Rare Books
Autobiography
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Journals and autobiographies
Manuscripts
This small group consists of ten diaries written by Henry William Bigler, one letter book, two notebooks, and two facsimiles. Some of the diaries give firsthand details of his missionary trips to the Hawaiian Islands, while others are diaries of his second trip to mine gold in California. Several diaries also contain information about his work while at the endowment house at the temple in Saint George and financial records. The letter book contains copies of letters Bigler sent to relatives to gather genealogical information and copies of letters Bigler sent to historians Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918) and John S. Hittell (1825-1901) in response to their inquiries about his experience at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered. The notebooks contain financial records and some family information. One diary is an autobiography and retrospective journal that Bigler wrote about his time in the Mormon Battalion traveling from Utah to California through the Southwest and about being at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered. Also in the collection is a facsimile of this diary (mssFAC 1340) and a facsimile of some typescript portions published in a newspaper relating to Bigler's 1849 California trip and his Hawaiian mission (mssFAC 1341). People mentioned in Bigler's diaries are George Q. Cannon (1827-1901), Hiram Clark (1795-1853), and William Farrer (1821-1906) who were with Bigler in Hawaii. Others include Charles Coulson Rich (1809-1883), George Albert Smith (1817-1875), Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898), and Brigham Young (1801-1877).
mssBigler