Journals and autobiographies

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  Diaries

  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).

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  Henry William Bigler diaries

  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).

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  Diary of Jesse Bigler Martin [microform]: 1857

  Manuscripts

  Microfilm of Jesse Bigler Martin's 1857 diary, kept while he was leading his own company overland to Utah following a mission to England. The diary begins on July 30, when Martin was near Scott's Bluffs, Nebraska. It includes entries on distances traveled, members of his company, and notes on supplies. Martin arrived back in Salt Lake City on September 13, and brief diary entries recount his attention to home matters, attendance of a prayer circle, and his departure from the city on November 10 with his "brethren" to "stop the soldiers from coming into the city." He fell ill and returned to Salt Lake City two weeks later. The final entry recounts his marriage to Ann Clark in December. Additional notes in the diary include a list of Martin's plural wives and children, genealogy, a list of debts and credits, lyrics for the Missionaries Hand Card Song, the Crystal Spring, and the Carrier Dove, and a newspaper obituary for Ann Clark Martin.

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  Autobiography of Samuel Miles [microform]: 1881

  Manuscripts

  Microfilm of the autobiography of Samuel Miles, kept in about 1881. It includes a brief family history and descriptions of Miles' childhood and his family's move to Freedom, New York, where they were neighbors to Miles' uncle (by marriage) Warren A. Cowdery; Mormon missionaries in the area; the family's move to Missouri, where Miles worked on his father's farm; persecutions of Mormons in Missouri; a history of the Mormon expulsion to Illinois; various accounts of Joseph Smith; the family's 1845 move to Nauvoo and Miles' work as a teacher; a detailed account of Miles' time with the Mormon Battalion, first under Captain Allen (who died at Fort Leavenworth) and then Lieutenant Smith (who was unpopular compared to Jefferson Hunt), and their overland travels to San Diego and Sutter's Fort; Miles' move to Utah; a trip to California he took in 1858; the formation of the United Order at Enoch in 1874; and various notes on Miles' teaching and farming activities. The autobiography covers the years through 1881.

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  Autobiography of Samuel Miles [microform]: 1881

  Manuscripts

  Microfilm of a typescript of the autobiography of Samuel Miles, supplied by his daughter Minnie Miles Mathis to the St. George Ward Chapter, Daughters of the Pioneers. The autobiography was kept in about 1881. It includes a brief family history and descriptions of Miles' childhood and his family's move to Freedom, New York, where they were neighbors to Miles' uncle (by marriage) Warren A. Cowdery; Mormon missionaries in the area; the family's move to Missouri, where Miles worked on his father's farm; persecutions of Mormons in Missouri; a history of the Mormon expulsion to Illinois; various accounts of Joseph Smith; the family's 1845 move to Nauvoo and Miles' work as a teacher; a detailed account of Miles' time with the Mormon Battalion, first under Captain Allen (who died at Fort Leavenworth) and then Lieutenant Smith (who was unpopular compared to Jefferson Hunt), and their overland travels to San Diego and Sutter's Fort; Miles' move to Utah; a trip to California he took in 1858; the formation of the United Order at Enoch in 1874; and various notes on Miles' teaching and farming activities. The autobiography covers the years through 1881.

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  61 Pimlico : the secret journal of Henry Hayler

  Rare Books

  "...evidently written in considerable haste while on board ship to New York, in 1874, as Hayler was fleeing England and its life-threatening dangers, as evidenced by the last journal entries ... The Hayler journal surfaced at a car-boot sale in a town called Maidenhead ... As I scanned the pages...my excitement began to build. References to photography and sex leapt off the pages. I began reading from the first page, engrossed in 'H. Hayler' and his account of his professional career as a reluctant pornographer ... Later that evening I was rereading the journal, jotting down a list of possible leads to follow and facts to verify, when it occurred to me that the back cover of one volume felt slightly thicker than the front ... It was then that I discovered the pocket in which were nine 4 x 6 inch unmounted albumen prints. All are reproduced in this volume ... Back in the USA I quickly found several items about Hayler in 19th century photographic periodicals, all of which concerned the raid by the police and the Society for the Suppression of Vice on his studio in April 1874, all of which repeated essentially the same facts. One of these news items will be found in Appendix 1 ... The journal remains the only source of information on Hayler and his erotica, except for the news accounts which first reported the raid on his abandoned studio"--From introduction.

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