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On the art of writing : A letter to Henry James Forman
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Mary A. Forman Papers
Manuscripts
The collection consists mainly of letters and questionnaires written between 1904-1908 on the topic of mid-19th-century Los Angeles. Most of the questionnaires, composed by Mary A. Forman, include a correspondent's answers, and most of the letters were written to Forman in response to her questionnaires or other inquiries. Forman presumably conducted the correspondence as a result of her involvement in the Auld Lang Syne Club. There are also a few other documents that she probably acquired as part of her research, including a small number of letters written by Southerners (possibly relatives of A. J. King) during the Civil War and a few 19th-century California letters, most of them written in Spanish. The purpose of most of Mary Forman's inquiries was to obtain very specific details or confirmation of details of Los Angeles history, from what kind of roof a certain house had to which band of Apaches killed a certain man. Because of this, the responses cover a markedly wide range of topics, and the number of authors and other people involved is unusually large for a collection of this size. General topics addressed in the documents include Los Angeles history, California state and local government, crime, medicine, architecture, education, land allotment, churches, agriculture, Indians, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Photocopies of photographs and a brief biography of Mary A. and Charles Forman, compiled by John Steven McGroaty in Los Angeles: From the Mountains to the Sea, published in 1921, can be requested with the paper versin of this finding aid. Some correspondence is in Spanish.
mssHM 68517-68598
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Mary A. Forman papers addenda
Manuscripts
Similar to the main collection, this addenda consists of mainly letters and questionnaires written between 1905-1908 on the topic of mid-19th-century Los Angeles. Most of the questionnaires, composed by Mary A. Forman, include a correspondent's answers, and most of the letters were written to Forman in response to her questionnaire or other inquiries.
mssHM 81435-81469
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Mary Austin letters
Manuscripts
These seven letters are to members of the Watterson family of Inyo County, California, including one letter to Mark Q. Watterson, Inyo County Bank owner. He and his brother, Wilfred, got caught up in the California Water Wars. They were both financial and civic leaders who had opposed the Los Angeles Aqueduct and in 1927 their bank collapsed and they were indicted for embezzlement, later tried, and convicted on thirty-six counts. The other six letters are to Mark's sister Elsie Watterson. The letters deal with the water issue, Owens Valley, Inyo Valley, the aqueduct, Boulder Dam, and Mark and Wilfred's incarceration at San Quentin. Mary Austin is offering to help the Watterson family in any way she can and offers to write something about the situation. She also talks about writing her autobiography. There are also two postcards with images of Mary Austin's house.
mssHM 79044-79050
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Mary Austin letters
Manuscripts
Nine letters by Mary Austin consisting of six letters to John Northern Hilliard, dated [October 1913?] (41072); [September-October 1915] (HM 41073); March 16, 1916 (HM 41074); [Spring 1916] (HM 41075); May 24 [1920?] (HM 41076); and undated (HM 41077); one letter to Ida Louise Harrison Hilliard, dated December 5, 1916 (HM 41071); one letter to Grace (Sartwell) Mason, dated December 22, 1915 (HM 41078); and one letter to James "Redfern" Mason, dated May 16, 1915 (HM 41079). The letters primarily discuss mutual friends and Austin's writing projects and activities. The letters to John Northern Hilliard mention Austin's work and frustration with the Western Drama Society and its treatment of Vernon Kellogg, Austin's work with the Panama Pacific International Exposition, a missing part of a manuscript, and the Forest Theatre, as well as an undated note that accompanied a gun that Austin gave Hilliard.
mssHM 41071-41079
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Reminiscences of a dramatic critic : with an essay on the art of Henry Irving
Rare Books
288398