Manuscripts

Frank J. Fay letters

Description: Letters by Frank J. Fay to Patrick Hoey, James Montgomery, and Irish actress Sara Allgood, written from Dublin, New York City, Chicago, Liverpool, and London. The main topic of the letters is Fay's work as an actor and director, and in one letter he writes about Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1906-1911
Call number: mssHM 26354-26389
Creator: Fay, Frank J(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased from Austin Clarke, September 1962.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Frank J. Fay letters

Manuscripts

Letters by Frank J. Fay to Patrick Hoey, James Montgomery, and Irish actress Sara Allgood, written from Dublin, New York City, Chicago, Liverpool, and London. The main topic of the letters is Fay's work as an actor and director, and in one letter he writes about Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

mssHM 26354-26389

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Eli Fay letter to "Dear Friends,"

Manuscripts

In this letter to unidentified individuals who appear to live in Sheffield, England, Eli Fay writes of his arrival to California from England. He arrived in New York and "took the cars" to Chicago, a journey that he reports took 26 1/2 hours. He is amazed at the growth of Chicago. Leaving Chicago, again "on the cars," Fay continued west, describing the landscape in general detail. Once arriving in Los Angeles, he describes the city and its inhabitants in greater detail. Of southern California, he writes that "as a whole is but little more than a vast Sanitorium," a refuge for "people who suffer from throat and lung troubles." Fay himself is ill, and has come to California for relief, for his doctors have told him that "my only chance of recovery was in a total suspension for the time being of my pulpit labor." He reports his health has improved, and his daily horseback rides in the open country have been of vital help. He laments that he left England "before I had finished the work that I had laid out for myself" and hopes to return once he has fully recovered. He asks for details of the church he has left, and hopes all is well.

mssHM 16550

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Article on the Chinese in California and the Geary Act

Manuscripts

In this article, Patrick J. Healy writes, "Before we begin to thrust the industrious Chinaman from our midst according to law, permit me a foreigner to say a few words on the subject." He writes that while he is Irish rather than American, he feels qualified to speak on the subject as his people "usually work for low wages live largely upon potatoes and send a large part of their earnings back to Ireland." He warns that "my countryman cannot be ignorant of the existence of a secret Political party who hardly disguise their antagonism to foreigners and to Irishmen in particular", and argues against the belief that the Chinese feel the Irish have led the anti-Chinese movement. Healy believes that California cities could not be in their current civilized states without Chinese labor, and claims that those who oppose the Chinese are actually opposed to all business competition in general. Healy writes, "The most persistent opponents of the Chinese are the politicians" but are using them as a means to further their own aims. He concludes by stating his hope that "the doctrines formulated by Jefferson and affirmed by Lincoln still find a response in the hearts of the American people." With envelope.

mssHM 26406

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William J. Howard letters

Manuscripts

The seven letters, which are all addressed to William J. Howard, are written by Patrick Edward Connor, William Proctor Hughey, James Mason Hutchings, and John Ricketson. The letters by Patrick Edward Connor, who was also a California Ranger, discuss Harry Love and the act that was passed May 13, 1854 giving Captain Love his reward money for killing Murieta. William Hughey's letter (1879, June 16) discusses Denis Kearney, the Workingmen's Party of California, and the state constitutional convention of 1878. James Mason Hutchings' three letters (1879) are about tourism in the Yosemite Valley, the Yosemite commission, and the state constitution. John Ricketson's letter (1879, Feb. 27) discusses land in Sonora, Mexico

mssHM 65969-65975

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California trip

Manuscripts

Diary kept by an unnamed Massachusetts man during his travels by train from Chicago to Los Angeles and his subsequent stay in California. The first half of the diary includes colorful descriptions of scenery and local people as the author traveled through St. Louis, Little Rock, New Orleans (which he called "the most foreign looking American city I know of and with the exception of Chicago, the most filthy"), El Paso, much of Arizona, and through the San Gorgonio Pass to the San Gabriel Valley. In this section the author also writes of racial segregation in the Southern states, his observance of stage actress Maud Granger and "her actor lover" on a train in Arizona, and his tour of the Arizona Territorial Prison. The second half of the diary covers his stay in California, where he had gone to see his mother and sister for the first time in 13 years. He writes of his impressions of Los Angeles as "a bright town...clean and new," of traveling up the coast to Santa Barbara, camping in Dos Pueblos Canyon, a trip to San Francisco, and his awe at seeing Mt. Shasta.

mssHM 75026

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Frank J. Cotter scrapbook

Manuscripts

A scrapbook created by Frank K. Cotter in the early part of the 20th century. The leather-bound scrapbook has a printed photo of Cotter pasted down on the title page; there is a modern autograph note, in an unknown hand, laid inside the front cover, with a few other printed items laid into the volume. The poems and short stories in the scrapbook are either printed clippings or typewritten copies, some of which were written by Cotter under his pseudonym Pat O'Cotter. The clippings and copies only fill twenty-five pages with the majority of the scrapbook containing blank and empty pages. The subjects covered are mainly World War I, Alaska, and the Klondike.

mssHM 83799

Frank J. Fay letters

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Frank J. Fay letters

Eli Fay letter to "Dear Friends,"

Article on the Chinese in California and the Geary Act

William J. Howard letters

California trip

Frank J. Cotter scrapbook