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THE PASADENA STAR: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1915.

Miss Nicholson Theme of Writer

Philadelphia Paper Has an Account of Work of Pasadenan.

An interesting account of Miss Grace Nicholson of Pasadena and her work is given in a Philadelphia paper, Miss Nicholson having lived in that city before coming to Pasadena.

Tourists to Pasadena have found a Philadelphia woman who left this city twelve years ago to conduct a unique business and now is one of the leading business women in the west. 

The woman is Miss Grace Nicholson, whose father, Franklin Nicholson, was an attorney here. Before his death, Mr. Nicholson was associated with Henry Galbraith Ward, now judge of the circuit court of appeals in New York.

Miss Nicholson is a cousin of William R. Nicholson, president of the Land Title and Trust company. She was one of the first graduates in the commercial course in the Girls' high school in this city. She is an expert in Indian basket work, and now has a collection of more than 6000 of the finest baskets made by the many tribes of Indians in the west.

Miss Nicholson's treasure house of oriental and western art is famous throughout the country, and is known among collectors of antiques. Thousands of tourists visit her museum yearly. Most of them are sent by friends, and there is as much privacy attached to the business as though the purchaser called on Miss Nicholson in her home. 

Besides furnishing art schools, museums and private collections with thousands of choice antiques, curios and art objects from Thibet, Korea, China, the South Sea islands and the Philippines, Miss Nicholson has personally ocllected [[collected]] and placed in museums more than 12,000 specimens of work of the American Indian. The Peabody museum, in Cambridge, Mass., has a notable collection of west coast objects which were gathered by Miss Nicholson.

Miss Nicholson, who is visiting in this city is collecting Indian baskets for private individuals who will present them to the University of Pennsylvania museum, the national museum in Washington, the Field museum in Chicago, and the Carnegie museum in Pittsburgh.

For eight years she has been engaged in the field work in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, and has made thousands of photographs of Indians and obtained valuable Indian history and legends. In her collection of baskets is one which will rest on the head of a pin, leaving a clear space all around it. This basket is perfect in design, and is made of two materials. It can best be seen with a magnifying glass, and is the smallest in the world.

Chinese tapestry, embroidery and brocade, mandarin squares, circles and bands, necklaces in jade, amber, beryl, coral, amethyst, ivory and various woods, bones and seeds; Korean pottery and bronze work, rhinoceros horn libation cups and old Chinese paintings are included in the collection.

Miss Nicholson has recently had her present house connected with the house to the north, giving six additional large rooms and making her establishment occupy the largest floor space of any similar place in the country. This summer she purchased a large number of the best Chinese and Filipino exhibits from the San Francisco exposition.