enid H. Douglass, Vol. I; Malcolm Douglass, Vol. II; Richard
Richards, Vol. III; John A. Vieg, Vol. IV; Stephen I. Zetterberg, Vol. V; Howard
Bowen, Vol. VI.

Interviews underwritten by the Los Angeles Public Library. Interview
manuscript deposited at the Los
Angeles Public Library as well as the Honnold
Library.

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Vosburg, Keith (b. 1889)

College Professor

Rancho Azusa and the Slauson Family. 1962.

The grandson of Jonathan Sayre Slauson, who purchased Rancho Azusa Dalton in
1879, describes his grandfather’s many activities, especially his part in the
development of the city of Azusa. Tells about the securing of water and securing
and power, the change from vineyards to citrus, interesting characters from the
neighboring Bradbury and Baldwin Estates, and his own education.

Interviewers: David W. Davies, Librarian, Honnold Library.

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Wada, Fred I. (b. 1907)

Produce Marketer, Olympic Movement Activist

Businessman, Community Leader, and Philanthropist. 1984.

Fred Wada was born in Bellingham, Washington but lived in Japan during his
childhood. He returned to the United States and by the age of twenty-seven owned
a chain of stores in Oakland, California. After Pearl Harbor he lead a group of
Japanese-Americans to live on a farm in Keetley, Utah and was asked by the government
to travel and persuade other Japanese to move from the internment camps to settle
on farms. After World War II he settled in Los Angeles and established a very
successful produce business, which expanded to seventeen supermarkets. From 1969
until 1971 he served on the Los Angeles Harbor Commission. Since the early 1950s
he was been active in promoting the Olympics and served a key role in securing
the games at Tokyo in 1964, as well as the winter games at Sapporo in 1972. He
now serves on the Los Angeles Olympics Committee. A three-interview series on
his life, including videotaping of a session.

Interviewers: Edward Asawa, Los Angeles County Public Library; Enid H. Douglass,
Oral History Program.

Interview series underwritten by Los Angeles County. Interview
manuscript deposited at the Los
Angeles Public Library as well at the Honnold
Library.

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Walker, Irving G.

See Walker, Irving G. in
Claremont Colleges.

Wheeler, Stuart G. (b. 1897)

Citrus Grower, City Councilman

Citrus Rancher, Mayor of Claremont. 1962.

Born in La Verne Heights and commenced citrus ranching in Upland after World
War I. Summarizes the evolution of agriculture in the Pomona Valley–grazing,
grain, vineyards, deciduous fruit, olives, and finally citrus. Discusses water
problems, ranch labor, the development of the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange
cooperative, Agricultural Extension Service, and citrus byproducts. Reflects on
the history of Claremont.

Interviewers: Caroline Beatty and Spencer Olin, Oral History Program.

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Woodford, Alfred O.

See Woodford, Alfred O. in
Claremont Colleges.

Zeitlin, Jacob

See Zeitlin, Jacob
in Politics and Government.

See Zeitlin, Jacob
in Southern California
Bookmen Series.

Zetterberg, Stephen I.

See Zetterberg, Stephen
I. in Politics and Government.
See Zetterberg, Stephen
I. in State Archives Government Oral
History Program.

City of Rancho Cucamonga Oral History Project

p>The City of Rancho Cucamonga’s Historic Preservation Commission realized in
the early 1980s that much of the community’s rich heritage resided in the collective
memories of those men and women who had played important and often unrecognized
historic roles. By 1988 the Commission and its Planning Department staff had begun
to investigate ways in which to establish and fund an Oral History Project. In
1990, with a grant from the Rancho Cucamonga Community Foundation, the first phase,
12 interviews with 21 individuals, was begun. The Commission and the City Council
now require that adverse impact on the historic built environment be considered
in reviewing new development be mitigated with measures designed to reduce this
impact.

This particular project focuses on the impact of the demolition of the only
remaining building, a store, from expansive Lafourcade Winery complex, which later
was owned and operated by the Masi family on the southwest corner of Rochester
Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. Required as part of the Environmental Impact Mitigation
was the provision to contract for the completion of four oral histories of the
Lafourcade and Masi families. These interviews were conducted by Enid H. Douglass
of the Claremont Graduate University Oral History Program. The interview manuscripts
are deposited in the City of Rancho Cucamonga Historic Preservation Oral History
Collection.

Aggazzotti, Joan Lopez (b. 1915)

Rancho Cucamonga Oral History Project

1993.

Her parents bought the property on the east side of Rochester Avenue (across
from the Lafourcade operation). Her father, Diego Lopez, worked in the Lafourcade
winery. She and Josephine Lafourcade were friends.

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Barringtion, Marguerite Lafourcade

Rancho Cucamonga Oral History Project

No Date.

Youngest child of John B. and Josephine Lastiry Lafourcade.

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Masi, Jennie C. (b. 1910)

Rancho Cucamonga Oral History Project

1992.

Wife of Sebastian Masi. During World War II, Sebastian and Jennie Masi bought
the Lafourcade property on the southwest corner of Rochester and Foothill Boulevard.

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Miller, Patricia Mullin (b. 1930)

Rancho Cucamonga Oral History Project

1992.

Daughter of Amy Lafourcade Miller, the eldest daughter of John B. and Josephine
Lastiry Lafourcade.

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Workman and Temple Homestead Oral History Series

This is a series of oral history interviews conducted on behalf of the Workman
and Temple Homestead located in the City of Industry, California. Interviews are
deposited at Homestead and Honnold Library.

Brown, Robert Heaton (b. 1927)

Workman and Temple Homestead Oral History Series

1983.

For part of the time Robert Brown’s second- through fifth-grade education at
Raenford School for Boys, the school was housed at the Workman Temple Homestead.
Robert Brown’s mother and stepfather, Lois and Henry Brown, operated a sanitarium.
In 1940, they purchased the Workman- Temple Homestead from California Bank. While
preparing for the opening of the El Encanto Convalescent Home on the Homestead
site, they moved their family into the Workman house and admitted patients to
the Temple house. Robert Brown discusses the history of both houses and the restoration
work until 1983.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program.

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Stanton, Edith Temple (b. 1891)

Workman and Temple Homestead Oral History Series

1982.

The only daughter of John Harrison Temple and Anita Davoust Temple. Her father
was a son of Francis Pliny Fisk Temple and Antonia Margarita Workman Temple (daughter
of William Workman). In her infancy, her father moved the family from Los Angeles
to the Workman Homestead, then in his possession. In 1899, the Homestead was lost
and did not return to ownership by a member of the family until 1919, when Walter
Paul Temple, her father’s younger brother, repurchased the property. In 1907,
she married Harold Stanton.

Interviewers: Enid H. Douglass, Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program;
Judge David Workman.

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Sutter, Gabriela Isabel Cecilia Quiroz Temple (b. 1909)

Workman and Temple Homestead Oral History Series

1982.

Granddaughter of Jose Amansio Quiroz and Idelia Isabelle Coffee. In 1938, she
married Thomas Workman Temple, son of Walter Paul Temple. He was and independent
historical writer and engaged in a great deal of genealogical work, which included
research for the Bernardo V. Yorba family. Mrs. Sutter gives an account of her
childhood and young adult life in San Gabriel in the period before World War II,
and her activities with Walter Temple in the San Gabriel Community. She relates
her interesting recollections of her father-in-law, Walter Paul Temple.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program.

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Temple, Walter P. Jr. (b. 1909)

Workman and Temple Homestead Oral History Series

1983.

[ Deposited only at Workman and Temple Homestead ]

Son of Walter Temple Sr., founder of Temple City, who in 1917 repurchased the
home site of the Workman adobe. During 1919-1920, he restored the house and lived
in it while he built La Casa Nueva, an elegant house and estate based on arts
he and his wife had seen in México. Walter Temple gives and account of
his recollections of family, community and business life from 1909 to 1983.

Interviewer: Enid H. Douglass, Claremont Graduate School Oral History Program.

Restricted Interview. Contact us for more information. Top of page.