Barlow Family

Historical Background

The precise background of the Barlow manuscript collection is unknown. According to the Friends of the UCSD Library Newsletter of March 1970, Mrs. Jarvis Barlow of Carlsbad, California, donated the collection to the UCSD library in 1970. The materials had been "in the family of her late husband for some generations." Her husband, Jarvis Barlow, was a California writer, editor of the magazine Pan, and author of the book Once in an Orange Grove (1941). His father, Dr. Walter Jarvis Barlow of Sierra Madre, California, was a prominent physician who settled in Los Angeles in 1895. The elder Barlow founded the Barlow Sanitorium for tuberculosis treatment, served as a professor of clinical medicine and Dean of the Medical Department at UCLA, and founded the Barlow Medical Library, later the library of the Los Angeles County Medical Association.

The Barlow manuscript collection was originally contained in a portfolio labelled "Autografi dei Sovrani." The materials were enclosed in folders labelled in Italian with the names of various European rulers or nobles. Judging from the arrangement of the materials, it appeared that the bulk of the collection, which dates from the 17th and 18th centuries, was probably assembled in Italy in the 18th century and that additional materials were added later, probably by someone who obtained the original collection. This inference is based on the fact that the bulk of the manuscripts were foldered in uniform sheets of paper of a quality common in the 18th century and labelled (in ink) in handwriting that matches that of the portfolio cover. The additional materials were foldered in paper common to the 19th and early 20th centuries (some of which came from the pages of printed books), and labelled in pencil in handwriting different from that of the portfolio cover. The present arrangement of the collection reflects this inference.

Many of the manuscripts that comprised the original "Autografi dei Sovrani" relate to the Italian family of Crescencio (or Crescenzi). Two members of this family were the recipients of many of the letters in the collection: Juan Bautista Crescencio (1595-1660), and Cardinal Alexander Crescencio (fl. late 17th cent.).

Juan Bautista Crescencio, an artist and architect, was born in Rome and served the Spanish court. Cardinal Zapata recommended Crescencio to King Phillip III as an architect for the Royal Pantheon in El Escorial monastary, a project that was completed under Phillip IV around 1650. Crescencio was a favorite of the Spanish minister the Duke of Olivares, and he received many titles, including Marquis de la Torre, Knight of the Order of Santiago, and minister of the Junta de Obras y Bosques (an institution responsible for the preservation of the Royal estates).

From the guide to the Barlow Family Collection of Manuscripts, 1585 - 1870, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)