Annual Holiday Celebration: December 12, 2018

 Annual Holiday Celebration

Almansor Court – 700 S. Almansor, Alhambra, CA.
Social Hour: 5:00 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM

Our Speaker: Phil Brigandi
His Subject: Reservations, Removal & Reform: The Indian Agents of Southern California

Phil Brigandi is familiar to us as one of the Corral’s stalwart leaders in writing history and overseeing the Corral’s publications.  He will discuss the role and impact of the Indian agents of Southern California. This subject is familiar to him since Valerie Sherer Mathes and he published a book, Reservations, Removal & Reform: The Indian Agents of Southern California, in 2018.  Inseparable from the history of the Indians of Southern California is the role of the Indian agent–a government functionary whose chief duty was, according to the Office of Indian Affairs, to “induce his Indian to labor in civilized pursuits.” Offering a portrait of the Mission Indian agents of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Phil will reveal how individual agents interpreted this charge and how their actions and attitudes affected the lives of the Mission Indians of Southern California. Phil will tell the story of these agents who served the Mission Indians from 1850 to 1903, with an emphasis on seven regular agents who served from 1878 to 1903. Relying on the agents’ reports and correspondence as well as newspaper articles and court records, he will create a vivid picture of how each man engaged with the issues and the events confronting the Mission Indians including land tenure, water rights, education, law enforcement and health care.

Phil has been researching and writing local history for more than 40 years, specializing in the history of Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties. He is the author of more than two dozen books and hundreds of articles, including histories of Orange, Temecula, and Borrego Springs. He is the former historian for the Ramona Pageant and former archivist for the County of Orange. He has been a member of The Westerners since 2005 and served as our Branding Iron editor from 2008 to 2010.  His most recent publications include scholarly works on Helen Hunt Jackson, the book with Mathes and the Corral’s Keepsake #45, A Five-Foot Shelf of Westerners, Prominent Historians of the Los Angeles Corral.

NOTE:  This Roundup is our annual holiday celebration. Also, it’s the time of the year that we pass the gold-panning pans for donations to our servers at the Almansor Court to express our appreciation for their diligent and patient care of us all year.  Remember to bring a generous amount of cash!

Posted by Jim Macklin, Deputy Sheriff

Dinner Fees, Reservations & Meal Choices

The Roundup Dinner Fee is $40 including ample, convenient and free parking. The dinner choices for this Roundup are beef, chicken and vegetarian.  The beef will be grilled sliced top sirloin with a wild mushroom sauce. The chicken dish will be a breast of chicken baked in  traditional, slightly-spicy Mexican adobo sauce.  The vegetarian dinner will be a Bouquet of Vegetables, the chef’s euphemism for boring but probably healthy fresh vegetables including broccoli, broiled tomato, carrots, cauliflower, grilled zucchini, peppers and potato. The poor souls who choose vegetarian may ask for double desserts to ease their holiday disappointment. The dessert for all will be our traditional holiday Cherries Jubilee Flambé.

Please choose your entrée and make out your check for $40 to “Westerners, Los Angeles Corral,” or submit your payment onlineas EARLY AS YOU CAN but no later than one week before the Roundup date.  Just log onto our website and go to the Members Only tab.  Click on the Roundup Store option and follow the instructions.  Walk-ins can be served, but entrée choices will be limited to what is on hand.  The “late price” is now $45.00.

If you are paying by check, mail it to Ms. Therese Melbar, Registrar of Marks and Brands at 549 South Aldenville Avenue, Covina, CA 91723-2909. Late reservations or questions may be addressed to Therese via Email: tmelbar@cpp.edu or by telephone: (661) 343-9373.

Future Los Angeles Corral Events

January 9, 2019 Roundup
Brian Dervin Dillon on Exiles and Saints at Kalaupapa, Molokai, Hawaii

February 13, 2019 Roundup
Mark Hall-Patton on One Hump or Two?: The Commercial Use of Camels in the West

Travel Assistance to Our Fellow Members 

Please keep in mind that some of our members can no longer drive or are uncomfortable about driving on the freeways at night.  If there are such members living in your area, please get in touch to see if they would come with you to the Roundups.  Call Michele Clark, our Sunshine Wrangler, at (626) 822-1522 if you need a ride.

Books and Art Pieces for Sale

Since we did not sell all the books, art pieces and other ephemera at the October 20th Rendezvous, you can order items still on the lists below. Contact Brian Dillon via email at briandervindillon@gmail.com.

Art

To view the items remaining from this year’s art auction, click here.

Updated Book List

To view the items remaining from this year’s book auction, click here.

75th Los Angeles Corral Anniversary Event and Simultaneous 2021 Westerners International Gather

The Trail Bosses have agreed with the Westerners International organization in Canyon, Texas to host the international meeting, called The Gather, in Fall, 2021 in conjunction with our celebration of the Corral’s 75thAnniversary.  Past Sheriff Gary Turner will chair the event.  If you would like to assist him on the committee, please let him know at (747) 202-3888 or at drdirt_t@hotmail.com.

Contact Jim Macklin, Deputy Sheriff, at 1221 Greenfield Avenue, Arcadia, CA 91006-4148, at  jhmcpa@earthlink.net or (626) 446-6411 with any questions or news items.