LA Autry Blog

Watercolor and inscription by Edward Borein, 1923.
Charles Fletcher Lummis Papers, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry National Center; MS.1, page 104.

Part III of a Series: To learn more about the Lummis Housebook Digitization Project, read the introductory post So Lummis Pretty Much Knew Everybody, Didn’t He?  For the other posts in the series, click here.

Since this blog started posting, I have been asked about the dates that people visited Charles Lummis. This is not easy to do at the moment because many of them visited Lummis more than once and I have not yet completed my review of the entire book. Once the review is complete, the dates, as well as other interesting information, will be recorded in a database that will be available to researchers. In the meantime, what I can tell you is that all of the signatures mentioned in the blog were made between August 1899 and November 1928.

Now, let’s talk some more about Lummis’ visitors….

As I make my almost daily weekday drives to and from the Southwest Museum, I pass Charles Lummis’ home. It has always struck me as an interesting piece of architecture, but it has taken on a new life since I became involved with the Lummis housebook project. Now when I drive by I try to imagine what it may have looked like when so many interesting people came to visit or attended one of his parties (aka “noises”). Here are some more visitors I might have seen dropping by:

1. Frederick R. Burnham — American world traveling adventurer best known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa during the Boer and Matabele wars. While in Africa he became close friends with and taught scout craft to Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the international scouting movement. Upon returning to England due to an injury, Burnham was so well-known that he was “commanded” to dine with Queen Victoria. His prowess was even recognized by his enemies; Fritz Joubert Duquesne, a well-known German spy, later wrote saying, “To my friendly enemy, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the greatest scout of the world, whose eyes were that of an Empire. I once craved the honor of killing him, but failing that, I extend my heartiest admiration.” Burnham later became one of the original members of the California State Parks Commission and from 1938 to 1940 served as the President of the Southwest Museum. A peak in California’s San Gabriel Mountains was dedicated to Burnham in 1951.
2. Marco Newmark — one of the chief organizers of the Southern California Jewish Historical Society. He also served as President and Curator of the Southern California Historical Society. His work has made a major contribution to the understanding of Los Angeles and Southern California Jewish history.
3. Noah N. Beery — well-known actor who appeared in nearly 200 films, including The Mark of Zorro. His brother, Wallace Beery, was one of the highest paid actors in the world at that time.
4. Joan London Miller — daughter of author Jack London. She worked for the California Federation of Labor for more than 20 years as a Research Librarian and built a library of labor history.  The California State Legislature eulogized her as a “warrior for labor with a passion for economic and social justice” in a memoriam after her death.
5. Neil M. Judd — an archeologist who was once curator of archeology at the United States National Museum, which later became part of the Smithsonian Institution. He is noted for discovering and excavating many ruins left by the ancient pueblo people known as the Anasazi, who inhabited southern Colorado and Utah, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico.
6. Alfred Wallenstein — cellist and conductor who conducted the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and was music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is believed to be the first American-born person appointed as a conductor of a major U.S. orchestra. In 1941, he received a Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Music.
7. Edward Borein — western artist whose work appeared frequently in Charles Lummis’ Land of Sunshine magazine. His drawings also appeared in Harpers, Colliers Weekly, Sunset Magazine, and the Saturday Evening Post.
8. William Henry Holmes— anthropologist, archeologist, geologist, and former Director of the National Gallery of Art (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum).
9. Hernando G. Villa — painter who specialized in old west landscapes, southwest Indians, and missions. His best-known work is “The Chief” emblem of the Santa Fe Railroad.
10. Stella M. Atwood — author of the book The Case for the Indian. She was a major figure among many women’s clubs in the United States that took up the case for reforming Native American policies.
11. Arthur Farwell — American composer and conductor who is best known for his works based on Native American themes.
12. Lorna Moon — author and screenwriter from the early days of Hollywood.

The next Harbach and the Housebook list will include a Jewish trader in New Mexico who became the only non-Indian ever to serve as tribal chief of an Indian Pueblo. You’ll also get to meet one of Hollywood’s best-known actors from the silent era (hint: He was the first actor to play Zorro in a movie). Look forward to seeing you then.