Burke Eugene Casari, a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, worked as an administrator for environmental programs at the State Health Department. He became interested in Richard Burton in 1962, while teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Casari has...
Frank S. Dolley was born in Maine, graduated from Pomona College in 1907, and completed Bowdoin Medical School in 1911. He settled permanently in Los Angeles in 1929, where he was a prominent thoracic surgeon. Beyond his medical interests, he was a...
Joseph Rickard was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, September 17, 1918. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s to study ballet with Bronislava and Irina Nijinska but his real gifts lay in teaching (especially adults) and choreography. In 1946, he...
Forrest Winston Coggan was born August 27, 1926 near East Lansing Michigan to Bernard and Blanche Coggan. He began his education in dance at a young age. He attended Michigan State University from 1943-1947 and received his B.A. in Public Speaking...
Francis Gladheim Pease was one of the original staff members of the Mount Wilson Solar Observatory when it was formed in 1904. His most important contribution to the Observatory was his expertise in the design and use of astronomical instruments....
Theodore Joscelyn Curphey was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on October 25, 1897. He received his M.D., C.M. in 1921 from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. After receiving his medical license from the Medical Council of Canada in 1921,...
Frances Nacke Noel, reformer, labor activist, feminist, suffragette, and socialist, came to the United States from Germany in 1893. In 1899 she moved to Los Angeles, joined the Socialist party, and worked for several labor and suffrage...
James De Barth Shorb (1842-1896) was born in Frederick County, Maryland, a son of Dr. James Aloysius Shorb (1798-1867) and Margaret McMeal Shorb. He came to California in 1863 looking for oil in Ventura County, and married Maria de Jesus "Sue"...
James Winston (1773-1843) was born James Bown in Covent Garden; in 1795, his maternal grandfather died leaving him a substantial inheritance and as a requirement for inheritance he changed his name to Winston by Royal License. By 1799, Winston...
William Peirce Randel was a professor of English who, later in his career, engaged in full-time writing. Randel was a Professor of English Emeritus for the University of Maine and was also a professor of English and director of American Studies at...
Stephen Tomaske (1956-2002) was an avid Pynchon fan and scholar. A student assistant and later a staff member in reference services at the library at California State University Los Angeles, he researched Pynchon's family history, youth and...
Robert V. Hine is a prominent historian of the American West. Hine earned his Ph.D. in history from Yale University in 1952 and spent a year as a fellow at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California before accepting a faculty position at the...
The Long family, originally from Wiltshire, England, was for many years associated with Jamaica and was part of the governing planter elite of the island. A notable member of the family, Edward Long (1734-1813), was a colonial administrator, judge...
The Mark Taper Forum opened in Los Angeles in 1967 and is known for its development of new plays and voices for the theatre. Located at the Performing Arts Center (formerly The Music Center) in downtown Los Angeles, the Taper has received virtually...
Samuel Galloway Hibben (1888-1972) was a pioneer in the field of applied electrical lighting. During his tenure as Director of Applied Lighting with the Westinghouse Corporation, Hibben was noted for redesigning the illumination of the Statue of...
Lydia Catherine Van Hattem Davall Brydges, Duchess of Chandos (1693-1750), was the daughter of John Vanhattem, an Anglo-Dutch merchant. Her first marriage was to Thomas Davall (1682-1714), a London merchant and M.P. for Harwich, who was also her...
Sespe is the name given to the area in the Santa Clara Valley of Ventura County near modern day Fillmore, California by indigenous inhabitants, allegedly by a tribe of that name. The first land owner of European descent was Carlos Antonio Carrillo....
In 1767, upon the retirement of Andrew Miller, Thomas Cadell, 1742-1802, succeeded to the bookselling and publishing business. Cadell became one of the foremost publishers of his time before his retirement in 1793. At this time, he made over the...
Olive May Graves Percival was born July 1, 1869, near Sheffield, Illinois; moved to Los Angeles, California, with her mother and sisters, 1887; worked as an insurance clerk in Los Angeles; an avid collector, Percival amassed ten thousand books as...
Founded in December 1904 by George Ellery Hale and funded by the Carnegie Institution, the Mount Wilson Observatory quickly became one of the 20th century's major astronomical research centers. Located just north of Los Angeles high atop the San...