Charles F. Outland papers
Scope and Contents
This collection comprises materials and books collected by Charles F. Outland. While he mainly collected items pertinent to Ventura County history, he also had an avid interest in Western Americana more generally. Outland also indexed Ventura County newspapers for the years 1871-1915. His interests included equine culture, stage coaching, and railroads. The collection also includes photographic slides and materials he used during history presentations and talks. His most well-known historical work was on the St. Francis Dam disaster collapse, and much of his research on that is available in this collection. Materials include photographs, photographic slides, negatives, audio tapes, correspondence, research files and notes, photocopies of primary source materials such as court documents, coroners' inquests, and police reports, ephemera, programs, and various papers and files maintained by Outland during the course of his historical work.
Dates
- circa 1861-1990
Creator
- Outland, Charles F. (Creator, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Open for research. All requests to access materials must be made in advance by contacting the Research Library staff at library@venturamuseum.org.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Museum of Ventura County. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where the museum does not hold the copyright.
CONTAINS AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS: Advance notice required and digitization required to use materials. Researcher may be required to bear the cost of digitization or creation of an access copy.
Biographical / Historical
Ventura County historian Charles F. Outland was born in Santa Paula on August 30, 1910. He grew up in an agricultural family in Santa Paula. He attended Whittier College and Boston University. He returned to Ventura County after college and married Harriet Roberts in 1933.
Outland was a rancher in Santa Paula for some time after college. However, he had a keen interest in local history, and collected books and historical materials. In the 1950s he became actively involved in the Ventura County Historical Society. Outland served on the society’s board of directors from 1955 to 1964 and again from 1968 to 1971. He was also the first editor of the Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly and was very involved with the society’s publications committee. Outland oversaw the publication of the society’s first book, The Letters of José Señan, O.F.M., Mission San Buenaventura: 1796-1823. He also authored 12 articles in the Quarterly.
Outland authored five books on Ventura County history: Man-Made Disaster (1963), Ho for California: The Faulkner Letters, 1875-1876 (1964), Mines, Murders and Grizzlies: Tales of California’s Ventura Back Country (1969), Stagecoaching on El Camino Real: Los Angeles to San Francisco, 1861-1901 (1973), and An Old Shoebox (1975). His book Man-Made Disaster is a detailed account of the St. Francis Dam disaster, which Outland personally experienced as a teenager in Santa Paula, and remains one of the most respected historical works on the subject. Outland’s book is still cited as the definitive work on the disaster.
Outland was also a member of the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board, and in 1984 he was named the county’s official historian by the Board of Supervisors. In 1980 the American Association for State and Local History honored him with a Certificate of Commendation for his work on Ventura County history.
Outland died on March 21, 1988, at the age 77. At the time of his death, he was finishing the book Sespe Gunsmoke, which was published posthumously and jointly by the Arthur H. Clark Company and the Ventura County Historical Society in 1991.
Extent
11.55 Cubic Feet (9 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Ventura County historian Charles F. Outland was born in Santa Paula on August 30, 1910. Due to his keen interest in local history, Outland began collecting books and historical materials and later became actively involved in the Ventura County Historical Society. He worked as editor of the Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, oversaw the society's publications and authored several articles and books. Outland's most well-known book Man-Made Disaster (1963) remains one of the most respected historical works on the St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928. This collection comprises materials and books collected by Outland, mainly on Ventura County history. Materials include photographs, negatives, audio tapes, correspondence, research files and notes, photocopies of primary source materials, and ephemera.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged into series. Original order has been maintained when possible. The photographic slides were originally housed in either yellow Kodak boxes or slide boxes. They have been rehoused in archival slide boxes, but the original order has been maintained and the original groupings have been maintained. In most cases, the folder labels in the inventories match the labels on the original folders, which have been retained.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIO MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. Requests to use audio materials must be made in advance. Please contact the Research Library at library@venturamuseum.org.
COLLECTION CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. Requests to use digital materials must be made in advance. Please contact the Research Library at library@venturamuseum.org.
COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Special equipment or further processing may be required for viewing. Requests to access audio-visual materials in collections must be made in advance. Please contact the Research Library at library@venturamuseum.org.
Physical Location
Stored off-site and advance notice required for timely retrieval. Please contact the Research Library reference desk prior to your visit at library@venturamuseum.org.
Other Finding Aids
A more detailed inventory is available in this Outland Inventory document. This inventory was created from scanned typed inventories created by Library staff and stored in boxes. They have been checked against folder labels, but descriptions may not always be accurate.
Source of Acquisition
Eleanor Taylor; gift; 1999.
Processing Information
Processed by Library staff, 2011. Additional boxes processed by Krystell Jimenez, 2022.
Our collections are being processed using MPLP so that we may prioritize access for users and identify potential priorities for more detailed processing. If while using our collections you think there is something that should be added or amended in the finding aid, we welcome your input. You can notify staff in the reading room or send us an email at library@venturamuseum.org. Be sure to include the collection number and name and the box number you were working with in your email.
- Audiotapes
- California, Southern -- History, Local
- Dam failures -- California -- Los Angeles County
- Murder -- California -- Ventura County
- Newspaper -- Indexes
- Outland, Charles F. -- Records and correspondence
- Outland, Charles F. -- Manuscripts
- Saint Francis Dam (Calif.)
- Stagecoaches -- California, Southern
- Ventura County (Calif.) -- History, Local
- Ventura County (Calif.) -- Photographs
Creator
- Outland, Charles F. (Creator, Person)
- Title
- Finding aid for Charles F. Outland papers, 1861-1990
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Library Staff, 2011. Finding aid updated by Susana Delgadillo, 2023.
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- This finding aid was made possible in part through funding from the County of Ventura and the Heritage Fund at the Ventura County Community Foundation.
Revision Statements
- February 2022: This finding aid was updated by Krystell Jimenez. The original finding aid contained parts of Box 1. The finding aid was expanded to include eight more boxes of materials that were added to the collection.
Repository Details
Part of the Museum of Ventura County Repository