Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
The curious history of Pope Joan
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
305477
Image not available
Rare Books
327002
![History of Joan Walker Fotheringham [microform] : after 1877](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Frail.huntington.org%2FIIIF3%2FImage%2F22APN458HC14%2Ffull%2F%5E360%2C%2F0%2Fdefault.jpg&w=750&q=75)
Manuscripts
Microfilm of the autobiography and biography of Joan Walker Fotheringham, written sometime after 1877. Joan recalls her illegitimate birth and unsettled childhood, including her temporary adoption by Robert and Agnes Burns and moving between their various relatives, her discovery of her adoption at age 11, of going into factory work at age 13, of going blind in one eye from measles and catching "brain fever," of going to work at a mill in 1849 and meeting Mormon girls there, of her baptism and living with neighbors when her adoptive uncle would not let a Mormon live in his house, and of her falling in love with William Richardson, whose family initially objected to her. Much of the manuscript from this point is written in first person of William Richardson, and recalls the couple's financial troubles and work in the mill and mines, of their marriage in Glasgow in 1851, of their travels to Liverpool and sailing to New York in 1856, of their life in Mount Vernon and Scranton, of their overland journey when William was offered work driving a team of cattle to Utah in 1863, and of their life in Utah, including William's work in the mines and at a grist mill, as well as the births and life events of the Richardsons' ten children.
MSS MFilm 00181