California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 1960), pp.

209-217

Writing Local History

By W. W. Robinson

In the late 1930s Donald Culross Peattie wrote the biography of a

square mile of Illinois land where he had spent three happy years. He
began his story in prehistoric times and brought it up through the
Indian period; introduced the French missionaries and explorers, then
the first Yankee settlers. He carried the narrative forward to the date
when the owners of the square mile could watch the last flight of
passenger pigeons. This combination of American and natural history
bore the title, A Prairie Grove. The publisher was Simon & Schuster.
It attracted the attention of the reading public of the entire country?
for it really summed up the story of America?and it is still being
circulated and read.
Possibly such an achievement is local history in its ideal form, and
certainly there is only one Donald Culross Peattie. Its coverage helps
me define local history which, for the purposes of this discussion, is
the history of a county, a community, or an even smaller unit. Other
definitions, I am aware, place an account of a whole state or of an even
larger region in the local history category. My preference is for the
narrower definition.
The man who puts his hand to the writing of local history, to my
mind, has an inevitable weakness for this type of exercise. He is con
stantly aware of the past and finds relish in it?wherever he happens to
be. This localist grubs in hometown soil because he likes to or because
he is hired for the purpose. He is not unhappy that other historians use
their time only for the broad interpretation of national events and
trends.
Since I have indulged somewhat in the writing of local history in
California I have been asked to make this story personal and to tell how
I approach an assignment and what happens.
209

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 2 io California Historical Society Quarterly
First of all, I find out what has been written about the subject chosen
by me or assigned to me. I look at the books and pamphlets in my own
small library. Then I consult the nearest and best institutional libraries?
in my case such places as the Los Angeles Public Library, the Hunt
ington Library, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Southwest
Museum, the university and college libraries, and the Los Angeles
County Law Library. In addition, I plague my collector friends for
permission to browse in their sacred pastures. I make note of titles and,
in a sketchy way, of contents, leaving the close reading for a later
activity. Ultimately I shall find it easier to study these secondary sources
at my convenience and near my home rather than to do library research '
on the go and in difficult circumstances.
The second step is to find a good map of the area. Sometimes the
Automobile Club of Southern California has what is needed. Possibly
it will be necessary to have a preliminary sketch made by a professional
mapmaker. Finally, out of the completed research, will come a map
showing boundaries, towns, roads, ranchos, and historical landmarks?
which should be a definite contribution to the public.
If a California county is the project, I consult Owen C. Coy's
California County Boundaries. This valuable book, with its series of
maps, shows county origins and the various boundary changes since
1850.
So prepared, I drive to the county seat of the county under considera
tion and establish pleasant relations with the leading local historian of
the area. Almost every city or county has such a person who takes the
lead, and can give good advice, in matters historical. He knows every
one of similar interests in the county, is aware of special historical
resources, and can be counted on finally to read the first draft of the
written manuscript and show where and how the writer has gone
wrong. Such a person may or may not be the secretary of the local
historical society. He or she may be connected with a local museum
or a local newspaper. A good illustration is Annie R. Mitchell of
Visalia, secretary of the Tulare County Historical Society and writer
of distinction, who helped me greatly when I was doing The Story of
Tulare County and Visalia. Her primary interest is in her own county.
In Riverside County, A. G. Paul, historian and former president of the

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 Writing Local History 211
Pioneer Historical Society of Riverside, is another illustration of an
authority eager to lend assistance. In Ventura County I leaned heavily
on the good advice of Charles F. Outland, rancher-bibliophile of Santa
Paula, and of J. H. Morrison, curator of the Ventura County Pioneer
Museum. In San Bernardino it was a newspaperman and assiduous his
torian, L. Burr Belden, who generously offered to keep me on the
straight and narrow path in his overwhelming region of valley, moun
tain, and desert land. For a rank outsider?a writer?to enter any com
munity or county where a resident historian is hard at work year in and
year out, is a bit presumptuous. Also, at first glance, this newcomer
appears to be competitive. Hence the need for establishing good public
relations at the outset and making clear that the outsider is not planning
a competitive job.
Next I get in touch with local authorities, like the public librarian,
school heads, secretary of the chamber of commerce or board of trade,
the mayor, newspapermen, the county recorder, museum head, high
way officials, perhaps industrial leaders, and definitely the manager of a
local title company. At this early stage I do not seek out the so-called
"old-timers," in spite of being warned constantly that it is high time for
a local history to be written since these pioneers are dying so rapidly.
By this time I have a brief acquaintance with the area involved and
have been doing a lot of brooding, reading, and over-all planning.
So, now, I shape up a preliminary outline of the proposed history,
largely in chronological form. I do this even though my exact knowl
edge is slight and even though I know that the outline will constantly
change as I proceed with the writing. A preliminary outline is a won
derful guide. It helps me keep on the beam, avoid overemphasis on one
topic at the expense of another equally important, and stay somewhat
within the limits of the planned book or booklet. Because of my back
ground in the land title business, I am in the habit of thinking in terms
of a chain of title, of the procession of owners and users of the land
from Indian days to the present. That way of thinking gets into my
outline.
Usually it is easier to write the story of a community than of a county
with many communities. If but one community is involved, I begin
with the basic pattern and study the first map of the original townsite

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 212 California Historical Society Quarterly
as recorded in the county recorder's office. Was the town laid out on a
Spanish or Mexican rancho? Was it on land formerly in the public
domain of the United States?
If the former, I am happy, for then I can present the fascinating,
pastoral story of rancho days. To do this calls for an examination of the
records of the United States District Court in San Francisco. These
records survived the earthquake and fire of 1906 and are primary source
material for local history when ranchos are concerned. If a trip to San
Francisco is impractical, I order a photostatic copy of the proceedings
in the District Court case that pertain to the particular rancho. These
proceedings include a copy of all testimony given before the United
States Land Commission which, in the early 1850s, was assigned the task
of segregating privately owned land from public land in the new state
of California. They also include a copy of the land grant files?the
rancho's expediente?from the original Mexican archives that had been
transferred from Monterey to the Public Survey Office in San Fran
cisco. The District Court, handling California land cases, was a court of
appeal to which decisions of the Land Commission were taken auto
matically. Its records present testimony of men long since dead, evi
dence of decades of possession and use, together with grants and other
documents affecting ownership in the pre-American period. They are
both revealing and colorful. Actually no rancho's story can be told
without consulting them?or their counterparts in Washington, D. C,
or elsewhere?yet how seldom are they used. I recall reading an account
of a certain rancho that appeared a number of years ago in the
excellent journal of a well-known historical society. It was heavy
with footnotes?so many that the editor referred to it as a "very
scholarly paper." The author had consulted practically everything
printed about the rancho but had been unaware of the existence of basic
material in the District Court. There he would have found the answers
to most of the questions he raised. His overlooking easily available
source material resulted in an article full of holes.

If the map showed the townsite located on public land rather than
rancho, I would shed a few tears, for then my opportunities to write
interestingly of romantic, pre-American days will be restricted. More
space can be devoted, of course, to Indians and early explorers. But I

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 Writing Local History 213
can at least go to the nearest United States Land Office and find out
when the townsite land first passed to private hands from the Govern
ment, the name of the first owner, and whether this pioneering owner
ship was under homestead laws or other federal legislation governing
the acquisition of public land. There are interesting possibilities. A visit
to the Land Office in Los Angeles, for example, revealed that the heart
of Whittier's original area lay within the homestead claim of Jacob F.
Gerkins which he filed in 1868, though it was not till the middle of 1874
that the United States issued its patent to him. A check-up on Gerkins
gave me the information that he was a German farmer who had come
to Los Angeles in 1854. His homestead proved to be the nucleus of the
Thomas Ranch which later was bought by the Quaker founders of
Whittier. The facts disclosed in the Land Office, accordingly, gave vital
information on Whittier's early history, and I had the pleasure of being
the first to give them publication.
Speaking of public records, the county recorder's office is a place
to which I always pay more than one visit. It so often gives the exact
information needed. To illustrate: the office of the Recorder of Tulare

County has a record dated 1868, of a patent issued by the Government

to the "Board of Supervisors in Trust for the County of Tulare County,
California" covering the 160-acre townsite of Visalia, the county seat.
Actually Visalia was born in 1852, but the townsmen had taken for
granted their ownership of the land on which they had settled?
squatted, to be more exact. But five years later the supervisors woke up
to the fact that they had no title and that a certain clever individual
was trying to grab the town's 160 acres by filing an application for
pre-emption. The supervisors got in touch with Washington and, on
the basis of their possession, were fortunately given the preferential
right to buy the townsite acreage. A glance at other early patent records
in the same courthouse revealed other interesting acquisitions by settlers
of land surrounding the townsite?and now within city limits. These
were based on military bounty warrants issued to men who had served
in the Rogue River War, also with the Texas Volunteers, and in Black
Hawk's War. All such information is a basic part of Visalia's history,
very easily obtained but usually neglected by researchers who rely on
legends and published books rather than original source material.

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 214 California Historical Society Quarterly
The beauty of research in public records is that it makes the story
factual. So many local historians seem frightened of courthouses and
public offices. They prefer libraries. A single day spent in the County
Recorder's office in San Luis Obispo gave me all the basic facts about
the Spanish and Mexican ranchos of San Luis Obispo County. These
facts were partly at variance with the accounts in published county
histories the authors of which had merely copied what predecessor
historians had written.
Deeds, mortgages, and official maps in the county recorder's office,
as well as lawsuits and probate proceedings in the county clerk's office,
together with ordinances in the city clerk's office, should likewise be
consulted. They carry data vital to the story of the community or
county. If the county's population is small, the records will be simple
and easily searched through use of available name indexes. If large, like
Los Angeles County's, the help of a title company which maintains
property indexes may be needed. Land transfers, litigation, and the
administration of estates are at least the dry bones of local history. If to
these bones are added the results of a little study and of pleasant talks
with men and women who have good memories, they take on flesh,
blood, and life. Early official maps, unlike those of current subdivisions,
are keys to much of the past. They often show adobe homes long since
gone, cienegas that have dried up, first roads, and landmarks that could
not otherwise be located today. Early day city ordinances give pungent
data about chain gangs, prostitution, dance halls, fast driving of horses
in the streets or over bridges?in fact, they disclose the whole life of a
community.
When I have caught up on my scheduled reading I visit every com
munity in the county, if the whole county is to be covered. I do this to
get the current look and feeling of each town, as well as to locate, when
possible, old trails, springs, and historic sites. My method is to persuade
my obliging wife to do the driving while I frantically fill my notebook
with observations, descriptions, and reactions.
In my research I make a point of visiting all historic buildings, sites,
and state monuments in the area being studied. It is quite likely that
research done for a community or county history will help in the estab
lishment of unmarked or forgotten sites of importance. It is even

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 Writing Local History 215
possible that it will prove?alas?that the bronze plaque already adorn
ing some countryside boulder has been misplaced.
I go, also, to the handiest file of early newspapers for the detail and
color that will add so much to the story being written. Newspaper
advertisements of a bygone period?like those in early city directories?
also add picturesque and humorous notes when used as illustrations.
A genealogist-historian like Thomas Workman Temple II will also seek
data from mission baptismal and necrological records.
As a final activity, when my story is well in hand, I call upon the
people labeled "oldtimers." By this time I am able to ask intelligent
questions and to evaluate the answers. The stories of pioneers and long
time residents may lend color to facts assembled. On rare occasions
information so obtained may prove vital. When gathering material for
my Lawyers of Los Angeles I had many talks with Oscar Lawler, dis
tinguished and venerable Los Angeles attorney. He came to Los An
geles in 1888 and became a call boy at the California Club frequented
then as now by the more affluent of the local lawyers. From then on to
the present Mr. Lawler, possessing a near-perfect memory, could tell
me what any named lawyer looked like, how he dressed, what his
personal habits were, and in what important cases he participated. He
reconstructed the past with ease and accuracy. Yes, "oldtimers" can be
very important to a local historian?when he is ready to ask the right
questions.
During all this period of research on the community or county his
tory I have also been writing busily. I have been doing various versions
of my story; trying to give it logical direction, form, and unity; pushing
it toward a climax or climaxes; and always attempting to make it a part
of the larger story of California, the West, and possibly the nation. I try
to keep in mind Frank Dobie's recent and rather extreme statement that
if a book about a local habitation does not transcend the local in interest
it has no reason for being published. Already I have fallen in love with
my assignment?if it was not a first-sight love affair?and have allowed
my enthusiasm to show through discreetly in the manuscript, enough, I
hope, to infect my audience.
The first finished draft goes to my local historian friend and counsel
lor. The second, improved by his corrections and suggestions, goes to a

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 216 California Historical Society Quarterly
group of chosen readers some of whom have been asked for their names'
sake?for they are influential?others because they have a considerable
knowledge of local history. Another draft at least is made, including
changes in fact and fancy and the transformation of sluggish prose into
smooth-flowing narrative. Now it goes to the printer and designer?
along with pictures to illustrate the text. The pictures have been chosen
because they have good reproduction possibilities as well as historic
importance. Some of them, it is hoped, have never been published
before. They have come largely from public or private collections,
including perhaps some prized photograph belonging to a pioneer fam
ily and perhaps prints from old lithographs such as appear in Thompson
& West's county histories.
After the publication of a piece of local history, many satisfactions
come to the writer, whether or not money is made out of the venture
and whether or not the author is on the payroll of a university, a college,
a private corporation, a generous individual sponsor, or is merely doing
the job as a self-employed person. His audience encircles the local
historian, and the applause is apt to be audible, for it comes at least from
fellow townsmen and fellow Californians. Then, too, by getting so close
to a subject, the local historian inevitably comes upon new material,
with discoveries that are satisfying. Speaking personally, I felt happy
when I found substantial proof that California's first rancho was the
San Pedro in Los Angeles County. It was pleasant to be the first to
uncover the story of Inglewood's and Culver City's first settlers; to tell
for the first time how Pershing Square in Los Angeles got its start;
to present new and important information about the McNamara Times
dynamiting case; to first publish the chain of title of Santa Catalina
Island; to draw upon untapped sources in revealing the actual story of
San Fernando Valley's subdivision immediately preceding the comple
tion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct; and to disclose new facts about the
granting of the rancho known as the Malibu. A close study of the
minutes of the proceedings of the Ayuntamiento or city council of the
Pueblo of Los Angeles enabled me, happily, to offer in small book form
the story of the Indians of Los Angeles, to disprove much of what had
been written about the village of Yang-na, and to tell what really hap
pened to the villagers. These minutes, preserved in the present day City

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 Writing Local History 217
Hall, unfolded for me, in dignified and delightful language, what went
on in the simple Pueblo of Mexican days.
The writer of local history can feel, too, that he has made a useful
and sometimes exciting contribution to the community or the county.
If he has avoided provincial viewpoints and if he has remained fully
aware of the community's or county's role in the state or nation, he has
made an important contribution. That history of the United States is
most interesting and convincing which is in part compounded of the
lively details furnished by a small army of local historians.
The worker in local California history today is on the ground floor.
Unlike his compatriot on the Atlantic seaboard or in Europe, he can
still talk to first settlers, the sons or at least the grandsons of first settlers.
He can easily get to first records. He can do a fundamental job and help
shape the story that will be accepted and read hundreds of years from
now.

The local historian will feel grateful not only to his sponsor bu
publisher who, perhaps, has taken a chance, hoping to get fam
than fortune from the publishing venture.
It is improbable that any one of us will do what Donald C
Peattie did: take a minute area and so write its story that it sym
the whole story of America. Nevertheless, if a broad perspe
maintained and the quality of writing kept high, the histor
locality becomes a part of the history of the state, the United
and the world.

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