[1] From humble beginnings the family amassed a fortune estimated at $15,000,000, with large land holdings in Oklahoma and California.

[5] Also in 1917 she produced a season of Los Angeles Little Theater, engaging a young Norman Bel Geddes as set designer.

[6] She hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for her and a vaguely defined "progressive theatrical community".

[5] Another longstanding feature of Olive Hill was Barnsdall's news-billboards meant to educate Angeleans about the Thomas Mooney case, the candidacy of Upton Sinclair for Governor of California, and her other causes.

She was a guiding force and important financial contributor for the Hollywood Bowl, and a patron of architects Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, and photographer Edmund Teske among others.