Marguerite Doe Ravenscroft Scrapbook Now Available

This blog post written by Gevorg Vardanyan.

The Special Collections Research Center is pleased to announce that the collection guide for the newly processed Marguerite Doe Ravenscroft Scrapbook (MC 00725) is available online. 

Marguerite Doe Ravenscroft (1890-1972) was a Montecito (California)-based philanthropist. During World War I, she was involved in relief work. Specifically, she worked at the Russian bazaar for the War Relief Committee of Montecito. At the end of 1916, Ravenscroft joined the Red Cross ambulance service in France and gave assistance to women and children. After her return from Europe, Ravenscroft was elected to the board of the Santa Barbara Humane Society. In May 1922, she even served as a county humane officer for a few months. Throughout her life she continued to work for the benefit of animals. She commissioned George Washington Smith to design animal hospitals in San Francisco (1924), Sacramento, and Long Beach (1927). She established animal shelters all over the world including in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, and Indonesia.  Not only did she make donations to the animal cause, but she also opened a thrift shop to benefit animals. Ravenscroft died in 1970. Her generosity and devotion significantly contributed to the animal protection movement.  

 The Marguerite Doe Ravenscroft Scrapbook contains materials documenting her activities related to the animal protection cause. Specifically, the scrapbook includes letters and receipts acknowledging her contribution to a variety of animal welfare organizations. There are also materials covering animal shelters in other parts of the world established by Ravenscroft.

Other interesting materials in the scrapbook include photographs documenting various animal welfare organizations all over the United States. One can find photographs of the humane officers, the buildings and ambulances of these organizations.  Special Collections plans on digitizing the scrapbook soon, where it will be available on our Rare and Unique Digital Collections site.

For more resources on animal rights and welfare, browse our collections including textual documents digitized for the Animal Turn project.  

If you are interested in viewing the materials in this collection, you can access them by scheduling an appointment with the Special Collection Research Center. The Special Collection Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6am and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week. If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collection materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online.