Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Robert E. Temple letter to Kimball H. Dimmick
Image not available
Manuscripts
Image not available
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
In this letter to his wife, Kimball Dimmick writes that he is well, despite his loneliness, and he has just gotten over an illness. He also writes of an event where an Indian chief demanded that a dead Indian and his Indian murderer be turned over to them, and when both were given to his care, he and his people dug a grave, threw in both the murderer and his victim, and buried both together, the murderer being alive while they did so.
mssHM 4197
Image not available
Manuscripts
In this letter to his wife Sarah, Kimball Dimmick is distraught at not getting any word from her. He is poised to quit his California business "at a sacrifice" and return home, for he is quite vexed, thinking that something might be wrong at home. He closes: "I have been in good health but not in good spirits, and do not expect to be until I hear from you." He also mentions he has been chosen to be president of the convention, the only position he is retaining as he prepares to return home. Dated 1849, August 31 and September 1.
mssHM 4013
Image not available
Manuscripts
Gideon Pillow writes to his wife of his ongoing recovery from a wound suffered during the Mexican War in 1847, and of his experiences as part of the struggle. He hopes to be well enough in a couple of weeks to resume his duties. He writes of his children, and says he will send his wife a lock of his hair in his next letter, which he hopes to write in ten days, as proof that the horrors of the war have not caused him to neglect "the requests of his dear wife."
mssHM 3614
Image not available
Manuscripts
In this letter on Pasadena Presbyterian Church letterhead, Rev. Freeman discusses a building plan for the proposed educational building for the Pasadena Presbyterian Church at the cost of $150,000. He mentions that Mrs. Howard Huntington suggested that he might be interested in the building project that is waiting for the final bid from the contractor. He goes on to describe the pledge drive, the wide interest the project has enjoyed and the main purpose of providing a wholesome religious environment for the youth. He explains that there are between 1100 and 1200 youth in attendance every Sunday and additional opportunities for weekday activities. Rev. Freeman writes that if Mr. Huntington needed further details that he would be happy to oblige and that he is still in hopes of getting to see the library as he had a prior appointment that was interrupted by the war.
mssHM 37541
Image not available
Manuscripts
These are two letters written by American officer Robert Selden Garnett. HM 46544, dated 1849, August 23, is addressed to A. Somervail Garnett ("My dear Somervail," Robert writes), and is written following the wrecking of the ship Edith off the California coast. Robert assures Somervail that he will do all he can to keep Somervail enrolled at Harvard until his education is completed, and gives Somervail advice concerning his chosen occupational path, particularly the importance of mathematics and surveying. Robert urges Somervail to be steadfast in his studies, but not at the expense of his social life, which Robert considers as important as school. Robert closes by saying he hopes to return to Washington by December 1. In the second letter (HM 46545, dated 1849, September 30), Robert writes to Caleb Lyon concerning the authorship of a proposed "seal or coat of arms for the new state of California" as well as a constitution for the pending state. Robert claims to be the sketcher of the original seal, and gives Lyon the authority to reveal him as such, should he deem it proper.
mssHM 46544-46545
Image not available
Manuscripts
Series of letters written by Robert L. Harris to his fiancée Lucy W. Kimball in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The letters begin with Harris' stay in Boston in early 1861 while awaiting instructions to travel to California as a railroad engineer. While in Boston Harris writes of his attendance of meetings held by the Franklin Club and the Freemasons, of an Easter service and festival, and of early Civil War fervor, particularly around the Lynn Armory (he writes that "I never before witnessed such perfect wildness of enthusiasm as was manifested in the streets today"). In late April Harris sailed for California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and he writes extensively of both life aboard the ship and of the scenery in Dominican Republic, Panama, and Mexico, particularly Acapulco. He also writes of stopping "mid-ocean" to exchange letters and parcels with the Northern Light (and also to "put them on their guard against Jeff Davis' pirates"). Harris arrived in San Francisco in mid-May 1861 and was "stupefied, overwhelmed, [and] confounded by my first vision of the Golden State." Once in California Harris writes of his plans for a horse-drawn railway, of climbing the Sierra Nevada mountains in a snowstorm, of the possibility of a railroad near Washoe City, Nevada, and of his visits to the Ophir Silver Mining Company and encounters with Captain George Blunt Wendell, San Francisco and San Jose Railroad president Timothy Dame, and Jerome Lincoln (brother of Harris' mentor Ezra Lincoln). He also writes of his dismay at the news of the Battle of Fredericksburg and of his religious views (he notes visiting Roman Catholic cathedrals, Jewish synagogues, and "African camp meetings," but that "I have not so strong sectarian feelings as most people.") Also included are three sketches of pastoral life in California.
mssHM 74761-74783, HM 83852-83853