Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Alexander T. McIntyre letter to Frank E. Baker
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Manuscripts
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
The collection consists primarily of draft article manuscripts written by John Alexander Gray and relating to William Mulholland, Ezra Scattergood, William B. Matthews, and John B. Elliott, connected with the procurement of water and power from the Owens Valley (California) via the Los Angeles Aqueduct and from Boulder Dam for the city of Los Angeles. Other subjects of the articles include key institutions in Los Angeles and Southern California history including the Metropolitan Water District and the Southern California Edison Company. The correspondence includes letters responding to inquiries sent by Gray to deans and officials at several colleges, universities, and other cultural institutions in the Los Angeles area such as Disneyland, the California Institute of Technology, Wycliffe Bible Translators, California State College at Palos Verdes, San Fernando Valley State College, California State College, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, and the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
mssGray papers
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Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters that Alexander T. Stewart received from strangers requesting financial help, jobs, loans, or other forms of assistance. The majority of the letters are dated 1871 to March 1876. Correspondents include Civil War veterans, immigrants, charities, disabled persons (including children) seeking assistance with medical expenses, etc. There are letters from Civil War veterans; Western farmers devastated by the Grasshopper Plague of 1874; loans requests from men and women trying to set up their own businesses or to finance their inventions; young men and women asking for financial assistance to receive an education or training and clergymen soliciting funds for building or maintenance of their churches, missions, or assistance with disabled or impoverished congregants. A few letters express the authors' disappointment because their previous letters had not been answered. There are a few letters written by African Americans. William H. Miller, born on March 30, 1839 in Vicksburg, Miss., a "reputed" son of Sergeant Smith Prentiss and his slave and a minister assigned to preach to the Freedmen in East Tennessee. D.W. Lynch, writing from the Hampton Normal School (the future Hampton University), thinks that he could do much good "for my race" teaching literacy in Africa. Correspondents include John J. Flournoy (1808-1879), an advocate for the deaf; Sister Mary Francis Clare (Margaret Francis Cusack, 1829-1899), the founder of the Irish order of Poor Clares, and Stephen H. Taft (1825-1917), the founder of the Humboldt College (Iowa) and the town of Sawtelle, California. A large portion of the authors are women – widows, including women who had lost their husbands in the Civil War, spinsters, wives of ill or alcoholic husbands, or young women seeking employment; a few correspondents propose a tryst or other "situation." There are also letters from various individuals claiming to be Stewart's long lost relatives, some admirers requesting an autograph, and even a prank letter written by two schoolgirls. One 1874 letter contains a bill in the amount of $3.38 for pies devoured by Stewart's "carriage dog" in 1866. Related Material: Alexander T. Stewart correspondence at Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
mssSAT
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Manuscripts
Spotswood offers to sell two seven-year-old horses to Washington for £240; he also discusses costs of other horses, wheels, and home repairs, and promises to keep two horses of Washington's "for John's convenience to Mount Vernon." Autograph letter signed; includes addressed cover.
mssHM 78268
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Manuscripts
Stratton relates personal details, including the health of his family and how finely trimmed his home shrubbery is: "I take a good deal of personal pride in them as they have all been cultivated at my own expense and with my own hands." He also writes of local political matters. The letter is incomplete, with only the first two pages being present.
mssHM 16733
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Manuscripts
The collection consists of letters, manuscripts (including diaries and mining reports), photographs and maps related to the career of mining engineer Charles Janin. Subject matter in the collection focuses on minerals, mines and mining, especially in California, Mexico, Alaska, Canada, Russia (including Siberia), and Central and South America. There is information about gold, silver, platinum, and tin mining as well as gold dredging.
mssJaninc
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Manuscripts
Collection of letters from George H. Mendell to D.D. Clarke - who was Engineer of the Water Board for Portland, Oregon - written between 1897 and 1899. Mendell writes detailed letters of instruction and advice for engineering issues raised by Clarke, particularly regarding drainage, wells, and the sinking of shafts. The majority of the letters were written from Mendell's office in San Francisco, although some originated in Los Angeles or Springfield, Illinois, where Mendell had traveled "on account of mental illness of a relative" in 1897. He also mentions meeting with Clarke in Portland on his return trip from Illinois in September 1897. Also included in the collection are a few other pieces of miscellaneous correspondence from 1894-1899 relating to water engineering in Portland.
HM 77772