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L.A. Stories: Community SpotlightMain MenuIntroductionThe greater Los Angeles area is on the traditional lands of the Gabrielino/Tongva, Chumash, Fernandeño Tataviam and Yuhaaviatam/Maarenga’yam (Serrano) peoples. We acknowledge their presence here since time immemorial and recognize their continuing connection to the land, to the water and to their ancestors.PeoplePlacesContributorsChronology of ArtifactsMapping the CollectionVisualize the ExhibitIn this visualization, artifacts are green, themes are blue, and contributors to the exhibit are red.Acknowledgements
"On Rather Hard Terms" - Letter from F.P.F. Temple to William Workman, 20 November 1875.
By the late nineteenth century, Los Angeles and its business sector were experiencing a prosperous era. In the 1860s and first half of the 1870s, Los Angeles underwent its first sustained period of population and economic growth. For the Workman and Temple families, however, it proved to be a period of dual extremes, from financial abundance to a devastating failure. F.P.F. Temple and his father-in-law, William Workman, after first operating with Isaias W. Hellman in Hellman, Temple and Company, opened the Temple and Workman Bank in November 1871. The bank was in one of the several buildings known as the Temple Block, located at Spring, Main and Temple streets, now the site of the City Hall. While initially popular, this poorly managed and unregulated private venture became, in a statewide panic in 1875-1876, the first major business failure in the city and a shattering loss for the Workman and Temple families, resulting in financial ruin and the loss of most of their substantial landholdings. The narrative of extreme highs and lows on both personal and business levels is reflected through these artifacts from the Homestead Museum's collection, including a letter from Temple to Workman about securing a loan for the institution, a stereoscopic photograph of the location of the bank, and William Workman's bankbook.
The letter concerns Temple's arrangement of a loan with San Francisco capitalist Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin for the Temple and Workman bank, but "on rather hard terms." Temple describes the unpleasantness of his task, the tight control of money in the economic downturn, and the expectation that all would turn out well in the end. Within weeks, however, the borrowed funds were withdrawn by depositors and the bank closed permanently in the mid-January 1876.
12021-10-14T10:03:55-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673eLandmark SitesCurtis Fletcher6Although Los Angeles is ever-evolving and shifting the world around it, sites, landmarks, photos and postcards remind us of what the city used to be. Sometimes they are all that remain. Whether a site was once a bee ranch, a homestead, sanitorium, or the Port of Los Angeles, the places shared here set the stage for the eventual growth, change, and expansion documenting the passage of time. Before the Santa Monica Pier was developed, Angelenos enjoyed the seaside at Pacific Ocean Park, built to rival Disneyland. After falling into disrepair, it was demolished. Generations of Angelenos traversed the iconic Sixth Street Bridge linking separate parts of the city. Once a major engineering feat but now demolished due to structural weaknesses, we can still see it on screen in movies and TV shows. The LA region was a military outpost long before it was a metropolis, as seen in the remains of Fort Drum from the Civil War era and Fort Moore from the Mexican-American War. And the old Pueblo de Los Angeles reminds us of the many people who have called this city home - Native American communities, Mexican peoples and Spanish colonial settlers. Despite the renewal and change inherent in the region, there is also room for remembering and honoring the past.structured_gallery2021-10-22T11:26:08-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e
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12021-10-18T16:05:17-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673eWorkman & Temple Family Homestead MuseumCurtis Fletcher3The Homestead Museum collection includes a diverse array of items from Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Region covering the general period of 1830 to 1930 and includes ephemera, maps, photographs, printed works, and three-dimensional everyday artifacts.