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Manuscripts

Personal correspondence


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    Business correspondence

    Manuscripts

    The collection includes materials related to Charles Dana's time in Hawai'i, including a copy of Page, Bacon & Co.'s petition to establish a bank; correspondence describing scandals within the Hawaiian royal family and efforts to appoint Dana as American Commissioner to Hawaii; and 3 pages of notes from a lecture, evidently written by Dana, describing his attendance at a traditional Hawaiian lūʹau given by Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, later King Kamehameha V. Business correspondence is primarily from Dana's tenure as Vice President of the North American Steamship Company, with letters from New York shipbuilder William Henry Webb and other business contacts. There is also some personal correspondence from Dana's family and friends, including letters from Dana's father and brother discussing Abraham Lincoln's election and the political climate in the United States. Some family cartes-de-visite, checks and bonds, and a broadside advertising one of Dana's lectures are also included.

    mssDana

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    Hawai'i correspondence and documents

    Manuscripts

    The collection includes materials related to Charles Dana's time in Hawai'i, including a copy of Page, Bacon & Co.'s petition to establish a bank; correspondence describing scandals within the Hawaiian royal family and efforts to appoint Dana as American Commissioner to Hawaii; and 3 pages of notes from a lecture, evidently written by Dana, describing his attendance at a traditional Hawaiian lūʹau given by Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, later King Kamehameha V. Business correspondence is primarily from Dana's tenure as Vice President of the North American Steamship Company, with letters from New York shipbuilder William Henry Webb and other business contacts. There is also some personal correspondence from Dana's family and friends, including letters from Dana's father and brother discussing Abraham Lincoln's election and the political climate in the United States. Some family cartes-de-visite, checks and bonds, and a broadside advertising one of Dana's lectures are also included.

    mssDana

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    Charles Dana papers

    Manuscripts

    The collection includes materials related to Charles Dana's time in Hawai'i, including a copy of Page, Bacon & Co.'s petition to establish a bank; correspondence describing scandals within the Hawaiian royal family and efforts to appoint Dana as American Commissioner to Hawaii; and 3 pages of notes from a lecture, evidently written by Dana, describing his attendance at a traditional Hawaiian lūʹau given by Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, later King Kamehameha V. Business correspondence is primarily from Dana's tenure as Vice President of the North American Steamship Company, with letters from New York shipbuilder William Henry Webb and other business contacts. There is also some personal correspondence from Dana's family and friends, including letters from Dana's father and brother discussing Abraham Lincoln's election and the political climate in the United States. Some family cartes-de-visite, checks and bonds, and a broadside advertising one of Dana's lectures are also included.

    mssDana

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    Photographs and ephemera

    Manuscripts

    The collection includes materials related to Charles Dana's time in Hawai'i, including a copy of Page, Bacon & Co.'s petition to establish a bank; correspondence describing scandals within the Hawaiian royal family and efforts to appoint Dana as American Commissioner to Hawaii; and 3 pages of notes from a lecture, evidently written by Dana, describing his attendance at a traditional Hawaiian lūʹau given by Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, later King Kamehameha V. Business correspondence is primarily from Dana's tenure as Vice President of the North American Steamship Company, with letters from New York shipbuilder William Henry Webb and other business contacts. There is also some personal correspondence from Dana's family and friends, including letters from Dana's father and brother discussing Abraham Lincoln's election and the political climate in the United States. Some family cartes-de-visite, checks and bonds, and a broadside advertising one of Dana's lectures are also included.

    mssDana

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    Note regarding Samuel F. B. Morse

    Manuscripts

    The note, which is in Dana's hand, reads: "Prof. S. F. B. Morse lives at Hudson or Poughkeepsie but write to care of Western Union Telegraph Company, New York & he will get the letter."

    mssHM 75948

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    Two years before the mast; : a personal narrative of life at sea

    Rare Books

    Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) of Boston left his studies at Harvard in 1834 in the hope that a sea voyage would aid his failing eyesight. He shipped out of Boston as a common seaman on board the brig Pilgrim bound for the Pacific, and returned to Massachusetts two years later. Completing his education, Dana became a leader of the American bar, an expert on maritime law, and a life-long advocate of the rights of the merchant seamen he had come to know on the Pilgrim and other vessels. Two years before the mast (1911) is based on the diary Dana kept while at sea. First published in 1841, it is one of America's most famous accounts of life at sea. It contains a rare and detailed account of life on the California coast a decade before the Gold Rush revolutionized the region's culture and society. Dana chronicles stops at the ports of Monterey, San Pedro, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara. He describes the lives of sailors in the ports and their work of hide-curing on the beaches, and he gives close attention to the daily life of the peoples of California: Hispanic, Native American, and European.

    496906b