Go Team

Often I think of historians as being a part of a team. Being fall, that makes me think of a football team. Quarterback, end receiver, halfback, running back - each wonderfully skilled in what they do and each more effective for working together. TEAM.

Gary Cowles is a member of our local team. I met him in his role as a local historian with a passion for knowledge of gardens and water. Pasadena is a good place to have that interest. He was one of the curators of an exhibit on the topic at the Pasadena Museum of History.

He also has a real interest in the use and distribution of land that took place in the 19th century when the "mission lands" were secularized. Who received grants and who didn't. Why they received grants and so on.

Working with primary documents, and working with his own team, he came up with documents like one above. A picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps a map can be worth even more.

Image photo - James Grimes

"Water Began It All: A New Look at the San Gabriel Mission", Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens