Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
Dramatic register for 1853
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 letters, letterbooks, documents, records, and manuscripts that document Barlow's legal, business, and political career, and his cultural and social pursuits. Barlow's legal and business papers constitute the bulk of the collection and cover 1855 to 1889. This portion of the collection deals with financing, building and management of railroads -- both Eastern and Western divisions of the Ohio and Mississippi, the Atlantic & Great Western, the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio, the Little Miami, the Columbus and Xenia, the Erie, and the New York, Erie & Western; Barlow's lobbying on behalf of Texas and Pacific Railroad Company and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company; his involvement in the affairs of the Tehuantepec railroad route in Mexico, mining promotions and operations, including the notorious Arizona diamond hoax; land speculation (farm lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio and urban properties in St. Louis, Mo.); his patronage of the New York subway and telephone enterprises, and his part ownership of the New York World. Political and military correspondence and manuscripts cover Barlow's involvement in Democratic politics at both national and state levels, that started in 1856 and continued until his death. The papers deal with Barlow's role in the nomination of James Buchanan for President, 1856, and his administration; Democratic National Convention at Charleston, 1860; George McClellan's presidential bid, the National Union Club, congressional elections, Tilden, Hancock, and Cleveland campaigns, 1876 to 1886. This portion of the collection also contains reports from the Eastern theater of the Civil War that Barlow received from his agents in the field. Among the correspondents are William T. Sherman, and T.J. Barnett, a minor official at the Department of the Interior and the Washington correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce, who provided an insight into Lincoln's White House. Also included are items reflecting Barlow's role in social and cultural life of New York -- his friendship with William Cullen Bryant and Bret Harte, patronage of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Academy of Music, and the New York Historical Society, his collections of colonial Americana and rare books, etc. Correspondents include William Henry Aspinwall, Henry Douglas Bacon, T.J. Barnett, James Asheton Bayard, Jr., August Belmont, Judah Philip Benjamin, Montgomery Blair, William Montague Browne, Benjamin Franklin Butler, Roscoe Conkling, George Ticknor Curtis, John Henry Dillon, William Maxwell Evarts, Henry Harrisse, Ben Holladay, Hugh Judge Jewett, Clarence King, George Brinton McClellan, James McHenry, Manton Malon Marble, Thomas Alexander Scott, Horatio Seymour, William Davis. Materials created by US presidents in this collection include James Buchanan autograph letters signed to Samuel L.M. Barlow, 1867 May 2 and May 22; Grover Cleveland autograph letter signed to Samuel L.M. Barlow, 1884 October 12; Millard Fillmore autograph letter signed to Charles Day, 1870 October 12; Andrew Jackson autograph letter to Mahlon Dickerson, 1835 June 9; also present is a contemporary copy of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee special order to Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott regarding Confederate soldiers paroled at Appomattox, 1865 April 10.
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Manuscripts
The Chang papers primarily contain photographs and scrapbooks related to the Chang and Ah Tye (pronounced Ah Tie) families. Photographs include family portraits and casual shots, such as Charlotte and Ora Chang posing in front of a home. The scrapbooks consist of photographs spanning from the early 1900s through mid-1900s. Events such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, conventions, trips, graduations, and campus life are captured. There are also professional papers concerning Chang's work as a diplomat and consul for the Republic of China (Box 2, 14 and Box 3, 4). In one cipher cable, the message reads "Chang Hong Yen appointed Consul at Vancouver. Please urge Chang to take office as soon as possible..." (Box 2, 14). Also found in the collection are clippings and excerpts related to a bitter dispute over the Kong Chow Temple in San Francisco, California. Constructed in 1854, Charlotte Chang's father, Yee Ah Tye, was given a plot of land for the temple by the city of San Francisco for his work as an interpreter. Charlotte Chang also appeared to have a close relationship with Soong Ching-ling, a leader of the 1911 revolution that established the Republic of China. In a letter dated March 14, 1917, Ching-ling writes, "A friend of ours, General Julian S. Carr expects to arrive in May at Frisco, &; I am sending you a slight token of my love & gratitude for your kindness to me when I too was a perfect stranger to you" (Box 1, 13). Other items in the collection are newspaper clippings, printed matter related to Chang's posthumous appointment, Chinese calligraphy, and Ah Tye's family tree.
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