Born Digital Materials

The majority of the collection documents the Samwell family's time spent at their cabin at Malibu Lakeside between 1931-1948. The two guest books contain entries about what activities the family and their guests did while at "The Hide-Away" cabin. The photograph album, which was made for Jean, contains some photographs of their cabin during construction, landscape photographs of Malibu Lakeside, the Samwell family and friends, Jean at swimming competitions, and Jean with her friends in other areas of Southern California like Balboa Island and Catalina. The Crawford Family Photograph Scrapbook contains photographs of "The Hide-Away" Cabin while it was being built as well as photographs of the family. The collection also contains a few newspaper clippings and photographs about Leo Samwell's military service in World War I, photographs taken of Jean at various restaurants in Los Angeles in the 1940s, two photographs of Leo Samwell with fellow MGM security guards in the 1930s, and three headshots of three Hollywood actresses (Clara Bow, Lila Lee, and Loretta Young).