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Newsletter of the Rancho Los Alamitos Volunteer Service Council
Co-editors Doug Cox and Roxanne Patmor
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February 2024
In this issue...
- VSC President's Perspective
- Preston Update from Jeff Green
- A New Home for Garden Greta
- "No Stairs" Accessibility Site Map
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In the Spotlight
- Robin Herrera and Lauren Herrera
- PastPerfect Online: Ranches and Roundups in Photos
- Cottonwood 2024
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VSC Perspectives
Doug Cox, VSC President
We certainly had a great all-VSC gathering the other day, didn’t we? The breakfast was amazing, a ton of important information went out, four opportunity drawing winners now have a chance to learn some Latin, and the Rancho’s very own Luther Burbank, Andrew, got some of us seriously considering a new approach to leaving monocultures in the Mediterranean dust.
One thing I completely missed, though, was pointed out to me the other day by a couple of sharp-eyed VSC veterans: checking to be sure that our newest volunteers - those with the temporary paper name badges - were sitting with Rancho veterans and being welcomed aboard. Turns out they were, and thanks to all of you this really was a genuinely all-VSC meeting.
We were all newbies at one point, wondering how all of this works and where we fit in, and I personally pledge to remember that every time I run across someone with one of those paper badges.
Like everyone volunteering here, they’re giving the Rancho their most precious thing: their time. They are the latest good people to step up here, following in our footsteps and those of earlier generations of good folks who stepped up when it was their time to do so.
The newest of our colleagues literally embody the Rancho’s future, and no doubt will be welcoming the next wave of new folks wearing those paper badges.
And so I’d like to belatedly extend a welcoming hand to our newest members of the family and offer to try to answer any of the zillion questions new folks always have. Please join me. This is Rancho hospitality at its finest.
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Note: On February 5, Jeff Green briefed the VSC Steering Committee about the Rancho's Shire horse Preston's hooves and ankles. We thank Jeff for this synopsis of the presentation.
Jeff is a member and past chairman of the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation board and Fred H. Bixby's grandson.
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Preston’s trouble with his hooves is not a new thing. I remember as a young child watching the stable hands medicating the hooves and ankles of many of the Shires. This is a common problem with Shires and is very problematic.
This ailment has been called White Line Disease and / or Laminitis which in Preston’s case is complicated by arthritis. I am very confident that our staff is doing everything we can to make Preston comfortable. I am unaware of any known cure, so we are in a “quality of Life” mode.
We have spent $16,000 to redo the footing in his corral, and every time we take him to a special veterinarian or farrier it costs about $1500 to $2000. We are using specialized veterinarians and farriers to make sure he gets the best possible care. I mention these amounts mainly to show our involvement and concern for Preston’s well-being. We will find funds to cover whatever the costs as they arise. We are accepting donations.
We have been in touch with other Shire breeders in the country and are waiting for any suggestions they may have. At the draft horse shows I have attended, I have seen no sign of this problem.
Since I have seen this in the hooves of the Shires before in my teens, I believe it is genetic and is not in all genetic in Shire bloodlines. It certainly was in ours and evidently Valentina’s as well.
I am very confident that we will do our best to monitor Preston and his quality of life. If becomes apparent that he should be moved, we will do so. We are dealing with an unsolvable problem and our loyalty is to Preston and his comfort.
Jeff Green
Top photo: Preston with veterinary specialist in 2023
| | English Shire Preston, Dr. Sobeck checking his weight. | | Farrier working with English Shire Preston, front left hoof February 2024. | | English Shire Preston meeting Quarter Horse Cody for Enrichment. | | | | |
In the Spotlight:
Robin Herrera and Lauren Herrera
Assistant Curator of Collections and Volunteer Acting Archivist
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Robin and Lauren Herrera are the team who create much of the historic interpretation that visitors to the Rancho see in the house and gardens and hear about from volunteers. As the seasons change, Robin changes the “menu” in the Family Dining Room and the Faux Foodies are responsible for changing the Men’s Dining Room. Lauren has assisted the Foodies in finding period recipes in our collection of oral histories and vintage cookbooks in the Reference Library. Robin also works with the volunteer floral designer, Monica Kovach, on period-appropriate floral arrangements. Throughout the year, Lauren changes the vintage magazines in the Library and the sheet music on the piano to reflect the season. Both Lauren and Robin research and acquire period magazines, calendars, and most recently, a 1939 Long Beach telephone directory for the restored Reception Office.
Robin is the Assistant Curator of Collections and Lauren is the volunteer Acting Archivist and their experience runs deep. Robin has been in the job for 26 years. Lauren has volunteered in the curatorial offices for 12 years. They work behind the scenes receiving, assessing, and accessioning artifacts and documents, cataloging them into the PastPerfect database, and ensuring they are carefully displayed or properly stored for future retrieval. Asked about changes over the past 26 years, Robin said when she first arrived everything was done on paper, and the Rancho is now in the digital age.
Even with the benefit of the online database, the process isn’t as simple as the description sounds. Donations, whether documents or artifacts, must be carefully inventoried. In some cases, this includes photographing, measuring and assessing the condition of the items. Robin notes that the passing of Bixby descendants and longtime volunteers often leads to an influx of new donations.
Although both work on accessioning and cataloging, each has her own set of other responsibilities. Robin assists Pam Lee in planning and implementing restoration projects such as the reception area of the Fred H. Bixby business office. Part of the restoration included removing the hanging fluorescent light fixtures which now await cataloging and storage. In Robin’s words, “It’s important to remember even though they didn’t exist in our interpretation period of the 1930s, they are still part of the Rancho’s history.”
Robin has a special affection for textiles. One of her responsibilities is caring for the historic textiles and creating reproductions to display in the ranch house. When she first arrived at the Rancho she was asked to make a lace bedcover for the master bedroom to stand in for the one in the collection that was too fragile to display. In her words: “I was hooked.” She made curtains for the Kitchen area restoration project including the yellow chintz curtains in the butler’s pantry, kitchen, and men’s dining room. She also made the closet curtain for the cook’s bedroom and curtains for other parts of the north and south wings of the house.
Lauren’s responsibilities include managing the PastPerfect database and the physical archives including the photograph and oral history collections. In 2017, Pam gave her the job of rebuilding and maintaining the Reference Library, which was fragmented and largely in storage. It has been an ongoing project inventorying and shelving, and adding books from Pamela Seager’s personal library. Lauren pointed out one benefit of her work: Robin recently moved her desk to the archive office, which allows two more large bookcases in the Reference Library to accommodate more books!
When asked about recent donations, Lauren said, “The most interesting object I accessioned recently was a sheep bell from the 1930’s donated by Joe Vasquez. His father Jesus rescued it from a field, when one of their family’s jobs was to move mobile fencing for grazers from Orange County.”
Both Robin and Lauren enjoy getting out into nature during their time away from the Rancho. And they enjoy the camaraderie of staff and volunteers. Robin says she’s grateful the Rancho came into her life and is amazed by how quickly the time goes by.
We are grateful to Robin and Lauren for the work they do in preserving and showcasing the fascinating stories and history of Rancho Los Alamitos!
Holiday photos by Doug Cox
| | From RLA's Photo Archive: Ranch Roundups | | |
Lauren Herrera, RLA's volunteer Acting Archivist, manages our public-facing archive in which people can view more than 2,200 photos that present decades of Bixby family history. The site includes photos of ranch workers, family members, gardens, events, and properties far beyond Rancho Los Alamitos and southern California.
Each photo includes a description, approximate year, and, if known, the location and photographer. Notes sometimes include names of those pictured and other details.
The photos illustrate the ranch operations of the the Fred H. Bixby Company during the first sixty years of the 20th Century. It's a great resource for researchers and others interested in the Bixbys' role in California and Arizona history.
We wanted to highlight a few photos from the collection. Roundups were events for which Fred and his daughters journeyed to various ranches. It's also a topic the daughters spoke of over the years. We've created a montage of photos accompanied by quotes from Bixby daughters and workers living in ranch housing that give context to the pictured activities. While there are many locations included in the photo archive, we've selected images from Rancho Los Alamitos, Cojo and Jalama near Point Conception, Nacimiento in Paso Robles, and Moqui in Coconino County in Arizona.
Although these ranches were hundreds of miles from Fred's business office at the Rancho, it's the place he worked on contracts, reviewed financial statements, and made decisions that touched every aspect of the ranches and the business. As Katharine Bixby Hotchkis said, “Rancho Los Alamitos was the headquarters for everything. In a whirl of activity, it operated there for about 50 years.”
Sources:
-1964 Rancho Los Alamitos history manuscript by Katharine Bixby Hotchkis
-1979 oral history interview with Petra Sisneros Vasquez by Joan Hotchkis
-1983 oral history interview with with Elizabeth (Sister) Bixby Janeway by Kaye Briegel
-1998 oral history interview with Antonia Machuca Castillo by Marian Burton
* Top photo shows cattle in snow-covered pasture at Moqui ranch in Arizona
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In 1913, Petra Sisneros Vasquez’s father found work at Cojo ranch plowing land and breaking horses. Around 1916, the Sisneros family moved to ranch housing at Rancho Los Alamitos.
Transporting horses, Cojo ranch, 1915.
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The daughters liked spending time with their father. Sister enjoyed working the roundups while Katharine was less interested in the cattle work.
Fred with Deborah and Sister working cattle. Photo by Katharine Bixby Hotchkis.
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Katharine explained that ranch hands drove cattle from the pasture to corrals, branded the calves, and when cattle reached the right age, they were taken to Rancho Los Alamitos and readied for market.
Paso Robles roundup 1912.
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Katharine admired cowboys' roping and bulldogging skills. She knew the work was risky and difficult, but found it exciting to watch.
Ranch hand trick roping, 1917 Nacimiento.
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Sister enjoyed listening to the "cattle talk" among ranch hands. She knew how to recognize a choking cow and what to do about it.
Sister roping a calf at Cojo, 1915. Photo by Katharine Bixby Hotchkis.
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Petra Sisneros Vasquez and Antonia Machuca Castillo told of the noise, dust, and shaking caused by the animals as they ran up the hill to the rancho to be readied for sale.
1939 Livestock auction at Rancho Los Alamitos.
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By the time she was 12, Sister knew quite a lot about cattle work. Her father didn't let the girls watch when surgeries were performed on the animals.
1917, Fred and ranch hands branding cattle, Nacimiento.
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Sister recalled before the deal for Jalama was signed, her father got sick with Typhoid. His partner completed the deal for the ranch.
1954 roundup at Jalama.
| | A New Home for Garden Greta | | Garden Greta was manufactured by "Childhood Classics" in the late 1930s or early 1940s and retains its original price tag of $5.95 from Bullock’s Wilshire. That would be about $130 in today’s dollars. | Barbara also donated a box filled with newspaper clippings about the Bryant family that she accumulated over the years. | | |
On January 26, Robin Herrera and Pam Lee visited longtime volunteer Barbara Mahaffie at her home in Los Alamitos. Barbara had a doll, Garden Greta, given to her by Susanna Bixby Bryant around 1940, which she donated to the Rancho during their visit.
Barbara's father, Ivan "Happy" Mahaffie, worked as a carpenter for Mrs. Bryant at her various ranches. The Mahaffie family lived on the Bryant’s property in what is now Park Estates, as well as Rancho Santa Ana in Orange County.
Garden Greta was Barbara's beloved childhood companion. It was important to her that the Rancho give Garden Greta a good home. Greta has an internal wind-up music box that plays Brahms' Lullaby and could easily lull to sleep a baby or a toddler.
| | | 2024 Cottonwood Award Winners | | |
We're honored to announce our 2024 Cottonwood awardees. Skip Keesal and his law firm, Keesal, Young & Logan, are receiving the Cottonwood Award for Leadership. Community Leader Gloria Cordero is receiving the Special Recognition Award for Service and Commitment.
The Cottonwood Luncheon takes place on May 30, 2024 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Stay tuned for more information about Cottonwood volunteer opportunities!
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This "No Stairs" map gives visitors an easy way to determine self-guided tour routes that are best for their specific needs. The map is posted near the information desk, copies are available for visitors, if they choose.
This is an important tool for volunteers and visitors and underscores our commitment to a site that's welcoming and inclusive for all who visit.
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