Rare Books
Early emigration to California, 1849-1850
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
The collection contains 62 letters by 26 different authors including Milton B. Stevens, C. K. Dixon and Byron Whitcomb. The letters mention various mining camps throughout Northern California, such as Fosters Bar, Galena Hill, Murderers Bar, Pilot Hill, Salmon Falls, Weber Creek, and the Klamath River Valley Mines, as well as several California cities including Benicia, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, and Stockton. The letters illustrate several aspects of the Gold Rush experience: the journey to California through Panama and Rio de Janeiro; life in California and the gold camps; women in California; gold discoveries or the lack thereof; the techniques and equipment used in mining; loneliness and longing for home. The letters from Milton B. Stevens' mother, from Shushan, tell of the experience of the miners' families back at home in the East. Eighteen of the letters have handwritten or typed transcripts.
mssHM 59471-59532
Image not available
Manuscripts
The collection contains J. Goldsborough Bruff's oversize revised version of his journal (c. 1853) which documents his journey across the American plains in 1849 by way of Lassen's Trail. Also included in the collection are 264 drawings of scenes from his overland journey, of various places he visited in California, and of his sea voyage to the Eastern United States via Mexico and Panama. Many of Bruff's drawings are in pencil, but thirty-eight of them were drawn with pastels and are in color.
HM 8044 (123)
Image not available
Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters and documents related to the government of the municipality of Monterey, primarily during the period 1828-54. The collection also includes minute books, election results, and records of disbursements of funds and of ordinances passed. Most of the documents are in Spanish until 1846, and in English thereafter.
mssMR
Image not available
Rare Books
491857
