Manuscripts
Diary kept by Harvey W. Brown while he traveled from Boston to San Francisco, and back again, in 1868. Brown left Boston on March 9, 1868, traveled to New York, and departed on board the Henry Chauncey on March 11. During the voyage Brown described his seasickness and the death and sea burial of a man from steerage, as well as making regular notes on weather conditions and distances traveled. On March 19 Brown arrived in Aspinwall (now Colón, Panama), traveled across the Isthmus by rail, and boarded the steamer Sacramento. On March 25 he described seeing "a volcano...on the mountain...it look[ed] like a grate of live coals." Writing on his 22nd birthday, April 1, 1868, Brown grew introspective, noting, "Little did I think last year at this time I should be here or that Aunty would be sleeping in the silent grave...How the things will change in a year." But his merriment returned when he got a piece of paper pinned to his jacket as an April Fool's joke. After a stop in Acapulco, the Sacramento arrived in San Francisco on April 2. Brown worked sporadically while in California as a painter (he worked briefly on the Mercantile Library) and applied for a job in cabinet making, but on April 17 he instead "hired a store" with his friend Ned at the cost of $25 a month. They attempted to sell corn, and while Ned did reasonably well Brown failed to sell anything. On May 6 Brown and Ned moved to new rooms when Brown got an unspecified job, but he "could not stand it...It made my arm so lame I could not work" (although he was well enough to go to the theatre that night). Brown seems to have been much more interested in amusement than work, and found the time to frequent the theatre, pay $20 in gold to join the Olympic Club, take multiple day trips, play nine pins and shooting, attend an Independent Order of Odd Fellows picnic, and carouse with his friends at places like the Bella Union, where he describes one of them as being "pretty drunk." By May 21 Brown had grown tired of San Francisco and bought tickets home for himself and a friend named Frank. They departed on the Sacramento on May 22, and had an uneventful voyage back across Panama and home, although Brown did not like their ship, the Rising Star. By June 16 they were back in Boston. Brown apparently worked as a carpenter, although the last entry in the diary, made August 31, 1868, notes that he "bought out A.Polson fish market [ in Fields Corners, Dorchester]." The front pages of the diary contain various sketches, including one of a ship. The back of the diary contains some accounting notes.
