Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
The founders of Maryland as portrayed in manuscripts, provinical records and early documents
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Rare Books
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Rare Books
115325
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Manuscripts
The collection contains 69 letters (primarily between members of the Brinley family and Edward Brinley, Jr.), 18 documents (largely relating the career of Edward Brinley, Jr.), a journal kept by Brinley on board the USS North Carolina, Oct. 1840-May. 1841, and the U.S.S. Delaware from Dec. 1843-Mar. 1844, and a portable wooden writing desk owned by Brinley. The early correspondence deals with Edward's childhood and education, his first naval appointment aboard the U.S.S. North Carolina including details about the various ports-of-call. His letters of the 1844-1845 period deal with his service on the U.S.S. Falmouth in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean during the prelude to the U.S.-Mexican War. Edward's letters of the 1846-1850 period deal with his service aboard the U.S.S. Preble during its cruise of the Pacific. Brinley's comments on the economic, ecological, and political phenomenon of the Pacific throughout these letters. The California gold rush, U.S. economic colonialism in present-day Hawaii, U.S. whaling in the Pacific, and the Chinese Opium trade are among the issues extensively discussed. His letters of 1856 were written during his service on the USS Potomac in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. They include discussions of the "filibusterer" William Walker's short-lived takeover of Nicaragua. The letters of Francis W. Brinley, Edward, Jr.'s most frequent correspondent, are dominated by family news and fatherly advice regarding the merits of hard work and respect for authority. Francis's letters do contain some interesting portraits of quotidian life as a businessman in Perth Amboy, NJ, however. The two letters of Thomas Brinley paint a dismal picture of his failed attempt at making a fortune in 1850s California. The remainder of the correspondence relates primarily to the everyday affairs of the Brinley family.
mssHM 74000-74090
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Manuscripts
The Albert D. Wheelon papers primarily focus on his career at the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Hughes Aircraft Company, and his research on electromagnetic scintillation. The first series primarily comprises of correspondence from his time at school through his retirement years. There are also photographs and printed ephemera related to his marriages and travels. In relation to his career at HAC, there are booklets, newsletters, notes, and photographs related to artificial satellites. The post career files consist of correspondence, notes, and reference material related to a wide variety of topics concerning national security and advancements in space. The bulk of his research related to propagation of electromagnetic waves consists of notes and reprints. Please click on the link in this record to view the full version of the scope and content.
mssWheelon
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Manuscripts
The archive extends over six decades, from 1803 to 1869. Included in the archive are letters and manuscripts covering William Congreve's career in rocketry. The most notable of these is his diary of the 1807 Copenhagen bombardment, which represents the first truly successful large-scale use of the Congreve war rocket in combat. Other noteworthy manuscripts include a signed draft and a fair copy of a "Report to the Commissioners of the Navy" dated October 1813, in which Congreve summarized his war rocketry activities from 1805 to 1813; a letter dated November 1813 relating to "the expense, or rather the economy of the Rocket System"; bills for materials used in rocket construction; an undated letter to a Captain Elliot discussing the subject of a "rocket cavalry"; letters discussing a plan of "applying Rockets for throwing ropes ashore from shipwrecked vessels"; and letters in which Congreve writes of his achievements and his attitude towards his work. The archive also contains manuscripts and letters relating to some of Congreve's other inventions: naval guns, bombships, and Congreve's design for a paddlewheel boat, which is detailed in a long letter illustrated with Congreve's sketches. Also included are a long series of love letters that Congreve wrote to his wife, Isabella, and another series of long, detailed letters written to Congreve during the last few months of his life by his secretary, R. Drake, discussing, among other things, Congreve's political career as a Member of Parliament, his precarious financial position, the publication of his Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System (1827), and negotiations with the British East India Company for exclusive rights to the Congreve war rocket for use in India. Included in the remainder of the archive is a letter from Congreve's father, William Congreve Sr., to Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), president of the Royal Society, discussing the elder Congreve's responsibilities at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Another series of letters, some written by Congreve, concern a will of which Congreve's aunt, Miss Mary Congreve, was the executrix. There are numerous letters written by Isabella Congreve after Congreve's death in 1828, mostly on financial matters-- Congreve's affairs were left somewhat embarrassed upon his death, and the archive includes several records of bills and promissory notes, both paid and owing. Lastly, there are several letters presumably written by Congreve's descendants, the last dated Feb. 1, 1869.
mssCongreve