Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
L.D. Taylor family fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
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- Source of title proper: Title based on contents of fonds
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Fonds
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Physical description area
Physical description
- 7.7 m of textual and graphic material
- 1788 photographs
- 30 objects
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Louis Denison (L.D.) Taylor (1857-1946) served eight terms as Mayor of Vancouver. He was elected to office in 1911, 1915, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1932, and held the position for a total of eleven years.
L.D. was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Gustavus and Amy (nee Denison) Taylor ([1822]-1904). He had one sibling, Kate ([1850]-1931), who married Eugene Cooley (1849-1938) in 1871, and moved to Lansing, Michigan in 1872. Amy Taylor later joined her daughter in Lansing.
After graduating from high school, and working in various positions in Ann Arbor, L.D. Taylor moved to Chicago in 1891 to work for the Wabash Railroad. In Chicago, he met Annie Louise Pierce ([1867]-1928), the daughter of architect and American Civil War veteran Osborne J. Pierce ([18--]- 1912) and his wife Caroline ([1847]-1936). The Pierce s had another daughter, Winifred ([1872]-1919), a school teacher. Annie and L.D. were married on May 26, 1892.
In August 1896, L.D. was arrested for charges of embezzlement relating to his partnership in the North and Taylor Bank on West Madison Avenue in Chicago, and fled north to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver, on September 8, 1896.
Shortly after L.D. s departure, Annie gave birth to their first child, Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor (1896-1963). Annie and Ted did not join L.D. in Vancouver until 1901, when L.D. was managing the Circulation Department of the Daily Province. The following year, a second son, Kenneth (Ken) (1902-[19--]) was born.
In 1905, L.D. purchased The Vancouver Daily World newspaper. Although he lost the paper due to financial difficulties in 1915, he continued to publish various political and mining-related newspapers until the late 1930s.
In 1906, L.D. and Annie separated and she and the children went to live with Osborne and Caroline, who had moved to Los Angeles. They formally divorced in 1916, and L.D. married Alice Helena Berry ([1871]-1919), former Managing Director of The World. After Alice s death, L.D. never re-married.
Following in their father s footsteps, Ted and Ken both entered the newspaper/press business in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s, Ken was an editor at the Los Angeles Times. Ted was working for the Los Angeles Record and was a partner in the Los Angeles Press Service. Prior to that, he had also worked for the Times and had been a Hollywood press agent for a few years. After a brief marriage to Ruth Wing, Ted left for Paris in 1925, where he married Mary Beaton ([1906]-1925), daughter of Octavia Beaton (d. 1946), and worked for the Paris Times. Later that year, Ted and Mary had a daughter, Mary Louise (1925-[199-?]). Mary passed away as a result of complications during childbirth. Ted moved back to California with Mary Louise in 1928 and continued working as a journalist in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Mary Louise Taylor had a daughter and two sons, including Roy Denison Werbel.
During the Second World War, Ken was stationed at Camp Santa Anita in Arcadia California and Fort Lewis, Washington and worked on the camp newspapers. After the war, he continued his career as a journalist and lived in Seattle for a period of time.
Custodial history
Records were originally brought together by Ted Taylor and maintained by him until his death in 1963. They were passed on to Roy Denison Werbel circa 1980, and maintained at Werbel s residence in California until the time of donation.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records of the Taylor and Pierce families. The fonds has been divided into three sousfonds according to the three dominant creators: L.D. Taylor sousfonds (1873-1946), Ted Taylor sousfonds (1919-1959), and the O.J. Pierce (1831 -1939) sousfonds. The fonds includes records relating to the professional activities of family members, including L.D. Taylor's mayoral career and newspaper and mining business interests; Ted Taylor's career as a journalist and Hollywood press agent; Ken Taylor's career as a journalist and his service in the Second World War; and O.J. Pierce's career as an architect and his American Civil War service. Records also document the relationships between family members, their financial affairs and property ownership, education, and activities in general. Records documenting the civic administration and development of Vancouver, 1896 to 1946, may be found in the L.D. Taylor sousfonds and in the Correspondence series of the Ted Taylor and Osborne J. Pierce sousfonds. Some records in the Ted Taylor sousfonds pertain to Mary Louise Taylor, and the Pierce, Beaton and Werbel families. The O.J. Pierce sousfonds includes some records created by Annie, Winifred and Caroline Pierce. Document types include correspondence, photographs, newspapers and clippings, notebooks, financial and legal records, business records, publications, reports, ephemera, architectural drawings, paintings and sketches, poetic works, book drafts, drama scripts, political cartoons, date books, note books, stock certificates and artifacts.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Purchased from Roy Denison Werbel September 8, 2005
Arrangement
While custodian of these records, Ted Taylor organized and arranged many of the records, particularly the correspondence, into files.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access to some of the records in this fonds is restricted. Please consult the archivist.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Series descriptions and file list available. Some item descriptions are available.
Associated materials
Accruals
No further accruals expected