Sport hunting became a favorite pastime of many of the more affluent settlers to California around the turn of the century. This narrative, written by Charles Holder, the son of a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family, describes his hunting and fishing trips throughout southern California. Researchers will find vivid accounts of his travels in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties. For those seeking a better understanding of California life in the early 1900s, this can be an illuminating database.

Charles Frederick Holder (1851-1915), a founder of Pasadena's Tournament of Roses, came from a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family. After working as a curator at New York's American Museum of Natural History, Holder moved to Pasadena in 1885. A passionate naturalist throughout his life, he became known in Pasadena as a businessman, philanthropist, and conservationist/sportsman. Life in the open (1906) is Holder's account of hunting and fishing in the counties of Santa Barbara, San Buenaventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego. The topics include horseback hunts for lynx, fox, and wolves; fishing for trout in the Sierra Madres and for game fish off Catalina; pursuit of shore birds and waterfowl; mountain lions and mountain goats; and photographic hunts for sea lions. Throughout, Holder argues for the sportsman's role in conservation.